Life's departure lounge is getting a makeover this coming week, with Whangarei's crematorium shut for maintenance.
Maunu Crematorium manager Garry Taylor said the city's state-of-the-art machine, which left "not a lot of change for half a million dollars" when built, had done 3000 cremations without a fault. Now it was time to replace the lining to ensure the machine could continue to hold its heat.
The district council-owned crematorium and chapel had been managed by Maunu Crematorium Ltd for the past six years.
"Before we came here the council had an older, diesel-fired cremator and it would sometimes break down. This cremator has proved to be very, very efficient," Mr Taylor said.
Concurrent work would double the number of car parks for the 45-person capacity chapel.