Matariki: How to spend your long weekend in the city

Get a pair of skates on and have a go at ice skating down at Aotea Square’s pop-up ice rink.
Spending your three-day weekend in Auckland? Here are some of the most exciting things happening across the city.
Looking for a way to light up your long weekend? From Matariki celebrations to an assortment of other events, here’s our selection of some of Tāmaki Makaurau’s best events to keep you, your whānau and friends entertained. There’s quirky comedy, whānau-friendly adventures, theatre made by young people and some made for young people, plus a couple of neat things to plan for later in the week and month.
For a bit of a DIY Matariki celebration, might we suggest a self-guided light tour of Tāmaki Makaurau? The central city is aglow with various light displays including Tūrama on Queen St, Lightpath Te Ara i Whiti, PWC (Quay St), the Sky Tower, Viaduct Harbour and the New Zealand Maritime Museum. Then venturing a little further afield, Auckland War Memorial Museum, Eden Park and Westfield Newmarket are all illuminated for Matariki. The piece de resistance is of course Auckland Harbour Bridge, which from 6pm to midnight on Friday and Saturday night this week will be displaying a five-minute Vector Lights show that you can view from locations around Auckland, including Maungawhau Mt Eden, Bayswater Marina, Silo Park, Takurunga Mt Victoria or anywhere you can get a good view of the bridge. Rug up and go light spotting with your friends, whānau or Tinder dates. Mānawatia a Matariki.
When: June 29 and 30 (Vector Lights June 29 only).
Where: Various locations in Tāmaki Makaurau. Visit vector.co.nz/lights to listen to a live soundtrack.
Price: Free.
Opening this Saturday with their always-festive gala performance is Tim Bray Theatre Company’s production of Five Go on an Adventure. Based on the classic Enid Blyton book series, The Famous Five, Bray has created a wonderfully whimsical story about four children and their dog, Timmy, who head off seeking an adventure and along the way uncover a mystery they simply must solve. Bray is a master at adapting classic stories for young audiences, keeping them engaged and giggling throughout. Like all their productions, the show is a very manageable 50-60 minutes long – perfect for wriggly bottoms and itchy feet – and they offer sensory-relaxed, audio-described and NZSL-interpreted performances so everyone has the opportunity to enjoy the theatre. After Saturday’s opening gala, there will be school/ECE shows during the week, before two weeks of twice daily performances in the school holidays. If you want to be extra cute, pack yourselves a themed picnic with honey sandwiches and lashings of ginger beer to enjoy lakeside at Lake Pupuke before or after the show.
When: June 29-July 20.
Where: The Pumphouse Theatre, 2a Manurere Ave, Takapuna, Auckland.
Price: Tickets start at $28 + booking fees from timbray.org.nz
Embrace winter’s hat and scarf-based fashion and head into town for ice skating merriment at Aotea Square. Now one of Tāmaki Makaurau’s most popular winter traditions, the ice rink opens Matariki weekend and runs through until mid-August. This year there’s more on offer than just skating laps with your crush – possibly the Olympics’ most intriguing sport, curling, is coming, with a two-lane curling rink where teams of four can go head to head. Challenge your neighbours, colleagues, cousins or pals to a 25-minute curling battle and things are bound to get a bit silly. If traditional ice skating is more your speed, then you’ll enjoy the Student Nights, Skate and Date Nights and DJ on Ice Fridays. The Aotea Square Ice Rink is Auckland’s answer to Rockefeller Centre but just a short train or bus ride into to town away.
When: June 28 – August 11, 10am-10pm Sunday to Thursday, until 11pm Fridays and Saturdays.
Where: Aotea Square, Auckland Central.
Price: Skating $26 adults; $21 children; $13 pre-schoolers; $69 family pass. Curling $21 per person (minimum two people); $15 Monday-Thursday evenings. Book at aucklandlive.co.nz
A wildly unique one-woman show opens Saturday night at Q Theatre called An Intimate Evening with Tabitha Booth. Created and performed by Melbourne-based comedian Frankie McNair, the slightly delusional, thoroughly outlandish character of Tabitha is a contemporary of Minelli, Streisand and Monroe. She’s a “heavily medicated lounge singer” who’s returning to the stage to share a lifetime of stories from old Hollywood. A Theatre Travels review says “If you miss it, I feel sorry for you” and while you may never have heard of that publication, we can all agree that’s probably the most emphatic thumbs-up a show could ever be honoured with. There are seven shows across the week in the upstairs Loft at Q Theatre, the perfect little space for an intimate evening of unhinged reminiscing.
