Beach Hop rolls into Thames and Whangamata

The excitement around this year’s Repco Beach Hop has reached fever pitch.

The Go Waihi Warm-Up Party yesterday got the engines running for participants and fans of the annual event, which celebrates classic cars, rock ‘n’ roll and all things ‘50s and ‘60s.

The best-dressed competition brought out a colourful array of dresses that harnessed the zeitgeist of the rock ‘n’ roll era, while the “Undie 500″ continued the day’s fun theme.

T-Birds and Pink Ladies strutted their stuff at the Beach Hop's best-dressed competition at Waihi.

After kicking off in Waihi, drivers and fans returned to Thames today, for the Repco Power Cruise which had prizegiving at 2pm.

Events continued at Whangamata tonight, with rock ‘n’ roll lessons at Whangamata Club from 2-4pm for anyone needing help getting into the swing, followed by the Nostalgia Quiz Night and the Club Classic Comedy Show (R18) at the Repco Garage.

Image 1 of 9: Colleen and Brian Pascoe are beach hop fancy dress legends, in the background is fellow fun sports Carol and John Harwood. Photo /Alison Smith

The Castrol Edge Thundercruise to Onemana Beach follows on Friday, before the main event in Whangamata on Saturday and Sunday for the Classic Cover Nostalgia Fair.

The event is the biggest of its kind in New Zealand, organiser Noddy Watts saying: “There are many events each day and night so we encourage people to buy a $5 festival programme from around Whangamata which will also give them a chance to win a 1968 Ford F100 pickup truck, $10,000 cash or a brand-new Harley-Davidson.”