Easter weekend 2023! Can you believe it? It feels as though just the other day I wrote my first EDM editorial of the year… Before you know it, we’ll be digging out the Christmas decorations once more. But before the year continues in a frenzy and entirely disappears on us, I’d say this long weekend is a good opportunity to sit back, take a breath, take stock, relax and refocus – seven months of the year remain, after all.

As ever, the holidays are a time best spent with family – whatever family may be to you. For us as New Zealand Trucking Media, it’s the trucking industry at large. To the trucking industry, Easter weekend has become synonymous with Wheels at Wanaka; a two-day festival of all things wheels and engines. We can think of no better way to spend a long weekend relaxing the mind than out in Otago’s autumn sunshine, among the people and machines that keep us going month after month.

The first running of the event in 2019 was an immediate success, a fact that was illustrated by a doubling of attendance at the second running in 2021 – with about 24,000 people descending on the Three Parks showgrounds. More than 200 trucks and 80 pieces of earthmoving machinery were on display and in action for visitors to enjoy.

With more than 50 acres of show to explore, dull moments do not exist. Walking the showgrounds is an Easter egg hunt all on its own – with all manner of mechanical treats to be found and savoured everywhere. Nostalgia reins, the worries of the world disappear, and people celebrate the machines that play such an important part in their – and everyone else’s – lives.

The best news? The 2023 show promises to be grander on every level. The main show runs from 9am-4.30pm Saturday and Sunday, with a continuous schedule of events for everyone to enjoy – whether your interest is steam engines, motorbikes, or classic and modern trucks and cars.

The New Zealand Trucking Media team will be there in full force, so please visit us in Truck Alley, stand TA2. We’d love to say hi and have a yarn. Keep an eye on our social media for show snippets throughout the weekend. Naturally, a full show review will follow in the May issue of New Zealand Trucking magazine.

For more information or to buy visitor passes, head over to the Wheels at Wanaka website.

And if you won’t be at the show, we wish you and your loved ones a fantastic Easter weekend all the same.

Take care out there,

Gavin Myers
Editor