How do New Zealanders celebrate New Year’s Eve?
Many cities and towns offer outdoor concerts finishing with fireworks. Auckland has brought in 3 tonnes of sand for the Britomart Beach Party. There will be live music, dancing and, at midnight, fireworks. Wellington has a free party on the waterfront starting at 8pm with a circus, live music and, at midnight, fireworks. The free party in Christchurch starts at 6.30pm with live music and again it finishes at midnight with fireworks. This year it will be held in Hagley Park instead of the Square because the central business district has been closed off since the earthquake in February 2011.
Napier and Queenstown will also celebrate with live music and fireworks. Many towns have concerts in a vineyard or a pub. Many are outdoor concerts. The evening temperature for Auckland will probably be 18 degrees while for most places further south, temperatures will be around 12 to 15 degrees.
This is the last message for 2012. A Happy New Year to all.
Listen to December 30th 2008 to hear more about New Year’s Eve and December 31st 2011 to hear about New Year’s Honours.
Vocabulary
vineyard – a place which grows grapes for wine
Note present perfect tense with ‘since’ – has been closed off since the earthquake