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Coverage of Convention 2009
The Taranaki weather was glorious for the
whole event and the convention went off without a hitch due to Judging Results from the show are Here _________________________________________________________________________ Thursday 22 October: Travelling There Thursday was the day many participants choose to travel to New Plymouth, and for those that did they mostly drove through heavy rain much of the way. As a result about 50% of the convention cars arrived soaking wet and muddy on Thursday afternoon, and any thoughts of car preparation were abandoned to the promise of a better weather forecast for the following day. Pics? Stories? _________________________________________________________________________ Friday 23rd October: Car Preparation and Registration Oh glorious sun !! The day dawned calm and sunny and perfect for car cleaning and polishing. The hotel car park was a hive of activity all morning. By midday most cars were completed and put under covers ready for the show next day. Some clubs took their members off on organised outings in the afternoon. Manawatu and others visited the Tupare park at the entrance to New Plymouth and were most impressed by yet another lush Taranaki garden.. and free entry!)
Pics? Stories? 7.30 pm saw the registration gathering in the
hotel. The goodies bags (and buckets) were considered the most generous anyone
could remember, and included free a tee-shirt, magazines, heaps of pens, a mug,
amongst many other items. The striking convention Polo's were also popular with
their red, white and blue colour scheme. In addition to the registration packs,
the Taranaki club also began a process of giveaways that continued all through
the convention weekend, so yet more goodies were added to the haul! Well , the day we have all been waiting for
had arrived and so has the decent weather we had all been hoping for. After
Thursday being such a crappy day weather-wise, it was lovely to wake up and see
some sun shine, just what Mustangers on the road were hoping for. I
glanced at all the paper work, files, etc etc scattered all over our dining
table and all the shirts and caps in neat piles all over the lounge floor and
thought we might be able to use the table after this weekend. Must admit we did
have a little sleep in this morning, knowing it was probably not going to happen
again for a few days.
It was great watching people meeting up with
fellow Mustangers from all over NZ and there were lots of smiling faces around
the room and heaps of chatting going on. I met up with Errol and Pam Lack from
Auckland.... small world.... I used to count Errol's $$$ (no, I mean Pounds,
shillings and pence) when I was a young bank teller in The Bank of New South
Wales in Papakura way back..... The food was brought into the room and there was
plenty of it. After a busy day it was nice to sit down and have something to eat
and enjoy a nice cold gin, lime and lemonade.... well, one or two gin, lime and
lemonades. We got talking to the team from Southern and they are very keen and
motivated about their Convention in a couple of years time and have already got
plans well under way. Saturday 24th October : Show Day. Another gorgeous sunny day. Manawatu were first into the TSB Stadium hall at 7.00 am, tires picked clean of stones, and parked with positioned with precision by the Taranaki team faced with getting 100 cars into the venue. All cars were in by about 8.30 a great effort leaving plenty of time for last minute car preparation and detailing. The public began entering at 10 am, and a great turnout of approximately 5000 people made the show a public and financial success for the Club. While those tasked with judging worked their way round the allocated cars, most of the rest took the free bus downtown for lunch and shopping or walked though one of more of the local parks. Judging Results from the show are HERE Watch a 4 minute Video of the show on Youtube here Watch a very brief overview Video of the show on Youtube here
At 4pm the doors were closed and the cars gradually rumbled out into the adjacient car park. The hungry members then had a meal and few drinks in the local Jockey club building.
_____________________________________________________________________________ SATURDAY - Mustang Show Day Saturday dawned very early for everybody
connected with the convention. We were staying at Rose & Noels and were up
and about early. We had a quick cup of tea and off to the Stadium by 6.30am as
we all had our jobs to do. The day started off as cold and sunny but cleared to
a beautiful sunny day. 10 o'clock and the public started coming in a
steady stream which lasted all day. Such a lovely day warm and sunny it seemed
like everybody was out enjoying the warm Labour weekend. There are so many car
enthusiasts in Taranaki and lots of visitors with an extra day to their weekend
. The Stadium and Jockey Club were buzzing . Everybody had their turn on the
tickets and entry and keeping an eye on the public. _________________________________________________________________________ Sunday 25th October: Round Mountain Run and Prize Giving Dinner. Yet another glorious day's weather! The cars assembled in the car park at the TBS stadium at 9 am, and progressively rolled out on a run around Surf Highway 45.
The mountain was not completely clear, the top being shrouded in high cloud, but otherwise it was a perfect run to Opunake, where the convoy turned right down to the surf club.
Once the cars were parked up the competition for the Push and Grunt trophy began. The game invented by the Taranaki club involved teams of 5 from each club, comprising 4 pushers and one driver. Each team had to run to pickup a pair of gumboots, sling them into a ute, then push it down the driveway about 50 metres. Most clubs put together a couple of teams, and there were also some all-girl teams as well. Waikato#1 team came out the winners with the shortest time.
After the Push and Grunt, lunch was served in the surf club building, and enjoyed in the calm sunny weather with the waves breaking just a short distance away on the beach.
After the museum visits it was a run back to the hotel in New Plymouth to get dressed ready for the next event- Price giving Dinner. The dinner theme was Red, White & Blue, and as usual there were great costumes .
_________________________________________________________________________ Monday 26th October: Farewell breakfast and Travel Home The weather was still great as Monday dawned warm and sunny. The car park was a hive of activity yet again as everyone packed up their cars and checked out of their rooms before the 9 am farewell breakfast. And a great breakfast it was with mountains of sausages, bacon, egg, toast, etc. Final giveaways were completed, thank you's from the other club presidents, and a welcome from the Auckland club to the 2010 convention. It sounds like it could be the biggest ever, with a large free venue, and lots of other great planning well underway. Pics? Stories? _________________________________________________________________________ Grateful acknowledgements to Terry Dywer from Taranaki Club for the majority (but not all) of the pictures on this page. _________________________________________________________________________ |
