The Giblings in New Zealand 2013 - 2014                  Page 6

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For our final adventure for this trip we returned to the Coromandel.  This time it was a special time for Whangamata and the surrounding area. It's Beach Hop 2014 The kick off is at Waihi with the pre-party party    Whether it is the cars, the architecture, the people, the music or the atmosphere, it's all fabulous
Oh, and we mustn't forget the drag racing ... And another great school trip ... And this is just day one (Wednesday) I should warn you now that if you are not a petrol head, maybe you should click out now - but you'd miss  ...       We sat on the roadside just outside Wahngamata for one and a half hours and this was continuous!  On this day cars do not have to be road legal but are well scrutinised before being let loose.  Some were quite loud!    Then, later in the town, I found this ...  my very first car.  Not this particular one of course as mine had a sunroof and my engine didn't look quite like this.  Not sure which year this is but mine was a 1946.  It's a Morris 8 a long way from its original home.
We learned that there are 1000 official entries and probably about 2000 unofficial entries.  The Kiwi psyche allows this and on the Grand Saturday Parade, part of the route allows the unofficial entries to sneak in and join the parade by an unmonitored side road.  They are syphoned off at a roundabout so everyone can have fun.  There are several other competitions, e.g. the loudest engine, best sound system, etc. etc.  and yes of course Elvis was there.  The Beach Hop is actually mean't to be a Rock & Roll festival.  All the music was great too.
This girl is amazing.  She uses her hand as a shield to create her air-brush paintings.  This materialised in seconds.  Sorry, I have cut off the picture of Marilyn Monroe she was working on       Sunday, there was quite a queue at this, the only filling station in town!
Are you really still with us?  Crumbs, you must be really car mad.  There are (a lot) more at  Beach Hop photos  About 12000 I believe! That was the finale of our trip.  We had fabulous weather almost all of the time from November 2013 until April 2014, super family time, new discoveries and very happy times with old friends too.  Thank you all for making it such fun for us.
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