By Gabi Lardies
The Spinoff鈥檚 top picks of events from around the motu.
Last year a kite came into my life. I found it in a clearance box at the surplus supermarket Why Knot on sale for $1. It鈥檚 about one metre wide and shaped somewhat like a whai with a black body and a long rainbow-striped tail. A sucker for bargains and activities to do with friends that aren鈥檛 just sitting around drinking, I bought it home with me. The price did not include a line, but luckily there are various semi-seized and otherwise bad fishing reels in my shed, and one was easily rigged up.
Lovely things happen when you fly a kite. Your friends can easily find you on a packed beach. You can loiter while looking busy. Sometimes that secondhand feeling of soaring can bring a tear to the eye. But my favourite is when you fly it in a park, everyone who is walking or running through is totally awestruck by the beauty of the flying nylon construction. They stop, point it out to their companions, take photos of it and smile. Meanwhile, all you have to do is stand there holding the line and keeping an eye on the wind.
This Sunday, hundreds of kites will be flown from the summit of Puket膩papa Manu in Auckland. Some will be so big that they have to be tied down to cars, and the flapping cluster will be visible from kilometres away. It鈥檚 one of my favourite days on the city鈥檚 calendar so my whai will be there, probably tangling other peoples lines.
Show: 74th Annual Hamilton Cat Show
Tamahere Community Hall, 21 Devine Rd, Tamahere, Hamilton
10am Sunday, July 6
I have wanted to go to a cat show since reading Hairy Maclary鈥檚 Showbusiness over and over again to my little brother. Of course Hairy Maclary gets loose inside, terrorises the cats and gets tangled in the bunting. But what I love most of all is the wonderful cats. The big white fluff, the snooty (but still cute) persian, the black grumpy one and all the little kittens.
Its hard to know exactly what a real-life cat show is like. There鈥檚 online clues that cats are measured, weighed, taunted with long feathers and are in to win cellophane-wrapped hampers that include scratching poles. The Hamilton Cat Club officially promises over 160 鈥渕ajestic felines鈥 and an opportunity to vote for your favourite.
Dance: C茅il铆dh Dance
Roost Restaurant & Bar, 28 Bank Street, Whang膩rei
6:30pm Saturday, July 5
Follow a dance caller to join in the traditional group dances as a live Gaelic folk band (including a fiddle) plays.
T膩maki Makaurau
Festival: Puket膩papa Manu Aute Kite Day
Summit of Puket膩papa / Mt Roskill, 1109 Dominion Road
11am Sunday, July 6
An annual spectacle of huge and tiny kites. Bring your own to fly or simply watch.
Music: French for Rabbits & Michael Llewellyn
Dome Cinema, Poverty Bay Club building, corner Childers Rd & Customhouse St
7pm Saturday, July 5
鈥淒ream-pop luminaries French for Rabbits return to the stage in full band formation for the first time in a year.鈥
Te Whanganui-a-Tara
K艒rero: Writers on Mondays with Michelle Duff, Saraid De Silva and Tina Makereti
Rongomaraeroa (Te Marae), Level 4, Te Papa Tongarewa
12.15pm Monday, July 14
A lunchtime literary event series has begun in the city. This Monday hear from the authors of Surplus Women, Amma and This Compulsion In Us.
Festival: Indian Food Festival
Saxton Oval Pavilion, 142 Saxton Road East, Stoke, Nelson
10:30am Sunday, July 6
Free entry to the food and market stalls
Go eat something yum!
Music: Festival of Brass
Christchurch Town Hall, 86 Kilmore Street, Christchurch
Various events in the hall July 2-6 with the parade at 11am Sunday, July 6
鈥淓very year thousands of musicians congregate to celebrate the magic of brass bands and inspire the next generation by competing on the big stage from all across the motu.鈥
Music: La Boh猫me
Isaac Theatre Royal, 145 Gloucester Street, Christchurch Central City
7:30pm Friday, July 4 and 2:30pm Sunday, July 6
NZ Opera presents Puccini鈥檚 biggest banger! This staging of the OG tragi-romance stars an incredible local and international cast of singers accompanied by Christchurch Symphony Orchestra.
Music: H艑H膧 50th P膧ti
The Crown Hotel, 179 Rattray Street, Central Dunedin
8:30pm Saturday, July 5
The banging duo H艑H膧 celebrate their 50th gig with Vagina Dry, Diesel Jenny and Synthetic Children.
Visual Art: Lost & Found
Gallery Thirty Three, 33 Helwick Street, W膩naka
10am 鈥 5:30pm Monday 鈥 Friday,10am 鈥 4pm Saturday 鈥 Sunday
A playful exhibition bringing together beauty and the beast, pop-culture, colourful creatures, whimsical paintings, reimagined items and bad apples.