REPCO BEACH HOP 17
Repco Beach Hop 17 wasn't a relaxing week at the beaches of the Coromandel Peninsula- it was the best damn car party you could ever dream of attending. You can get the full story in our dedicated annual, in a few weeks' time, but for now, here are the hig
DAY one
The Go Waihi Warm Up Party marks the official start of Beach Hop every year, and things were no different for this year’s Repco Beach Hop 17. For entrants who’d arrived in Whangamata nice and early, the day started with a vehicular congregation at the Ford NZ Reserve (better known as Williamson Park during non–Beach Hop times of year) for a 9.30am cruise to Waihi. Others began their Beach Hop experience for the year by cruising straight to Waihi and going from there. While the weather forecast wasn’t too flash for the remainder of the week, Wednesday promised nothing but sunshine and happiness, and had no drama in delivering either. The main street of Waihi’s CBD, Seddon Street, and surrounding side streets were soon transformed from strips of sunbaked asphalt into a gleaming mass of painted and polished metal. It’s this beautiful fusion of classic American iron and the picturesque Thames- Coromandel east coast that makes Beach Hop what it is — a festival unlike any other and one that draws participants and spectators from all over the world. The atmosphere in Waihi was relaxed, with no urgency required, and there was more than enough time to look at the cars on display, take part in the day’s activities, and kick back for a long lunch — unless you worked for a magazine! Of course, the rock ’n’ roll theme prevalent throughout every Beach Hop meant entertainment wasn’t limited to cars and dodgy-looking fellas. The warm-up extended to the musical side of things, too. Music is a big part of Beach Hop, and this year included Al and the Wildkatz, Tim and the Rockets, and Ricochet, all playing live sets throughout the town. Most notable of these was Tim and the Rockets, who got the honour of performing at the remarkable Cornish Pumphouse — a massive relic from Waihi’s gold-mining history.
DAY Two
The Thursday of Repco Beach Hop 17 showed the most evident change to the format, with the former Tairua cruise destination completely forgone in favour of Whitianga. Though the drive from Whangamata to Whitianga is substantially longer than it is to Tairua, the destination is just as beautiful, and, as a larger town, Whitianga caters to the large number of participants far better than Tairua was able to. As tends to be the norm for Beach Hop, the Repco Whitianga Beach Party began with predeparture entrant check-in at the Ford NZ Reserve (Williamson Park) in Whangamata from 8am to 9.30am. While some people weren’t as enthusiastic about the additional distance to get to Whitianga, the cruising is what Beach Hop is about, and we didn’t hear a single whinger at the destination. Just as you’d expect of the Beach Hop team, a section of Whitianga’s CBD and waterfront was closed off to welcome the full Beach Hop experience into town. With the cars taking up most of a block from Albert Street through to the Esplanade and waterfront, the show layout was surprisingly easy to navigate, making it a breeze to punctuate car watching with breaks or conversations without missing anything. The busiest area surrounded the Albert Street section, with all of the main street’s lanes and angle-parking spaces filled with cars, and any remaining real estate seen to by onlookers. However, Whitianga is known for its beautiful location, featuring a large, grassy waterfront reserve, with a perfect backdrop, just ideal for a static car show. This is what Beach Hop is all about! Thursday at Whitianga began to taper off early in the afternoon, with the Beach Hop circus dispersing throughout the area — some back to Whangamata, others to The Coroglen Tavern, and others to destinations unknown, although no doubt picturesque.
DAY Three
Traditionally, Friday has been the most favoured day on the Beach Hop calendar, playing host to a mass cruise out to the coastal town of Onemana. It’s a great drive out from Whangamata that doesn’t take too long and covers some entertainingly twisty stretches of road, but the end destination is really what makes it what it is. With it being such a successful formula, organizers kept the Castrol Edge Thunder Cruise format much the same as other years. As usual, entrants assembled at the Whangamata Esplanade in preparation for departure. Also as usual, the queue stretched all the way down and around the corner for a total line-up somewhere deep into the hundreds. From there, as usual, the cruise headed to Onemana, where it funnelled into the Onemana Beach Reserve, which is split into a commodious upper area and a slightly smaller lower reserve. As the upper reserve is a far more sought-after parking area, access was limited to those with a specific Castrol Edge Thunder Cruise windscreen decal — given only to those who actually took the time to line up and check in at Whangamata in the morning. With a setting like this, it isn’t hard to see why Onemana is the destination of all Beach Hop destinations, or why the upper reserve is the place to park up. Not only is there an overwhelming number of cars to check out within the coastal environment but the reserve is also such that it’s pretty easy to plonk yourself down and have a rest if the walking gets a bit much. You do tend to do a fair bit of walking at Beach Hop, so it’s always nice to be able to chill out somewhere.
WITH A SETTING LIKE THIS, IT ISN’T HARD TO SEE WHY ONEMANA IS THE DESTINATION OF ALL BEACH HOP DESTINATIONS
DAY Four
If the days leading up to the weekend of Repco Beach Hop 17 were when the relaxation was to be found, the weekend provided the complete antithesis to that, Saturday being a perfect example. The Saturday mega event takes over just about all of Whangamata and comprises a number of separate shows scattered throughout the town. It’s got to the point that many people who travel to Whangamata on Saturday just for Beach Hop will traverse the main road, think they’ve seen all that the event has to offer, and then bugger off home — not realizing that they’ve seen only a small portion of the insanity. Saturday plays host to the Rock ’n’ Roll Club March, Grand Parade, Repco Pre-’49 Hot Rod Show, Meguiar’s Main Street Car Show, Ford NZ Car Show, Century Batteries Classic Car and Boat Show, RV Direct Retro Caravan Show, Whanga Books Tot Rod Show, New Zealand Petrolhead Vintage Market, not to mention the myriad Saturdayafternoon stage shows — she’s a bit of a busy one! The Grand Parade is preceded by the Rock ’n’ Roll Club March, in which various rock ’n’ roll clubs march through the main street of Whangamata doing their thing. The actual Grand Parade is split into three distinct components, for Ultimate Pass