o wondrous new zealand

[Tash]

woohoo i'm going there at the end of the year with a few friends! so this may seem a bit early but we want to be organised and work out what to do there now since it's almost our 1/2 yearly hols and if we don't do it now we never will.
so for those who have been there or live there where are some exciting places to go? are there any interesting musical events happening in early december?
oh and a random thought about continents, which continent does NZ actually belong to? i never really associate it with australia...
anyway thanks!

[Mozartian]

!!!
LUCKY!
NZ is my dream vacation.. I'd go explore all the LOTR-film locations haha. Would be so fun.
Have a good time when you go!
I wrote a paper on NZ a few years ago- If I remember rightly, it is considered part of Australia.

[Dazzer]

The "imaginary" continent/region of Oceania is what you want.

Imaginary, because technically, a continent is defined as a large body of land above sea level, with the sea being its natural boundary. Most just call it Australia, because its a more well known term, or Australasia, which, despite its name, does NOT include ASIA. It simply includes all the tiny islands and stuff that lies in that region.Polynesia,Micronesia, and Melanesia.

So, as to what continent NZ lies on... it doesn't lie on any, based on the above definitition. Maybe the question you're looking for is, what plate it lies on. So going on another search through cyberspace, turns out NZ lies on the Indo-Australian plate.

And a side trivia, Oceania is also the name of an artificial continent project (inspired by Atlantis, apparently) which lost funding and stopped development.

there my 15 minutes worth of googling... i need ot sleep now.

[ted]

Tash:

I have some American friends coming around that time too and they have asked me the same question. Generally it is inadvisable to tell people what they should see and where they should go. Some people come here for excitement while others come because of the physical beauty and tranquillity of parts of the countryside. People who are very keen on skiing, fishing, boating or some specific activity will have different needs again. It is really impossible to give somebody directions. What my friends are doing is hiring a camper van and driving around wherever they fancy.

I would tend to say that Rotorua and the far north (Bay of Islands, Paihia, Russell) are the most popular destinations in the North Island in the summer months. In the South Island, Blenheim and Queenstown appear to be the fashionable tourist spots at the moment.

Auckland itself has become very big and congested in recent years. However, it still has the advantage of having dozens of beautiful beaches more or less within walking distance of many suburbs. If you like tramping there are many opportunities on the unspoiled West coast, just a few miles from the city.

[Tash]

excellent thanks. yeah i know it's silly to ask cos you don't know what we're interested in. beaches are good. and nice scenery.hmmm i really don't know, it's different when you're travellingwith parents cos (my mum at least) they tend to organisethe entire thing themselves. all i know is that we're starting in christchurch and ending up in auckland. we wanted to hire a car to travel around in except we'er too young dammit! oh yeah we'll definately be trecking around the LOTR sites cos 2 of my friends are obsessed with it, which essentially why they decided to go in the first place!
and thanks dazzer for that loveley insight into continents, i feel ever so much more knowledgable now

[chromatickler]

I wrote a paper on NZ a few years ago- If I remember rightly, it is considered part of Australia.

mazz debatable

[Regulus Medtner]

Do a google search and you will be able to find lots of information. I seem to remember that a national NZ tourist site, impressively organized, had complete one-week, two-week etc. roadtrip suggestions for every part of the country with every conceivable information and roadmaps. I haven't yet travelled there but I could sure plan my stay accordingly! It wouldn't be hard to find the site.

[bobsmith]

You asked for anything special in music happening early December in NZ?
There is the National Concerto Competition preliminaries and semi-finals in Christchurch. Every 2nd year is for piano, this year it is for other instruments and should start around 7 Dec.  Runs for about 2/3 days. There is a website    www.ccmc.org.nz
That is last years'. It is run by the Christchurch city council. The finals of this concerto comp. are in March, 3 finalists play their concerto with orchestra.
It is really the last big event of the year before the summer holidays. By the way, only residents of NZ can enter it, in case you wonder.
LOTR sites visits have become very popular here, but all the buildings made for the film have been demolished, but I think the hobbit-dwellings can still be viewed. Am not sure.
If you like really wild country, go to the southern mountains, and the Westcoast of the South Island is also beautiful. You cannot swim there, most beaches there are dangerous, as there is a strong rip. But on the east coast that is fine. The lakes are beautiful but the water is fairly cold. Good for hardy swimmers. Nelson Province is very popular for locals and visitors alike, and gets very busy at that time of year. Very nice beaches there. Can recommend it, if you don't mind the crowds. You will need to book accommodation early, if you want to go there, as well as campers, if you want to hire those.
In NZ there are usually reasonable cabins available in campings, and there are always kitchens. This is different from overseas, and it may be handy to know that.

[Tash]

cool! yay they're doing handel's messiah on dec 18, we might actually be in christchurch then i'm not sure but that'd be so cool! yeah so we have to end up in christchurch on the 22nd so we might miss the competition which is a bum cos that'd be cool too. but thanks for that, i looked on the nz symphony and opera websites except they didn't seem to have anything for december, is that cos they haven't gotten than far in organising their calendar or do they just not play in december??

[Tash]

woops i lied we start in christchurch so d*mn miss messiah but that's ok it's in auckland oh and they have a christmas concert yay! so might be able to see the piano competition if we're still around yay! will have to discuss with the others who i'm thinking are looking forward to running around the hobbit fields pretending they have the ring...

[Dazzer]

a girl i went out with a couple of times (i refuse to believe we were EVER in a relationship) is in wellington...
someone care to bomb that place?

[bobsmith]

The competition this year will be for non-pianists, usually mainly string-instruments. Every 2nd year it is for piano, and we had that last Dec. But the level is quite good,mostly tertiary students, and some even specially return from overseas studies, to participate in it. All of them play  about 20 min of their chosen concerto, with piano accompaniment.
At that time there will very likely be a Messiah performance in Christchurch too.
Subscription concerts will have ended however, the summer holidays are beginning then. There may be some other concert, of course, but that would not be known until later in the year. But I doubt,that there will be anything at that time, apart from the afore-mentioned.If you bring it up later in the year, I will check for it.

[Tash]

oh that's cool. i'll see what the others think and we'll discuss it. thanks!