22 May 2012

New Year’s 11/12: Pick your party

21/12/2011 10:06:00 a.m.

0 Comments

WHATEVER your taste, there’s a New Year’s shindig waiting for you. We’ve summed up this city’s wildest parties as well as some slighty-more-civilised alternatives so you can choose where to be for the big countdown.
Beyond the Black - A one-night rock and metal music festival complete with a campsite to collapse in. The fun starts at 9am at Trentham Racecourse, Upper Hutt, and the lineup includes rockers Head Like A Hole, Shotgun Alley and death metallers Disentomb (Aus). Expect 2000 longhaired, black leather clad moshers ready for 14 hours of raucous head banging. Drink of choice: Jack Daniels. Bring earplugs.
Sandwiches NYE 2011 - Two rooms of grooves, opening at 9pm: drum and bass/funk and hip hop. Lineup includes Artificial Intelligence (London), Emma G, JMC, DDog, Stonya and Legoman. Mingle with cool cats, young skaters, urban tattooed guys and the “fine looking ladies” chasing them. Drink of choice: Absolut Vodka. A good choice to get off Courtenay Place.
NYE Party at The Cross - Relaxed revelry with indoor/outdoor flow at The Southern Cross Garden Bar from 9pm, featuring Roseneath Centennial Ragtime Band - upbeat, easy-listening ragtime from the watering holes of 1940s New Orleans. Expect to share the bar with a friendly crowd around 23+ and the Cuba bohemians. Drink of choice: beer. Dancing shoes required - Ragtime says its aim is “to get asses shaking”.
La De Da NYE - A chilled out day, night and early morning at Dry River Road, Martinborough, kicking off at 11am. Line up includes Fat Freddy’s Drop, Donovan Frankenreiter (USA), Katchafire, Six60, SKisM and Kora. Expect a relaxed winery vibe by day and a big party when it gets dark. Drink of choice: wine. Don’t wear heels, it’ll be grassy.
New Year on The Waterfront - Family friendly fun by the water at Frank Kitts Park and Odlins Plaza. Cool tunes from Avidiva and gypsy good time group Niko Ne Zna along with roaming performers and fireworks. Expect families, and probably groups of young teens celebrating a night of rebellion without their parents. Drink of choice: Coke - this one’s liquor free. Kids, your countdown’s at 9pm.
Hang The DJ - Two well-established nights mashed into one New Year’s special from 9pm at San Francisco Bath House: Atomic vs 24 Hour Party People, featuring DJ Bill E playing Blondie, Stone Roses, New Order, Bloc Party, Blur, Bowie, The Smiths, Madonna and Duran Duran. Expect the city’s indie kids to come ready for a party, bringing skinny jeans and shrewd music tastes. Drink of choice: bubbles, red bull. There’ll be a fun vibe and a packed dance floor.
NYE DJ party at Foxglove - A DJ party featuring DJ Killamanraro, DJ Spell (he just won the Red Bull national DJ competition) and Mikki Dee. The Queens Wharf Ballroom’s going at the same time but the whole area opens up as one zone once the show’s over at the ballroom. It’s R18, and expect a bunch of people who just want to dance. Drink of choice: cocktails at Foxtail, through the wardrobe. Good place to stop in for a few hours if you’re on a bar crawl (it’s free entry).
Queens Wharf Ballroom NYE party - Psychedelic pop and bluesy psych-rock party at the Queens Wharf Ballroom from 8pm, featuring local sweethearts The Phoenix Foundation with The Nudge. The ballroom’s massive and it’s right on the waterfront with balcony views and vintage feel chandeliers. Expect long time fans up for a good time. Dress up but remember it’s a party, cocktail dresses not expected. Drink of choice: Tequila. A stone’s throw from town.
NYE at The Matterhorn - A less frantic New Year’s with a bit more style at The Matterhorn. Funk and boogaloo supergroup The Eggs will provide hip-shaking tunes to regulars - New Year’s lands on a Saturday, the band’s resident night. Lisa Tomlins is in the house too. Have a big feed at the restaurant, then move on to drinks as the music starts. Drink of choice: It’s got to be cocktails here. This’ll be a respectable night - you’re not going to end up in the gutter
Email This Print

0 Comments

Don't worry, we wont make this public

No comments.

