Thursday 5 February 2009

February

February is the best time to visit Wellington. The weather is still warm (It's the antipodes equivalent of August). Airfare and other travel-related prices are starting to go down post-Christmas holidays. But most importantly, my goodness is there a lot going on!

Fringe Festival is almost upon us upon us (6th Feb. to 1st March) This festival prides itself on having an "open access" policy, making it easy for any artist to become a part of the events. It's an idea launching pad for up and coming artists, and the best of all, it's a festival that's easy to enjoy on the cheap. You can even get a discount card for it!

The Cuba Street Carnival
(21st Feb.) does alternate years with the New Zealand International Arts Festival (26th Feb to 21st March). Last year was the Arts Festival (big, fancy, expensive showcase of artists of all kinds) and we didn't make it to anything partially due to laziness and partially due to price. This year I am looking foreword to the Cuba Street Carnival - a huge, free, Rio de Janeiro-style street party with costume contests, multiple stages, and a night parade.

New Zealand International Sevens (6th and 7th Feb.) is probably the biggest costume-wearing day of the year, which is saying a lot for a city whose residents are happy to use even a mundane office party as an excuse to wear a costume. Technically a sporting event, the Sevens is more like an annual event. There are parades, costume contests, and countless parties surrounding the games. I don't have much interest in sport, but it's easy to see what's so appealing about the Sevens. It is a simplified, slimmed-down version of Rugby, allowing for action-packed matches that only last fifteen minutes. An entire tournament is played through in just two days. This also means that all of the Rugby Sevens teams come through town all at once. A very big event for Rugby fans. As for me, tickets to the actual game are expensive and not worth it. We'll probably do what we did last year: Walk outside our door, turn the corner, and find ourselves in the midst of the Courtneay Place block party where we'll be able to catch the last couple of games on the big screen they've got set up in the street.

Waitangi Day
(6th of February). While walking along the waterfront last night, I overheard a snippet of conversation: "Waitangi Day is our Thanksgiving." I thought, "no it's not, Waitangi Day is obviously more like the 4th of July!" It is, after all, the day to celebrate the founding of the country. It is the day a group of Maori tribes signed a treaty with the British Crown. Of course, now I think about it, that is a tiny bit like Thanksgiving, which does celebrate a day in which the native Americans and the colonists got together and formed a sort of friendship. Of course, we all know how that turned out for the native Americans. The Europeans made a number of treaties with the American natives, but we won't be celebrating those. That's because the Europeans would eventually violate every one of them.

Summer City (31st December to March 29th march). This is a Summer-long series of free events put on by the Wellington City Council. It's everything from outdoor concerts to circus performances, from New Years parties to volleyball games on the beach.

Wow! That's a lot of stuff. I am exhausted just writing about all of it. As you can see, a confluence of events this year places Sevens weekend and Waitangi Day weekend right on top of each other. As I walk the relatively calm streets of Courtenay Place this afternoon, inside I am bracing myself for a particularly crazy weekend in Wellington's pub/club/theatre district.

I leave you with this photo I snapped yesterday on Lambton Quay:

Plimmer at the Sevens

Even Wellington founding father John Plimmer is dressing up for the Rugby Sevens this year

2 comments:

d said...

I was going to do a similar post! I even took that same picture on my way home last night. :) They also decorated the statue at the waterfront...

Heather said...

Sorry I beat you to it! Though to be fair, it started as a really inspired post and then got kind of tedious what with all the dates and facts and links. I haven't seen the one at the waterfront. That is one of my favourite Wellington sculptures, I'll have to wander down and take a look...