It has now been gifted back to the community by insurance company FMG.
The tracked Cormidi dumper was being used to create a community biking and walking trail at the popular Gentle Annie Seaside Accommodation and Camping Ground at Mokihinui when it disappeared in November 2023.
The theft was widely reported in the media but despite the coverage it had seemingly vanished.
Original owners Phil Atkins and Jessica Paley-Atkins said they had given up hope of the machine being recovered.
But then police alerted the pair it had been discovered in a remote bush area about 25km north of where it was taken.
A pig hunter reported finding the machine 1.5km off the road, in a gully on a steep hunting track, off the Karamea Bluff Highway.
Constable Paul Cannell, of Granity, "spent a day clambering around the head of Six Mile Gully before finally spotting it hidden in the bush, covered by a black tarp," Mrs Paley-Atkins said.
"We couldn't believe the lengths the thieves went to hide it there."
Mrs Paley-Atkins said it was likely the extensive press coverage that occurred after the theft of the machine compelled the thieves to hide it in this remote spot, possibly with intent to sell it at a future time.
"From the looks of the machine it seems likely that it's been in this spot for quite some time, perhaps since shortly after it was stolen. During that time a large section of the track has been blown out from a stream flooding the track, adding to its inaccessibility."
The machine had been paid out by insurance and was now owned by FMG insurance company, which decided, after considering the expense and difficulty involved in its recovery, to gift it to the Buller Cycle Club.
A group of volunteers rebuilt the track over three days and the dumper was able to be driven out onto the Karamea Highway, where it was loaded onto a transport trailer.
Once the machine is examined by police for evidence, it will be prepared to continue its work maintaining and building trails in Northern Buller.
- Meg Fulford
