Rusty Nuts Hot Rod Show!

Waihi Beach, New Zealand 22nd March 2014

Cresta went to her first New Zealand car show on the weekend - The Rusty Nuts Hot Rod show at Waihi Beach.

We cruised with the Beach Hop crew from Whangamata along the winding hilly roads to Waihi Beach. The scenery was just beautiful, through rolling green farm land and fern-filled forests, I am always amazed by just how beautiful New Zealand is and cruising along in an old car makes you appreciate it even more.

The  car show was held right on the beach and the cars all parked up on the sand - crazy!

 This too cool for school Woody Wagon looked right at home

The Beach Hop prize giveaway cars got to test out their newly installed running gear and pose for a few photos the winner of the prize draw gets to choose between the Mustang, a Falcon surf wagon or the Zephyr (the Falcon was still having its interior done so wasn't at this show)

This Zephyr comes with a matching vintage caravan and some lucky winner will taken them home for the cost of a $5 program! 

I had lots of fun getting so many great pics in the lovely afternoon light 

They had a great band called the Recliner Rockers playing on the sand - gotta love that double bass!

What a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon - chilling on the beach, listening to some live music and ogling over all the luscious chrome and immaculate machinery...

Even though I'm more of a classic and custom girl than a muscle car fan - This shot was one that I was particularly happy with - I just love the composition of it and the light, so I turned it into a black and white and it became pure art...

Cresta had lots of photos taken of her and even blokes appreciated her - these cars were a lot more popular in New Zealand than they were in Australia and so many people came up to me and said that they either used to have one, learned ot drive in one, or their parents had one... 

it made me happy to have my not-quite-so-flash as the other cars Cresta get so much love.

Of course to me she will always be the most beautiful car in the world!

Betty goes to New Zealand

Having attended the Beach Hop in Whangamata, New Zealand for the past couple of years and seeing all the Australian cars coming over for the event, I thought it was time for Cresta and Betty to come and join me this time.

Last year I met a lovely couple John and Jean Wilson who had brought their hot rod and teardrop caravan over from Australia to New Zealand for the 2013 Sony Beach Hop as part of their traveling tribute their daughter who had tragically passed away in the Victorian Bush fires the year before. I saw them again at the Camperdown Cruise in October and Jean helped me out on my Vintage Caravan Magazine stall - thanks Jean!

This year Vintage caravan Magazine is sponsoring the Vintage Caravan Show at the Beach Hop, so fellow sponsors of the Beach Hop: Famous Pacific Shipping kindly offered to provide safe passage of my car and caravan. Despite my anxieties, the whole process was so much easier than I thought it would be.

We drove down to Brisbane and over the Gateway Bridge to the Brisbane wharf where I signed in at the shipping company and was given a high visibility vest, a visitors tag and directions on where to go. The pink duo sure caused a stir on the wharves I can tell you!

The staff were all super helpful and quite a few photos were taken while we lined up alongside container-laden trucks waiting our turn to load.  

When it was time to hand over the keys to the driver who would move Cresta into the shipping area and he saw the car his first reaction was "I'm not driving that!" but when he got in and drove it he didn't seem to mind at all and he even asked me to take his picture!

Before I knew it, it was time to kiss Betty goodbye and bid her bon voyage - I found that my heart was fluttering madly and I was actually quite nervous about the whole thing, but it was obvious that good hands and that they would take very good care of her and the Cresta.

The whole journey only took four days on the water and another few days to get her cleared through customs in New Zealand where she flew through all her mandatory safety checks and was pronounced safe and solid enough to drive on New Zealand roads. Yay!

Beach Hop Whangamata - here we come!

The 2014 Sony Beach Hop is one from the 26th - 30th March in Whangamata, on the Coromandel Peninsual in the north island of New Zealand. The Vintage Caravan Magazine Retro Caravan Show will be held at the Whangamata School on  Saturday 28th March