Let the games begin - planning is well under way for the 145th edition of the Waipu Highland Games on New Year's Day.
The games - the longest running Caledonian highland games in the Southern Hemisphere - attract up to 8000 people to Waipu on January 1 to experience the best of Scottish culture.
As usual the "rock stars" of the games will be the Highland Heavyweight competitors - big men who compete in a range of strength tests, including tossing the caber, tossing the sheath, the 22lb hammer throw, 56lb chain weights throwing and 22lb rocks thrown like a shot putt.
Another major part is the Highland dancing and piping competitions, with all the grades attracting competitors from across New Zealand and some even come from as far away as the games' spiritual homeland Scotland to take part.
Pat Hadlee, from the games' organising committee, said every New Year's Day thousands of people come to the Highland Games in Waipu to watch one of the world's most interesting and daunting sports competitions.