2008 Winter@Waipu - press releases

May 2 Winter@Waipu 2008 is ready to roll

3 months of winter events are organised and ready to go for the 4th annual Winter@Waipu Festival.  This small Northland community is awash with creativity and well known for its strong celtic spirit. Set near some of the best beaches in Northland, it is a well known summer playground, and the Winter@Waipu festival ensures it remains a great destination for a mid winter break.

Waipu is known as the Celtic Heart of Bream Bay and the town is proud of its Scots/Nova Scotian heritage, something that is clear when you enter the recently redesigned Waipu Museum. It is 150 years since the arrival in NZ of the Breadalbane, one of the ships that brought the Scottish pioneers to Waipu.

The Winter programme kicks off on the June long weekend with the usual popular markets, but this year the descendents of the Breadalbane will also parade down the street behind Waipu’s Pipe Band.  On Sunday 3pm the sound of a karanga and the pipes will ring out at the the Waipu Cemetery welcoming people to remember those who have died in the past year, as well as the Breadalbane descendents, as part of the Matariki celebrations in Northland.

To top off the weekend celebrations one of the greatest contemporary Celtic bands – The Battlefield Band will perform once again at Forum North in Whangarei, 2pm on Monday 2 June.  They will be in NZ working with the Waipu Museum to write a musical about the great migration that led to the Scottish settlement of Waipu.

There are events every weekend in June – you can join others for a cycle along the beach or a mid winter swim, you can learn scottish Country Dancing. Also on offer is the Mid winter festival of flowers,  and a pampering day at Zenford Lodge, along with the chance to enjoyo a hangi at the Waipu Hotel or a mid winter dinner and party at Artform.