The enthusiasm displayed by the VW owners involved in this weekend's Run to the Sun in Mount Maunganui was jollied along after a night of rain by hot steaming cups of coffee.

An early morning message through their Facebook page read "Good morning RTTSers we are still holding our Show and Shine in the car park as arranged, we are hoping that the rain holds off enough to enjoy the show. Please come and support us."

With their vehicles lined up colourfully in the Phoenix Carpark, the 'dubstar' owners clustered under umbrellas catching up with each other and checking out their recent and older acquisitions.

Some had arrived Friday afternoon and evening, driving from Hamilton, Auckland and nearby Katikati, with a few switching from tenting to hiring caravans. After an evening group hamburger barbecue and sausage sizzle to welcome the travellers, the watery showers became earnest.

Posts about the rain popped up on Facebook.

"What you actually mean is 'totally pishing doon' but aye, glad we're no in a tent!"

"It's not horizontal yet folks. Bonus!"

"Got here. Where's the sun?" was followed by a general feeling that if there's no sun then the weekend's joi la vie attitude easily switches to an alternate mindset, with 'Run to the Fun' replacing 'Run to the Sun'.

The good news for these VW owners is that the local coffee is great, there's a Mexican dinner planned indoors for Saturday night along with prizegiving, and the hot pools are right next door.