New Zealand - Winter 2011 highlights
Snow is gathering on New Zealand’s high country and mountain resorts are grooming their fields as the country says goodbye to autumn and welcomes visitors for another season of uniquely Kiwi winter events.
Major events like the 100% Pure Winter Games, Queenstown Winter Festival and the World Heli Challenge will be highlights for snow lovers - but right across the country there will be diverse events on offer.
Food shows and wine festivals, music, arts, fashion and family fun events, plus some Kiwi-only cultural experiences demonstrate that New Zealand is a year-round destination for all ages.
And whether it’s more gentle outdoor action and adventure, or cosy fireside relaxation that whets the appetite, there’s a varied menu of New Zealand event highlights this winter.
Matariki - Maori New Year
4 June - 4 July, 2011
New Zealand celebrates Maori New Year or Matariki during winter. The month long event is associated with the first sighting of Matariki - the Pleiades or the Seven Sisters star group - which will appear early this year.
Matariki is the most important date on the Maori calendar, and each year celebrations become more widespread as families and local communities pay greater attention to the traditional significance of the festival.
It is a time to farewell the past year and welcome new life and new beginnings with festivities centred on kai / food sharing, hospitality, art and crafts, cultural workshops, traditional Maori games, concerts and performances.
Auckland’s 2011 celebrations will be the biggest ever with more than a 100 events, starting with a dawn karakia / prayer at Maungakiekie / One Tree Hill blessing the arrival of the first moon after the initial rising of Matariki.
Matariki Events
American Express Queenstown Winter Festival
24 June - 3 July, 2011
Winter gets underway with a bang in the South Island alpine resort of Queenstown with a 10-day celebration that is already billed as the southern hemisphere's most legendary winter party - and gets bigger, better, more fun and slightly wackier each year. Now in its 37th year, the Winter Festival has a well established reputation and the 2011 programme includes some intriguing new events in sports, music, arts, comedy, food and wine - as well as annual favourites on and off the snow.
Winter Festival
Fieldays
in Hamilton - Waikato
15 - 18 June, 2011
New Zealand’s iconic rural trade event, now in its 43rd year, will again display the latest technology and innovation to the national and international agricultural community. The annual four-day event attracts in excess of 120,000 visitors, and more than 1000 exhibitors are signed up for the 2011 show. This year’s theme is 'Breaking barriers to productivity'.
Fieldays
Tartan Week - Northland
1 - 9 July, 2011
The Celtic heritage of this picturesque holiday destination at Waipu - north of Auckland - comes to the fore during a festival week that features a local Highland band, whisky tasting at the jail museum, ‘Artntartan’ wearable art awards, clan dinners, Highland dancing competitions, a mid-winter swim, a men in kilts rugby challenge and ‘Grand Finale Ball’. The local butcher offers a taste of haggis, and shops give tartan-wearing customers free shortbread.
Tartan Week - Bream Bay
Maori Language Week
4 - 10 July, 2011
‘Manaakitanga’ is the theme for 2011 Maori Language week - held earlier this year because of the change to school terms for RWC 2011. Organisers say the message of manaakitanga - which is the Maori word for hospitality - and the promotion of the Maori language is particularly important as New Zealand welcomes visitors for the Rugby World Cup.
Maori Language Week
Bluewater Hotel Deco Decanted & Jazz Festival - Hawke's Bay
15 - 17 July, 2011
The winter version of the popular Hawke’s Bay Art Deco Weekend provides another opportunity to experience the stylish era in Napier - New Zealand's Art Deco capital. A full programme of live jazz, wine tastings, fashion, fine dining and glamour events is scheduled.
Deco & Jazz Festival
Cadbury Chocolate Carnival
- Dunedin
23 - 29 July, 2011
Dunedin promises a chocolate dipped programme for the 2011 carnival with a range of family-friendly events that entice visitors with sweet rewards. Otago’s legendary nature and wildlife attractions plan special events and there are chocolate related arts and crafts, chocolate factory tours, food classes and competitions, chocolate facials, a Gold Rush train ride and treasure hunt, and the Larnach Castle Cadbury Winter Ball to tempt visitors. A highlight is the annual Jaffa Race down Baldwin Street - the steepest street in the world.
