For the past 15 years, the hospitable people of Coolangatta and Tweed Heads, Queensland, Australia, have been allowing fans of everything retro to get their rocks off at Cooly Rocks On.

The celebration of all things 50s and 60s (known as Wintersun until 2010) has a long history on the Gold Coast. This festival was rocking long before it was trendy to be retro, but with the resurgence of all things nostalgic in the past five years or so, crowds continue to grow each year.

I was corrupted at a young age by nostalgia. My first birthday was at a car show. Being a first-born daughter didn’t stop my father – a total old car nut – from taking me out into the garage every chance he got to teach me the ropes. Mum and Dad took me along to rock ‘n’ roll dancing lessons, and I was MORTIFIED when I was picked up from school in our 1964 Pontiac Parisienne. (I later realised this was actually pretty cool). Continue reading →