Nelson and the surrounding golden beach areas have seen an amazing summer season over the last month, and the local camping ground and motel occupancy has surely shown it. Now that the sunshine city is quieting down, Nelson locals get to enjoy the hottest temperatures of the year for the next few weeks, and it’s already looking great for the coming weekend.

What’s more, it’s a long one! Monday February 4^th is Nelson Anniversary Day, so if you live and work up in the Tasman region you can enjoy a sunny three-day weekend without the crowds. Hop down to Kaiteriteri beach for a dip or take a trip to one of Nelson’s wineries for the day – and enjoy the week following as it’s made even shorter by Waitangi Day on Friday the 6th!

Image from Flickr.

We’ve got a stream of public holidays over the next month, with Auckland Anniversary coming up on January 26, Nelson Anniversary on February 2 and of course Waitangi Day on February 6. The coming Monday is a privileged day for two regions in New Zealand: it’s both Southland Anniversary and Wellington Anniversary.

There are two great events for families going on for the big day in our capital city. There’s the Wellington Anniversary Family Day Races, which features all of the typical horse racing entertainment for the adults, while providing heaps of fun stuff for kids to do – from a petting zoo to face paints, watermelon eating competitions to a Vertical Bungy.

It’s also Whanau day at Te Papa museum, which invites adults and kids to dress up together, Victorian-style, and take a trip back in time to Wellington in 1840.

Enjoy the Wellington weather this weekend, take the kids out, and have some fun!

Lucky Southerners have a long weekend to look forward to this weekend with Southland Anniversary Day on its way! There’s been a bit of historical controversy around the Southland Anniversary – but Jan 19 officially marks the date and paid public day off for everyone in the Southland region in 2009.

On passing the New Zealand Constitutional Act, the marked out district of Southland did not hold sufficient population or income to be selected as one of the six regions for Provincial Government, and was thus considered a part of Otago. It celebrated the first Otago anniversary on March 23^rd in 1852, and it wasn’t until 9 years later (after a large campaign and petition) that Southland’s first regional anniversary was recognised.

However as Southland fortunes slipped below Government criteria, the region was forced to revert back to the Otago Anniversary in 1870. In 1875, the Provincial Government model was abolished in New Zealand in favour of one Central Government, and the official Southland Anniversary date was set. It has not changed since, and is now celebrated on the Monday closest to January 17 – the anniversary of the day that the intention to build the town of Invercargill was announced.