WHEELS AT WANAKA

The second Wheels at Wanaka event, referred to by organisers as the History-in-Motion Show, drew about 24,000 attendees to the lakeside town over the past Easter Weekend. More than 200 trucks, ranging from the early 1900s to today, gathered at the Three Parks site for the event, sponsored by Southpac Trucks. Attendees had the opportunity to join various parades relevant to their vehicle’s brand, and a common comment was that it didn’t matter whether you had polished your truck within an inch of its life or merely washed it and parked it up, everybody was just there for a good time. Arguably, the most popular part of the previous 2019 event was the ‘Earthmoving Extravangza’, where classic earthmoving machinery performed working displays in a purpose-built pit. This year’s extravaganza morphed in size, with 80-odd machines put through their paces by a team of expert operators.