When: June 29 – July 6.
Where: Q Theatre Loft, 305 Queen St, Auckland Central.
Price: Tickets $20-$32 + booking fee from qtheatre.co.nz
Looking for a way to entertain the tamariki and engage in Matariki celebrations this long weekend? Head down to MOTAT, where you can create and design your own whetū (star) using weaving, knot and lashing techniques while learning all about celestial navigation and kūmara harvesting in the newly opened Te Puawānanga science and technology centre. Grab a Matariki star trail map on arrival and take a tour around the museum to see what treasures you find along the way. In the Discovery Dome, learn all about solar tsunamis courtesy of a Tūhura Otago Museum exhibit which lets you get hands-on with magnets, a plasma ball and more. Oodles of learning wrapped in fun to be had at MOTAT this weekend.
When: June 29-30.
Where: MOTAT, 805 Great North Rd, Western Springs, Auckland.
Price: Usual MOTAT entry fees apply.
If you want to know what’s on the minds of young people today then Afloat: 20 Years After The Rise is a great place to start. This original musical is written by two teenagers – Samantha Hook, 18, and Harrison Maxwell, 17. It’s set in a future in which a nuclear plant malfunction has resulted in the rapid rising of sea levels and loss of all land on Earth. Survivors have created homes and empires on floating debris. In this post-apocalyptic world chaos ensues as a rebellion rises and friends become traitors – singing all the while. The musical features 17 young performers and 20 original songs, so if you’re worried teenagers these days just sit on their phones all day, this show proves just how much productivity and creativity the next generation is capable of. It opened Friday and has two performances on Saturday so get along and support the future Andrew Lloyd Webbers and Tim Minchins of Tāmaki Makaurau.
When: June 29, 2pm and 7pm.
Where: Glen Eden Playhouse Theatre, 15 Glendale Rd, Glen Eden, Auckland.
Price: Tickets $30 from afloatmusical.com
If an ugly sweater party and some roast turkey isn’t quite living up to your mid-winter Christmas fantasies then maybe hopping a plane to Queenstown might do it? Ayrburn, the dreamy new food and wine hub in Arrowtown, is going all out for mid-winter Christmas, transforming into a winter wonderland for what they intend to be an annual celebration. There’s an ice skating rink, light displays and Christmas decorations aplenty. Throughout July, there’ll be a range of Christmas-themed activities and experiences to enjoy. So you can experience the hygge joys of a white Christmas without travelling halfway around the world.
When: Throughout July.
Where: Ayrburn, Arrowtown.
Price: Visit ayrburn.com for more information.
The Tīwhas! A Matariki Spectacular is the Matariki celebration/education you never knew you needed. Wellington takatāpui drag group, The Tīwhas, are performing a theatrical reimagining of Matariki at the Basement Theatre next week and it’s a must-see. These queens are much more than meticulously make-upped lip synchers, they have their own brand of performance that includes kapa haka, drag artistry and live vocals. Featuring Dame Jthan, Slay West, Pania and new recruit Huh? Mama!, ring in te tau hou Māori/the Māori new year with some fabulously flamboyant bilingual singing, storytelling and celebration.
When: July 2-6.
Where: Basement Theatre, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland Central.
Price: Tickets $18 – $28 + booking fees from basementtheatre.co.nz
Proving year after year that truth is stranger than fiction, often more affecting and thought-provoking too, the Doc Edge Film Festival launches in Auckland and Wellington on Wednesday. The Academy Awards-qualifying festival this year has an unprecedented 12 world premieres, including Sharko, a revealing film about the destructive life of rugby league player Mark Graham, made by his son; The Other Side, journalist Sean Langan’s window into the Russian side of the war on Ukraine; and Pistachio Wars, uncovering a dirty secret of the healthy snack industry in California. Films are screening at The Capitol Cinema and Auckland Central Library over 12 days so get yourself tickets to see at least one of these eye-opening films or better yet, get a five or 10 film pass and knock yourself out with true stories from all over the world.
When: July 3-14.
Where: The Capitol Cinema, Balmoral and Auckland Central Library, Auckland Central.
Price: Tickets start at $17.50 from docedge.nz