THE sun shone and the waves delivered as Bonny Hills celebrated its proud surfing culture and community spirit on Saturday.
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The September 29 event marked the first major celebration on the Hastings bicentenary calendar and hundreds of people flocked to the beachside reserve to be a part of history.
Market stalls and entertainment kept the crowd busy while long-term residents reminisced about the heady days of the surfing seventies.
Three local surf clubs staged the inaugural Back to Bonny Hills surfing comp with teams from Mid North Coast Girl Surfriders, Mal De Mer Longriders and Camden Haven Junior Boardriders mastering the waves.
“It was so great to see all three clubs come together for this competition and because it has been so successful we will now make it an annual event,” Robyn Wallace, president of MNC Girl Surfriders said.
The first bus owned by the Parsons family was on show and attracted plenty of keen interest. Owner, Anthony Abi-Saab said the 1961 Bedford conducted the Royal Mail run across the Hastings stopping between Wauchope and Bonny Hills.
The limited-edition Bonny Hills pictorial history book was available for purchase.
The bicentennial event was proudly presented by the Bonny Hills Progress Association, Wauchope Bonny Hills Surf Life Saving Club and Port Macquarie-Hastings Council.
The Port Macquarie-Hastings Bicentenary will be celebrated between 2018 and 2021, marking 200 years since John Oxley and his team of 15 explorers traversed the mountains from the west and surveyed the region for early European settlement.
The major event to mark the milestone will be the 200 Together – An Exploration Through Time community celebration on October 28 on Town Green, Port Macquarie.