22 May 2012

Summer colours

18/01/2012 9:47:00 a.m.

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Lights, camera, action: Catch Bill Cunningham New York at Films by Starlight. Credit: First Thought Films/Zeitgeist Films.

Lights, camera, action: Catch Bill Cunningham New York at Films by Starlight. Credit: First Thought Films/Zeitgeist Films.

ALTHOUGH the weather seems to be undecided, summer really is here and the city council’s Summer City events are back to celebrate. We’ve picked out the highlights from January’s programme…
After almost a month to digest Christmas dinner it’s time to open wide again for the Pasifika festival on January 21, where visitors can sample a range of Pacific Island foods and experience Pasifika culture at Waitangi Park. There’ll be that well known Pacific Island dish chop suey, popular right across the Islands, marinated raw fish and for the sweet tooth expect Samoan moon cakes, pancakes and donuts. Onstage entertainment will run all day, presenting Pacific Island dance set to the sounds of drums and ukuleles. There’s also craft stalls and the chance to make tapa cloths or try a Cook Island drumming workshop.
Enjoy free movies for the next four weeks as the Botanic Gardens hosts Films by Starlight. This year’s films include Exit Through The Gift Shop, a documentary about English street artist Banksy, and Bill Cunningham New York, a documentary about an eccentric fashion photographer. Kaikohe Demolition will also feature, and the final film is a classic that needs no explanation: The Labyrinth.
There’ll be a swarm of drag kings and queens in Civic Square this Saturday as part of Out In The Square, a fair to celebrate the city’s gay and lesbian community. Last year the event attracted 12,000 people.
Now we jump from flamboyant to flippers. Be prepared to do some double takes this weekend as people dressed in “crazy costumes” jump off the wharf at Days Bay and along the waterfront as part of the 350 Birdman event. As well as wharf jumping, 350 Birdman includes stalls, a crafts market and a BMX ramp that’s “available only to experts,” according to organiser Martin Wilson.
• Films by Starlight, The Dell, Botanic Garden, January 18-26.
• Pasifika Festival, Waitangi Park, 10am-4pm, January 21.
• Out in the Square, Civic Square, 11am-5pm, January 21.
• 350 Birdman, Wellington waterfront, January 23.
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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.

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