Fireworks are reflected in the channel between Russell and Paihia in the first minutes of 2015. PHOTO / PETER DE GRAAF
Fireworks are reflected in the channel between Russell and Paihia in the first minutes of 2015. PHOTO / PETER DE GRAAF
A weekly round-up of news snippets, events and oddities from the Bay of Islands and around the Mid North
The Bay of Islands will welcome 2016 with the now traditional fireworks spectacle launched from a barge moored between Paihia and Russell.
More than $15,000 of pyrotechnics will go off with a bang during the ten-minute display organised annually by Business Paihia for the past 14 years.
You'll get a good view from pretty much anywhere along the Waitangi, Paihia or Russell waterfront and as far away as Haruru Falls, but Ti Beach, the Bluff and Maiki Hill (next to the helicopter pad) in Paihia are especially good.
The show is paid for by donations from Paihia businesses and a grant from Pub Charities.
Don't forget a liquor ban applies to all public areas in Paihia. We'd hate you to spend the first minutes of 2016 in a police lock-up instead of watching the fireworks...
Summer Festival returns
Looking for something to keep the kids entertained while you're holidaying in Paihia?
The annual Summer Festival, from January 3-11, offers free daily events for children young and old ranging from sandcastle building to mural painting and a photography safari.
New events this year include a hip-hop dance workshop, a pirate day and a chance to create anything imaginable using cardboard, tape and string.
The coming week's programme is...
Sunday, January 3 * Beach dig and fun day out, Paihia Beach, from 9am. Lots of prizes in the dig (10am) for kids aged 4-10. Bay of Islands Rotary will put on a barbecue.
Monday, January 4 * Monster mural painting, 10am, in the walkway on Williams Rd. All materials supplied; wear old clothes and bring an adult. New this year: Squirt gun painting. * Dance moves workshop, 2pm, War Memorial Hall, Williams Rd. With Alannah Curtis from DDF Dance Studioz.
Kids try their hand at monster mural painting during last year's Paihia Summer Festival. PHOTO / FRANCESCA JAGO
Tuesday, January 5 * Fun on the Green, 10am, Paihia Village Green. Old-fashioned competitions such as sack, three-legged, and wheelbarrow races. * Digital photography safari, starts 1.30pm at Horotutu Park. Bring a digital device (camera, phone or tablet) and an adult; clue list supplied. A chance to get creative with photography.
Wednesday, January 6 * Kids multisport event, registration at 9am at Bay Beach Hire on Paihia Beach; 9.30am safety briefing and start. Features kayaking and running; entrants must be at least 8 years old. * Cardboard creations, 1pm, War Memorial Hall, Williams Rd. Make a robot, rocket, car, boat or anything else you can think of using cardboard, tape, string and some colour. Materials supplied but you're welcome to bring your own.
For more information and the following week's programme go to paihianz.co.nz/events.
The event, now in its 20th year, is organised by Business Paihia and Blah Blah Marketing. Some visitors return every year, booking their holidays around the festival dates.
Saddle up for a summer highlight
Pawarenga's United Marae Sports Day isn't exactly in the Bay of Islands - it's about as remote as you can get, by the west coast's Whangape Harbour midway between Ahipara and Hokianga - but it is one of Northland's summer highlights.
Members of the settlement's four marae return from around Australasia on December 31 each year for a day of sporting challenges, kai and catching up with whanau.
Events include beach horse races, tug-o-war, ironman races and a gruelling cross-country horse race.
World first in Northland
Another only-in-Northland event takes place north of Kaeo on New Year's Eve, when for the 25th time Kahoe Farms Hostel will host the first football tournament of the year.
Stefano Virgili (with supporters Nelleigh Lawrence and Anna Virgili) at Kahoe stadium, venue for the world's first football tournament of 2016. PHOTO / PETER DE GRAAF
The hostel's football-mad Italian owner, Stefano Virgili, will join backpackers and friends - and the occasional ex-All Whites - in an international four-a-side round-robin, with the final kicking off at the stroke of midnight.
Mr Virgili's sheep and kunekune pigs are presently preparing the pitch at Kahoe Stadium, a football field next to SH10 decorated with Italian flags.
An opera star who grew up in Broadwood, North Hokianga, and had her first taste of public performance in Kerikeri is coming home for a one-off show at the Turner Centre on January 8.
Soprano Joanna Foote is coming home to the Far North for a one-off show. PHOTO / SUPPLIED
Soprano Joanna Foote debuted in the lead role of Through the Looking Glass, by the late Kerikeri composer Russ Garcia, and was trained by Kerikeri's Carol Maher.
She has since completed a Masters degree, toured extensively in Europe, won awards and appeared in the BBC documentary What makes a great soprano? with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.
In next week's Summertime concert of opera, song and musical theatre she will perform alongside one of the UK's most promising tenors, Andrew Dickinson.
A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in London, his high-profile operatic roles include Mozart's Requiem at the Royal Albert Hall. They will be accompanied by pianist Rosemary Barnes.
Coco Davis, an Auckland-based singer of early female blues music, is starting her nationwide Old Haunts album release tour - appropriately enough - in the historic Swamp Palace at Oruru.
Coco Davis and Tom Rodwell will play Oruru's Swamp Palace on January 8. PHOTO / SUPPLIED
Her set is described as alternately moody and raucous with an unconventional storytelling theme.
Ms Davis herself describes the blues as "folk literature set to music, that delights in recklessness and larger-than-life, unbound characters".
She will be accompanied by guitarist Tom Rodwell, who produced the Old Haunts album and has just finished recording and touring with Don McGlashan.
The tour will stop at some of New Zealand's most distinctive small venues, including Swamp Palace and Takaka's Mussel Inn.
The Oruru gig will take place on Friday, January 8. Oruru is inland from Taipa in Doubtless Bay. Doors open at 7pm; tickets $10.
Breakfast with the cars
The next Breakfast with the Cars will be held at Paihia's Village Green on January 3. The monthly show runs from 8.30-10am and is open to classic cars, hot rods and custom cars. Free admission. For more information call Tracy on 0274 983 557.
Summer art
Kings Theatre Creative, in the old cinema in Kawakawa, is calling for submissions by Northland artists for its next summer show. The deadline is January 29 with the show due to open on February 5.
Artists, groups and curators are also invited to submit ideas for the gallery's 2016 calendar. Call (09) 404 1523 or visit the Facebook page Kings Theatre Creative.
Meanwhile, a summer showcase at Kaan Zamaan in Kerikeri, with samples from this year's shows plus a taste of what's coming next year, runs until January 6. The Hobson Ave gallery is open daily except Saturday and Monday.
Do you have news or an upcoming event you'd like to see in this column? Send it to us, including your full contact details, to baynews@northernadvocate.co.nz.
