On the road again!!!

WARNING!!

Massive amount of photos.

(but they are pretty good)

I have been on a little road trip all by myself as TOF had to work this weekend, and he wasn't too pleased about it either. The part of him having to work, not me abandoning him.  So with him not coming I set off to Whangamata to stay with my sister on Friday morning.  Beach Hop was on so a good excuse to head on over for a couple of days. 

Absolutely gorgeous morning so I decided I would drive a different way this time, and my first stop was at Morrinsville, a farming town that we in our house fondly call Motown.

 What a beautiful main street, full of fabulous potted colour.

Are there any Op Shops?

Sure are!

And did I buy anything?

Sure did!!

Leaving Morrinsville and back on the country roads, I passed through places like Tatua, Waitoa, and Waihou.  All small communities with things like a town hall, petrol pump, dairy, church, primary school, pub and/or Dairy factory.  This is farming country, cows, cows, and more cows!!!  MOOOOOOO!!!

Heading in to Te Aroha another small town at the base of Mt Te Aroha, there was a mist everywhere.  Quite magical actually and I liked it alot.  Te Aroha is old and has loads of lovely old homes.  My grandfather lived there for a time as a child and always told me the best view of Te Aroha was in the rear vision mirror of the car when leaving!! 

The drive from Te Aroha to Paeroa is fun.  Long straight roads with those dips that make your tummy do flips.  Through Paeroa, past the big bottle, then into the Karangahake Gorge, I love this part of the trip.  Next thing I knew I was out of there and heading into Waihi.

A quick stop off at the SPCA Op shop, because the most hilarious Irish man works there and he always makes me laugh.  He is utterly naughty!!  Good scores there, more lovely sheets and YES I know, another pair of SHOES!!!  When you can score new shoes for $5 why wouldn't you buy them?

Between Waihi and Whangamata are two sets of hills.  In the middle is this gorgeous beach called Whiritoa, and I turned off especially for you readers so you could all cop a look at the beauty!!  You are welcome!

Being stuck behind old cars that only go 80 on the open road and farking camper vans, I finally made it to Whangamata.  I decided to treat myself to a visit to one of the op shops as it was on my way to my sisters shop.  Yes, I spent $4!! Reckless to say the least, I should be punished!

Town was already pumping, with people parked up watching cars driving by.  Top left picture is my favourite original cool shop called Garuda.  This has been here since I was a teenager and possible the first two storied place in the main drag.  Speaking of drag check out the guy that owns the cafe next to Helens shop.  He was happy to oblige me with a photo, but there are more to come, he is English with a fabulous sense of humour and great fun.

This couple of motorbike riders had their three dogs with them.  Yes you heard me correctly, three dogs.  Two small ones went into special dog pannier bags on the the blue motor bike and then the gorgeous big one jumped up into the special seat behind the rider.  Once harnessed in and wearing goggles they were off.  This little show drew quite the crowd of adoring fans, me included.

I hung out in the shop with Helen for a couple of hours and then walked back to the car that was parked miles away because poor little Whangamata was bursting at it's seams with people and vehicles.  I escaped to the harbour to breath in some fresh sea air as my lungs were full of petrol fumes, not pleasant.

How perfect was the weather? And the water was warm so I paddled in it for ages loosing myself in childhood memories of fishing and cockle collecting down here.  Bliss. Hasn't changed much either.

I actually managed to find a park under a tree amongst all the Freedom campers taking full advantage of a beautiful spot to park up and rest.

At Helens home I was in good company while waiting for her and her hubby to finish work.  Their two dogs.  We chilled out on the deck with a cuppa, well I had the cuppa, they were just happy to have ME!

 We were joined by a very busy Bee!!

Then the fuzz drove past.  And a red car and caravan.  In fact there was shite loads of retro caravans camping in the school grounds, but I didn't go look at them this year before I left because it was manic that end of town.

Then a massive procession of old cars and hot rods started going past, returning from a drive to Onemana, another stunning beach further up the coast.

After dinner Helen and I went down town to get a photo of her shop window on the left.  Shops do up there windows for the weekend and beach hoppers vote on best window, I am hoping she won as it truely was the best.  On the right is a hairdressers window, it was pretty cool, but not as cool as Glamour.

We both admired the shoes and sunnies in this shop window.

Cafe guy hammed it up for us at night outside the shop window, and these lovely ladies agreed to being snapped there too.

Town was alive with partying adults, and the cars doing the annual night drive.  Huge police present to enforce the liquor ban as previous years there has been the odd bit of trouble.  The State troopers weren't the real coppers, they were walking in pairs mingling with the crowd. It had a nice safe feeling about the night.

After a great nights sleep we got sorted and headed down town to the shop as Helen was working of course.  I was the extra set of eyes for the day as it was pretty busy at times.  Our good friend Annette took the photo of us, so thanks Annette, you did good.

Then it all started, first with the rock n roll dancers of all shapes, sizes and ages.  It was excellent.

 These two was fantastic, he flipped and flopped her like she was a rag doll.

I think this beach hop was even bigger than last year, just so many cars, bikes and people.

 Birdseye view of what was to come.

I'm thinking possibly the best seat in the house!!

 Chrome and paint polished within an inch of it's life.

Just some of the makes on show.

Lights, tail wings and white wall tyres.

People, my favourite type,

all dressed up!

 Parasols and beautiful women.

 Fabulous hair and scarves.

 Sun glasses and pretty vintage frocks.

Couples, friends and even families dressing up

and strutting their stuff.

The lady on the left works in the shop a couple of days a week and the lady on the right purchased the colourful and daring crocheted tunic from the shop.  The shop is called Glamour!!

I had amazing time and bought this chocolate brown with aqua spots frock from Glamour yesterday and wore it today with one of my old petticoats under it.  Awesome for twirling in, so I did some when I got home.  We sold quite a few of these frocks today because they are so YUM!!

So I am home now and bloody tired.

Hope you enjoyed the trip to the beach with me.