Festa d'Oro and AGM of The Alfa Romeo Owners Club of NZ

Festa d'Oro kicks off in fine style with the Meet and Greet evening function at Rydges Hotel on Featherston Street.  This is a great opportunity to renew old friendships and perhaps to start a few new ones!

Registration Packs and Merchandise
Registration packs for Festa d'Oro and pre-ordered merchandise will be available for collection from 5.30pm at the Registration desk as you enter the Meet and Greet venue on the hotel's first floor.

Enjoy the Evening!
As usual, the formalities will be kept to a minimum so you will have plenty of time to spend catching up with other Alfisti.  Importantly though, during the evening you will be welcomed to this significant Festa by our club President, and we'll also introduce the ever-popular North/South Challenge!

Rydges Hotel. Credit: John Wilson

In 2021 a proposal was made to publish a book on AROCNZ's first 50 years. Little did we know what a huge task this would be and how much amazing material would be forthcoming! Over the following two years 118 articles were completed by 65 writers and contributors, and around  900 photos and original documents were selected and professionally scanned. Editing, design, layout and printing were done professionally to the highest standards.
Half Century, Full Throttle is a book to grace the coffee tables of all Alfisti and petrolheads for generations to come.

Now you have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in the launch of Half Century, Full Throttle. You'll be entertained by Master of Ceremonies Nick Tansley as he interviews some of the key AROCNZ personalities featured in the book, and you'll hear how archives from the National Library of New Zealand and the Alexander Turnbull Library provided insights into Alfa Romeo's earliest days in New Zealand, as far back as 1950.

Pre-ordered copies of Half Century, Full Throttle will be available for pick up, at the celebration and the book will also be for sale (cash and EFTPOS accepted).

The book launch is in the Makaro Gallery of the Wharewaka Function Centre on the Wellington waterfront.

Although a new building, its location will be immediately recognisable to the many Alfisti who took part in the Wellington Street Race events between 1985-1996. Their stories to be shared on the night form one of the most enthralling chapters of Half Century, Full Throttle.

The Whairepo lagoon. Credit: WellingtonNZ

As Festa d'Oro is a very special occasion, the Festa team decided a wide range of memorabilia would be made available to record the club's golden anniversary. You will be able to order T-shirts, polos and jackets embroidered with the Festa d'Oro logo.
Orders are now open for the merchandise, please complete the order form and make the required payment here. Payment by credit card is preferred, as acknowledgement of your order and payment is automated. Orders can be placed from now until 10 September - the following photo is of some samples we have had embroidered with the Festa d'Oro logo. If you have any queries on the merchandise please email merchandise@arocnz.org.nz.

Cocktails and Festa d'Oro Gala Dinner at Te Papa

We have a very special venue for this wonderful celebration and as you can tell from the merchandise, we are reflecting the golden nature of this anniversary.

In keeping with this theme, the suggested dress code for the gala night will be formal with a touch of gold. We are hoping to make this a very memorable evening especially for visitors to the Capital City.

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. Credit: Wellington New Zealand Resource Library

Historic Wellington motorsport hillclimbs and coastal tour

Historically, Wellington hosted hillclimbs from Paekakariki through to the city and they were a Pretty Big Deal in those times – check out the number of spectators in the photos below.

The Saturday afternoon run to the Kapiti Coast will incorporate the drive down the Paekakariki hillclimb route so you can share in the thrill of the historic experience.

The post Festa d'Oro tour will cover four of the city-based hillclimbs, or these can be done on your own at your leisure sometime over the long weekend.

This is the very Alfa that won at le Mans in 1931. The car was shortened and fitted with a Ford axle and rear wheels.

Wellington member and enthusiastic Alfa owner Peter Maxwell competed in the Alexander Road and Palmer Head hillclimbs in his pre-Alfa owning years.

 

Photo: Bruce Webster driving his 8C at Houghton Bay.
The photo is from the Robert Webster archive.

Photo is Peter in his 327 Monaro on the Alexander Road start line around 1969/70 on Alexander Road, Mt Victoria.

Kapiti Fun Run

Saturday 19 October 2024

Make your way north on SH1 then SH59 at Porirua and assemble at Z Petrol Station, Mana Esplanade, Paremata.
Come by around 1pm to grab something for lunch or a bit later for coffee or else arrive in true flamboyant Italian style, arms waving and brake dust billowing, at precisely 2.10pm for our planned 2.00pm departure.

Full details for the Giro di Centocinquanta Curve (journey of 150 bends) will be in the booklet in your registration pack.

There's so much to see on the beautiful Kapiti Coast and so little time!

We hope you'll be keen to visit one of Kapiti's gems: Southward Car Museum.

And let's take in some fun scenic roads with twists and turns on the way there!

The Paekakariki Hill Lookout is a great place to stop for a photo on the Saturday Kapiti Run through to Southward Museum.

Return to Wellington either by SH1 (Transmission Gully) or SH59 (the old SH1 coastal route); either way will take about 45 minutes.

Paekakariki hill look out. Credit: Fiona McDonald-Bates.

Southward Car Museum. Credit: Southward Car Museum.

Wairarapa Scenic and Wine Tour

Friday 18 October or Monday 21 October 2024

This is an optional, self-drive tour, which can be enjoyed on the Friday or as a post-Festa tour on the Monday. Registrations are required for either day. The tour covers 175km of lovely roads with stops in the picturesque shopping village of Greytown and lunch in Martinborough, well known for its many vineyards.

The tour starts at 9:00am in central Wellington, heads out alongside Wellington Harbour, then through the Hutt Valley before going over the wonderful Remutaka Hill.

The Remutaka Hill road is made for Alfa Romeos, with scenic views down into the Wairarapa basin as you come down from the 555-metre summit.

The summit, named the Remutaka Pass, is at the northern saddle of the Remutaka Range. It is well worth stopping at the Pass to see the Remutaka Crossing Memorial, which was erected in 2015 to commemorate the 30,000 soldiers who marched over the Pass between 1915 and 1918 to embark at Wellington for the trenches in France.

We will pass through Featherston on our way to Greytown and on the way back from Martinborough. Nestled at the foot of the Remutaka Range, it is known for its annual Booktown festival, with seven bookstores open for business year-round. C’est Cheese is also a good spot for cheese lovers providing artisan cheeses and deli food!

The tour continues on to Greytown, well known for its wonderful array of interesting shops and olde-worlde village feel. Morning refreshments are available from one of the many cafes or at the White Swan Hotel (which has its own travel story to tell).

While in Greytown, we recommend you take a stroll along Main Street, anywhere from the White Swan as far as The Offering Café at the northern end of the shopping precinct. Shops range from clothing boutiques and antique stores to the tiny ‘Imperial Productions’ at 5 McMaster St, which sells very detailed figurines of soldiers and citizens. Blackwells & Sons Cycle Shop and Mrs Blackwell’s Village Bookstore are well worth a visit. The Main St Deli halfway along has a nice garden out the back if it’s a fine day.

From Greytown, it’s a 20-minute drive to Martinborough, famous for its wineries, restaurants, and cafes. 

Our destination will be The Runholder winery where we have booked a delicious lunch and a tasting of their wines or gins, starting at 1:00pm.

Once we have been fed and watered, you can take your time to walk around the village or visit other wineries before travelling back to Wellington at your leisure.

 

Activities to do in Wellington

Please click on this link to download a PDF list of suggested activities to do in Wellington for Festa d'Oro attendees.

The list includes landmark sites to visit, cafes nearby, gourmet foodie places, places of interest to either walk to or drive to.

Wellington Cable Car from Kelburn. Credit: Wellington New Zealand Resource Library