Cadbury Carnival website
USA v Canada International Ice Hockey series
23 July - 3 August, 2011
In a downunder-first, USA and Canadian hockey stars will face off in three matches - in Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin - in July and August. They'll be playing the exhibition series on a massive portable ice rink imported for the matches. Ice hockey is the world’s fastest team sport, and the 22 professional hockey players from the world’s top ice hockey nations are expected to provide a sporting spectacle that will also include special effects and pyrotechnics.
International Ice Hockey series
World Heli Challenge & Wanaka Street Style
27 July - 11 August, 2011
About 50 world champions, Olympians and leading ski and snowboard athletes compete in the ultimate adventure - in the awe inspiring terrain of the Southern Alps, only accessed by helicopter. The event also attracts top photographers and film makers for a 'snow show' that incorporates art, creativity, lifestyle and cultural experiences against the dramatic backdrop of Lake Wanaka.
World Heli Challenge
The Food Show - Auckland
28 - 31 July, 2011
A culinary enthusiast’s mid-winter feast - when the latest trends and treats, freshest flavours and new ideas are brought together in a food, wine and beer expo. Celebrity chefs give live demonstrations and share hot tips and special recipes to an audience that normally exceeds 40,000. Essential kitchen utensils, new products including fair trade and organic produce will also feature at the 2011 event.
The Food Show
Burton New Zealand Snowboard Open - Lake Wanaka
8 - 13 August, 2011
Five days of world-class snowboarding action featuring some of the sport’s highest profile athletes showing their skills at Cardrona Alpine Resort near Wanaka. The annual event is in its ninth year, and the New Zealand event kick starts Burton’s 2012 Global Open Series. It features half pipe and slopestyle disciplines and is again expected to draw a large crowd of spectators.
Snowboard Open
Taranaki International Festival of the Arts
4 - 21 August, 2011
Taranaki’s biennial arts festival promises a mix of avant-garde circus, theatre, contemporary and classical music, comedy and cabaret, writers’ series and visual arts. A highlight will be ‘Soap - the show’ a daring performance by eight acrobats in, on and around a series of bathtubs.
Taranaki Arts Festival
Wellington on a Plate
5 - 21 August, 2011
New Zealand’s premier culinary festival will stage its 'third course' with experiences for every palate and budget. The festival centrepiece is DINE Wellington involving pop-up restaurants, special deals and set menus at about 100 of the region’s finest eateries. There are 80 different events on the 2011 festival programme - further establishing Wellington as New Zealand’s culinary capital.
Wellington on a Plate
100% Pure NZ Winter Games - Southern Alps
13 - 28 August, 2011
Close to 1000 of the world’s top snows and ice sports athletes will compete in more than 25 disciplines at Winter Games NZ - the largest winter sports event outside the Winter Olympics. Held at New Zealand’s top alpine resorts in the Southern Alps, this year’s event will extend to include speed skating, figure skating and ice hockey in Dunedin. Curling at Naseby also includes mixed pairs competition this year.
Winter Games
Good Vibes 2011 - Nelson
17 - 21 August, 2011
This will be the 10-year anniversary of New Zealand’s largest skydiving event as more than 150 skydivers from around the world take part in jumps in the Abel Tasman skies - the country’s highest skydive offers spectacular views.
Good Vibes - Abel Tasman Skydive
Brancott Estate World of WearableArt
- Wellington
25 August - 10 September, 2011
The World of WearableArt will be held a month early and enjoy an extended season this year because of Rugby World Cup 2011. The spectacular show held in Wellington features extraordinary garments from artists and designers from around the world. During the RWC and REAL New Zealand Festival eight iconic garments from the World of WearableArt collection will tour eight regions in the ‘WOW Icons exhibition’.
World of Wearable Art
New Zealand Fashion Week
- Auckland
30 August - 2 September, 2011
At this annual fashion event for international buyers and media, New Zealand designers reveal their new season ranges. This year's edition will take place in Auckland's brand new Viaduct Events Centre on the harbour.
NZ Fashion Week
More information
New Zealand Events Calendar
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| NZ children learn Māori dance, music and history in school |
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| Baldwin St, Dunedin, is a sea of red as 30,000 jaffas race to the bottom. |
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| World Heli Challenge 2010 in Mt Aspiring National Park |
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