{"id":348290,"date":"2026-03-26T05:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T05:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/348290\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T05:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T05:12:08","slug":"beach-hop-2026-events-moved-to-whangamata-as-weather-disrupts-pauanui-and-onemana-stops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/348290\/","title":{"rendered":"Beach Hop 2026: Events moved to Whangamat\u0101 as weather disrupts P\u0101uanui and \u014cnemana stops"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe reason we are activating this plan is obviously to keep yourself and your vehicle safe,\u201d Beaver said. <\/p>\n

An orange rain warning was in place for Coromandel Peninsula until 6pm Friday.<\/p>\n

MetService warned that 130mm to 180mm of rain was expected, on top of what has already fallen, but up to 250mm was possible about the Coromandel Range.<\/p>\n

Peak rates of 15-25mm\/h \u2013 and possibly 25-40mm\/h about the ranges \u2013 were likely from this afternoon through to Friday morning, the weather agency said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhangamat\u0101 is used to [wet weather],\u201d Beaver said, and a \u201cfull emergency management plan\u201d that had been developed in combination with the council could be activated if needed.<\/p>\n

He said petrol stations were \u201ctopped up\u201d, with fuel \u201cpre-ordered\u201d before the event.<\/p>\n

\"Whangamat\u0101Whangamat\u0101 locals Eve Mewse (left), Evie Taylor and Molly McKillop aren’t letting the rain stop their Beach Hop celebrations. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Taking advantage of the wet weather, attendees were challenged to take their \u201cbest rainy Beach Hop photo\u201d to enter a giveaway offering $2500 worth of petrol vouchers.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone\u2019s been really positive,\u201d Beaver said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe car guys are happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beaver said Waih\u012b had its \u201cbiggest day ever\u201d, with a \u201crecord amount of cars\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was at capacity for parking … there was no more room.\u201d <\/p>\n

More than 110,000 classic motoring enthusiasts<\/a> were believed to have made their way to the Coromandel for the event last year. <\/p>\n

Beaver said the number wasn\u2019t likely to change this year, but he encouraged people to check Beach Hop\u2019s social media for the latest updates.<\/p>\n

In Pauanui, \u201call was not lost\u201d. <\/p>\n

P\u0101uanui Club events co-ordinator Summer Brown said they went into \u201cdamage control\u201d, not letting the \u201cweather get in the way of a good time\u201d.<\/p>\n

There was \u201cobviously some disappointment\u201d after Beach Hop was cancelled, but the town is accustomed to wet weather, she said.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe annual Repco Beach Hop Festival had a record amount of cars in Waih\u012b on Wednesday. Photo \/ Jason Sayers<\/p>\n

Instead, the club hosted \u201cSave Our Sausages, Steak and Sanity\u201d, inviting locals for a barbecue from midday \u2013 with plenty of sausages and steak on hand to get everyone through.<\/p>\n

Brown said there were \u201ctwo phenomenal cars\u201d parked inside, with a best dressed competition, live music and raffles also on the programme.<\/p>\n

About an hour in, around 100 people had turned up \u2013 \u201ca much better turnout\u201d than expected \u2013 with more continuing to arrive.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll carry on all the Beach Hop vibes throughout the weekend,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

Beach Hop was Whangamat\u0101 local Jennifer Taylor and her daughter Evie\u2019s \u201cfavourite time of the year\u201d.<\/p>\n

They have lived in the town for nine years. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe town comes alive,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n

She said the whole community got involved, with shops decorated and local schools embracing the event.<\/p>\n

Whangamat\u0101 Area School was set to hold a Beach Hop fun day, with a dress-up competition and box-car parade, she said.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, students lined the school waving Repco flags as cars passed through for the Waih\u012b warm-up event.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s such a unique event and a big part of the identity of the town,\u201d Taylor said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes us really proud and grateful that we live here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Annabel Reid<\/a> is a multimedia journalist for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post, based in Rotorua. Originally from Hawke\u2019s Bay, she has a Bachelor of Communications from the University of Canterbury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe reason we are activating this plan is obviously to keep yourself and your vehicle safe,\u201d Beaver said.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348291,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2246,95,806,7972,2841,127,37730,3685,6559,2959,26858,97653,76703,32033,185051,111,43,139,69,22126,12937,185050,6560,13120,15216,75703,61,33210,4998,99704],"class_list":["post-348290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-2246","tag-and","tag-as","tag-beach","tag-country","tag-despite","tag-disrupts","tag-events","tag-heavy","tag-high","tag-hop","tag-hoppers","tag-lashing","tag-moved","tag-nemana","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-petrol","tag-prices","tag-puanui","tag-rain","tag-remain","tag-resilient","tag-stops","tag-to","tag-warnings","tag-weather","tag-whangamat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}