Fireworks explode over Queenstown as the 2011 Winter
Festival is launched in Earnslaw Park last night. Photo by
Stefan Haworth.
The "10 coolest days in the country" will not be over
until "the last fireworks explode, the last drag queen has
fixed his last heels and the last boxer has stumbled out of the
ring',' Queenstown Lakes Mayor Vanessa van Uden said last
night.
She was talking about the 38th Queenstown Winter Festival,
which was launched in Earnslaw Park with the event's biggest
fireworks display to date and a few words from Prime Minister
John Key.
It seemed his joke-writer had been working overtime as Mr Key
delighted the throng jamming the Lake Wakatipu waterfront.
"There is no snow but this is still the best place to be,
right? I can't hear you. The All Blacks are going to win the
Rugby World Cup, right?" the prime minister joked as he
prompted a warm response from the audience.
"Anyone here from Australia? I bet you flew Air New Zealand,"
he said, before stirring up some dyed-in-the-wool patriotism.
"Anyone here from England? South Africa? You're not going to
win the cup, either," a deadpan Mr Key said before he
launched the dazzling pyrotechnics display.
Over the next 10 days, the Winter Festival will showcase the
best of the resort, with its heart the picturesque ice rink
over the creek on the Village Green.
From charity boxing to dog-barking, Stars on Ice to hockey on
ice, poker tournaments, street parades, drag competitions,
cyclocross and a cast of thousands, the 2011 event got off to
an auspicious start last night, proving that winter is not
just about snow.
Queenstown Winter Festival
Programme
TODAY
• 10am: Arts and crafts market, Earnslaw Park.
• Noon: Festival Street Pde, streets of
Queenstown.
• 1pm: Teddy Bears Picnic, Earnslaw Park
• 1pm: Frisbee golf, Queenstown Gardens.
• 5pm: Ski and board workshop, Revolver.
• 7pm: Ice hockey, Southern Stampede v Dunedin
Thunder, Queenstown Ice Arena.
• 7.30pm: Masquerade Ball, Burlesque, Ice Box
(sold out)
• 9.30pm: Groova, SkyCity Queenstown Casino.
TOMORROW
• 11.30am: Big Brunch, Wakatipu Grill at Hilton Hotel
(sold out).
• Noon: Day on the Bay (birdman, jetsprints,
paddleboard race, splash and dash, hundy 500), Earnslaw Park
and Queenstown Bay
• 4.10pm: Ice hockey, Southern Stampede v Dunedin
Thunder, Queenstown Ice Arena.
• 7pm: Thriller in the Chiller charity boxing,
Queenstown Events Centre.
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