Winners of the Vintage Competition at Repco Beach Hop 22 (Sandra Dee and Sandy). Photo Alison Smith
The Hauraki-Coromandel Post is looking back at the stories of 2022. Here’s what made headlines in November:
Residents of a Paeroa caravan park were given a huge shock as a tornado swept through the Paeroa RV Centre on November 29.
The tornado caused extensive damage to vehicles, caravans, a modular home and infrastructure, and cut power to more than 500 local homes.
This year’s Repco Beach Hop, the first of two within four months, was definitely worth the wait for the thousands of people (and classic cars) who flocked to Waihī, Thames, Onemana and Whangamatā for an event-filled weekend of 1950s and 1960s nostalgia.
Expectations were high from attendees who had enjoyed previous years’ events before Covid interruptions, and this year did not disappoint as the Beach Hop convoy rolled into town.
The Go Waihī Warm-Up Party in Waihī kicked things off on Wednesday November 23 with a street parade, as an enthusiastic crowd got their motors running while viewing the armada of classic muscle cars, pick-ups, and era project cars.T
Saturday and Sunday’s highlights included a retro caravan show at Whangamatā Area School, the grand parade down Port Road, which was preceded by a Rock ‘n’ Roll Club march down Port Road, and the Burger Fuel vintage competition.
Thousands of people lined Whangamatā’s Port Road to ogle at the parade, have a beer at a bar and eat food from local cafés, pop-ups, and sausage sizzles - cooked by Fire and Emergency and Search and Rescue staff.
Sunday brought the 2022 edition of the Beach Hop to an end, but not before a nostalgia surf fest, a top 10 shoot-out, a final prizegiving, and a rock ‘n’ roll church service at the Whangamatā Baptist Church.
The vintage competition was won by two entrants - both versions of the famous Sandra Dee from Grease.
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