Cover Story

Best of Wellington 2011

Briefs

  • A question of nutrition

    Controversial Washington-based nutritionist Sally Fallon-Morell is to speak in Wellington on March 29.
    Fallon-Morell is the co-founder of the American food lobby group the Weston A. Price Foundation and the author of Nourishing Traditions. She advocates for the consumption of nutritionally dense foods such as lacto-fermented vegetables, stocks and broths, and whole raw dairy products.
    Fallon-Morell will speak at St Patrick’s College Hall on March 29.

  • Relay for cancer

    Organisers say Sunday’s Relay for Life is full to capacity with hundreds of Wellingtonians registered for the event.
    A total of 88 teams, made up of 10 to 500 members, plan to take part with a further 25 teams on the waiting list.
    The 24 hour relay, the Cancer Society’s biggest fundraising event of the year, takes place at Frank Kitts Park from 4pm on March 31.

  • Osteoarthritis awareness

    Arthritis New Zealand has launched a nationwide campaign raise awareness about osteoarthritis. 
    Arthritis is New Zealand’s leading cause of disability, affecting 305,000 adults, and osteoarthritis is its most common form.
    The campaign features television commercials and an interactive website.


  • Wild walk

    Take part in the Big Walk at Zealandia on March 31.
    Walkers can choose a two, five or 10 kilometre walk catering to all fitness levels.
    Money raised will go to the Foundation for Youth Development.

  • School pool

    The opening of the new Khandallah School pool this week means hundreds of children will be able to continue their swimming lessons.
    The pool was the first to receive a grant from Wellington City Council’s Schools Pools Partnership Fund, a fund set up in 2010 to help schools improve their pool facilities.
    Grants from the fund have also been made for pools at Wellington East Girls’ College, Barhampore School and Tawa School.

  • Easter bikers

    Motorcyclists are invited to get on their bikes and collect Easter eggs for families support from the Wellington City Mission.
    The charity run on April 1 is organised by motorcycle lobby group BONZ.
    Eggs can be donated at Red Baron Motorcylces in Alicetown. The registration fee for bikers is $10, plus the cost of Easter eggs.

  • Crafty

    Made on Marion opens on the site of the former Golding Handicrafts site in Marion St, from April 1.  They will continue to supply craft materials.

  • Ze upgrade

    Taranaki Street fuel users will notice that the Z Energy’s former Shell Service Station is closed.  Z are doing a “total revamp”.
    The job will take four weeks.

  • Newlands Moves

    Developer Ayal Aharoni has agreed to build only 90 instead of 220 houses on his six and a half hectares above Ngauranga Gorge in Newlands.  Only low density occupation will be allowed on the remaining 8.4 hectares.


  • Baring Head

    There's a new  draft plan out for what should happen at Baring Head.  It outlines how the Greater Wellington Regional council would like to manage the newest addition to its regional parks network. Grazing animals will go, motorised vehicles will be prohibited, predators will be controlled, and the lighthouse will be preserved. Submissions are invited.


  • It’s a wonder

    A new childcare centre in Newtown says it is dedicated to helping kids grow up healthy in mind, body and spirit. Little Wonders Childcare on Rintoul Street is an independent early childhood education and learning centre, the sixth centre to be opened by its Auckland-based owner. It caters to 100 children aged between three months and five years old and has been open for a little more than seven weeks.

  • Festival treats

    CHILDREN have not been forgotten by organisers of the New Zealand International Arts Festival.
    For a perfect first theatrical experience White tells the story of friends Cotton and Winkle who live in a world where there is no colour and everything is startlingly white. That is until a brightly coloured egg tumbles out of the sky and changes their world for ever.
    White plays at Capital E from March 7-11.
    The tale of Peter and the World also promises to be a magical night for all ages. Sergei Prokofiev’s classic children’s tale is told through film and live music from the NZ Symphony Orchestra at the Michael Fowler Centre on March 9.
    March 11 is Young Writers and Readers Day and readings from children’s writers and illustrators Lynley Dodd and Gavin Bishop.

Reader's Poll

Should TVNZ7 be saved as non-commercial?