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Rotorua Fire & Ice festival returns this winter
This winter's Fire & Ice Festival will return with a favourite from last year, and three new events.
Ice World has announced that they will return to Rotorua with their hugely popular ice rink as part of Rotorua’s winter festival.
Fire & Ice will also feature three new events - Mid-Winter Christmas at the Night Market, outdoor movie at the Village Green, and the Luminite lights trail at Government Gardens.
RDC major events coordinator and Fire & Ice coordinator, Kylie Lang, says she is thrilled to have the ice rink back this year.
“Having the ice rink return allows us to produce new events within Fire & Ice, and create an exciting festival in a usually quiet time of year.
“It also enables us to deliver a top quality event that can be experienced by locals and visitors."
Ms Lang said events such as Luminite have never been seen before in Rotorua.
"This particular event will have its own lights trail that weaves throughout Government Gardens and will incorporate local businesses such as the Rotorua Museum and Blue Baths. It will also feature a bigger and better fireworks and laser show to end the night."
Most of the events will take place during the final two weeks of July, in conjunction with school holidays.
Police swap crime for rapids
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Police staff from across the North Island will descend on the Kaituna River marking the 6th anniversary of the extreme sporting event. Its popularity continues to grow and this year has attracted 37 teams of four making it one of the largest police sporting events.
Even the chairman of the New Zealand Police Association, Greg O'Connor is taking the plunge for the first time this year.
As well as the regular whitewater rafting, whitewater kayaking and riversurfing categories it will be the inauguration of the Banshee Bungee Boarding.
The races are being held on a 1.2 kilometre stretch of the Kaituna River which includes seven sets of Grade Three rapids with names like The Abyss and Boiling Pot. Competitors will also need to navigate three waterfalls – one of which is the world's highest commercially rafted waterfall just to reach the start line.
Event organiser, Constable Aaron Holloway from Bay of Plenty District Headquarters, describes the event as "socially competitive and a great team-spirited event".
"It began life as nine teams and has now become a highly contested event. We are lucky to have the Kaituna River on our doorstep in a spectacularly scenic part of the country. It is a perfect location."
Competitive contact between the rafts is encouraged but there is to be no "grabbing" of other rafts. Teams enter the Kaituna River at Okere Falls, and raft to the official start line below the Tutea Falls. One member from each team stands on a metre high rock, jumping into the river and swimming to the raft to officially start the race.
Six whitewater rafting heats will be followed by two semi finals and the finals are expected to take place between 5pm and 6pm; a new format for this year.
There will be five heats of riversurfing with first and second placed going into the final. Riversurfing is when you navigate down the Grade 3 section of river with the aid of flippers and a riversurfing board. This event provides a very different experience to rafting as you are in the water and at the mercy of the rapids.
The hyper.co.nz banshee bungee event will take place at lunchtime with competitors getting the chance to experience what it is like to travel across the water at 50km per hour. The bungee is 7m long but will be stretched out to 40 meters and then released pulling the competitor across the water on a board and points will be award for best tricks (and crashes).
For those who prefer to stay on terra firma there is a Department of Conservation walking track running adjacent to the Kaituna River which provides excellent vantage points for supporters and members of the public.
Every year the New Zealand Police Raft Race tries to support a fellow officer who may need financial support to cover medical costs. This year donations made by competitors will go to support an officer in Hamilton who needs to go to Germany for specialist treatment.
During the event there will be regular updates posted on the events Facebook (www.facebook.com/NZPARR) and Twitter account (www.twitter.com/NZPARR). Postings will include winners of the heats as well as photos and video from the event.
For further information, check out www.nzpolicerafting.co.nz
Anika, Boh and Hollie together in concert
This year's 2012 Classic Hits Acoustic Church Tour presents an exciting collaboration of three of New Zealand's most talented and versatile female singer/songwriters: Anika Moa, Boh Runga & Hollie Smith: Together in Concert for the first time ever.
Collectively they hold some 16 RIANZ Tui Music Awards, have had numerous number 1 hit singles and many more top 40 radio hits including Youthful, Dreams in My Head, Falling in Love (Anika), Violent, Part of Me, All It Takes, Evelyn (Boh / Stellar*) and Bathe in The River, I Will Do (Hollie/Mt Raskil Preservation Society).
The talented trio and good friends have spent the last few months writing and recording together and have just released their first single to radio - Be Mine - a sticks-in-your-head pop gem that showcases their songwriting talents and their inimitable voices singing in harmony. Be Mine is the first single from what will be the debut album for Anika, Boh & Hollie, expected to be released early in 2013.
On tour, they will be performing a selection of their extensive back catalogues of hits - on stage together throughout the whole show - as well as new material from the upcoming album, all arranged specifically for the unique church venues.
Now in its fifth year, The Classic Hits Acoustic Church Tour boasts 13 shows in 11 cities including, for the first time, Rotorua. The full run is Napier, Palmerston North, Wellington, New Plymouth, Hamilton, Auckland, Tauranga, Christchurch, Dunedin & Invercargill.
Boh Runga, no stranger to the Acoustic Church Tour concept performed alongside Greg Johnson in 2009 and is looking forward to showing her fellow band mates the uniqueness of the acoustics in some of New Zealand's most spectacular churches, chapels and cathedrals.
Says Boh, "I've had the best time writing with Hollie and Anika. They are so freaking talented and getting to be part of their creative process is what being a musician is all about. Vibe- ing off of each other, laughing, learning our strengths and dynamics in our relationship, brilliant fun. To tour and explore the country with them will be the icing on the cake."
Anika Moa is equally enthused about the Tour:
"Doing what I love everyday is an amazing feeling, now I get to tour with two other brilliant, beautiful and amazing singer/songwriters too. I've looked up to Boh since I first became a muso and I've known Hollie a long time and sometimes wish I could have her voice as mine! This is going to be so fun cos were all so zany!"
Hollie Smith agrees:
"If being in a room writing with these two awesome ladies is anything to go by, the Church tour is going to be an incredibly funny & an inspired time on the road. We are all looking forward to sharing what we've created and see it coming together properly live."
Civic Events co-promoter Brent Eccles is thrilled to have the girls on board for the Tour and says concert-goers are in for a real treat.
"The line-up for this years Classic Hits Church tour has all the elements I think you need for a landmark tour - talent, personality, camaraderie, all bound by great songs".
The Classic Hits Acoustic Church Tour is a show in two halves. The first half will feature only the three artists in a more acoustic format, and in the second half, Anika, Boh & Hollie will be joined by their band members.
The 2012 Classic Hits Acoustic Church Tour launches at St John's Cathedral in Napier on Thursday 4 October and concludes at First Presbyterian Church in Invercargill on Saturday 20 October.
The Bay of Plenty will be treated to the harmonising, soulful and amazing voices when the tour comes to the Tauranga Holy Trinity on October 13 and Rotorua Civic Theatre on October 14.