Santa sails into Christmas silly season down-under
09 Dec 2009
It’s called the silly season and no wonder! While most Kiwis celebrate Christmas in a traditional way, the effects of the summer sun and pending holidays seem to incite some out-of-the-ordinary festive behaviour in New Zealand.
Santa Claus, for one, obviously suffers from sun stroke when down-under as he’s often spotted doing unusual activities like riding a jet ski on a deserted South Island lake, bungy jumping into a dramatically deep gorge, sky walking 192m above Auckland city, para-sailing in the Bay of Islands, and trying to cool off by removing his boots and paddling in the sea.
Beach theme
The weather also has an effect on what New Zealanders eat at Christmas, and the type of presents they buy.
Jandals and beach towels are some of the most popular gifts, and the traditional roast dinner is often replaced by a beach picnic or an alfresco Christmas meal around the barbecue ... finished off, naturally, with an iconic Kiwi pavlova topped with fresh cream, strawberries and kiwifruit.
Christmas pavlova
One well-known Auckland food market has even staged a Christmas pavlova competition to find the region’s premier ‘pav maker’.
Having given away tips about egg-whites needing to be at room temperature, and the bowl and beaters being "absolutely clean and grease-free", Nosh judges said they were looking for the perfect light fluffy dessert that was allowed to either be the tried and true recipe or could be given a creative treatment.
Christmas lights
Staying up late is another pre-Christmas behavioural trait in New Zealand. But, since it doesn’t get dark until well after 10pm in some parts of the country, going out for after-bedtime festive lights viewing has become a family ritual. Most towns and cities have residential streets that have become renowned for their dramatically decorated houses and gardens.
Franklin Road, in Auckland, is one of New Zealand’s best known festive season attractions. Residents first started decorating their houses 16 years ago, and every night in December the street is thronged by enchanted children in their dressing gowns and families wandering the inner city boulevard taking in the spectacular lightshow.
Dominating Auckland’s skyline, the iconic Sky Tower is especially bright for the festive season. The lights were "switched on" on 1 December by the winner of a competition to choose this year’s colour combination ... a green base with silver, red and green flashes, in true Christmas tree fashion.
In the Taranaki region of the North Island, thousands of visitors flock to well known Pukekura Park for the annual festival of lights. The combination of dramatic lighting with the majestic trees in the 52ha domain, in the heart of New Plymouth, has been a festive season highlight since 1993. For the Christmas season, the spectacle runs from 19 December until 7 February 2010.
Santa hotline
Since it’s an international call to the North Pole from New Zealand, Telecom takes pity on Kiwi children by setting up special phone lines. In Wellington, a series of dedicated phone boxes offer a direct line to Santa.
Not only can callers pass on their wish list but their voices magically activate the lights and star on the top of the Telecom Christmas tree. Visitors can also leave Christmas gifts of toys under the tree for less fortunate children.
Air NZ charity auction
The country’s national airline, Air New Zealand also helps those in need at Christmas and runs a special ‘Kids at Christmas charity auction’ which raises hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. Items include an impressive array of luxury getaways, intrepid travel, exclusive experiences and some rare opportunities like a jetpack flight and the private use of a plane for the day exclusively for the winner and 49 friends.
New Zealanders are renowned for their generosity rating highly in the world for giving more per cent of the GDP than much wealthier nations. Things might be done differently down under at Christmas but there’s nothing silly about giving and it’s the season for it!
More information:
New Zealand summer 2009 - 2010 highlights
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