As we know, Wel­ling­ton is full of fun things to do, and on a reg­u­lar basis. Wheth­er giv­ing us some­thing to eat, some­thing to groove to, or some­thing to yell about, these are the events that kept us com­ing back for seconds.


Richter City Roller Derby
Not since “Bret or Jemaine?” has an issue so divided our city. Do you sup­port Bru­tal Pagaent or Smash Malice (If you’re awe­some, you sup­port Smash, by the way)? The win­ners of each bout were really the audi­ence. From its begin­ning days in a bas­ket­ball hall in New­town to bouts that had nearly 3500 in the audi­ence at TSB Arena, watch­ing tough-as-shit women on wheels fight­ing it out has truly won over our hearts and minds.

Pecha Kucha
Pecha Kucha around NZ Wel­ling­ton is blessed with an abund­ance of intel­lec­tu­ally stim­u­lat­ing events where clev­er people stand in front of pretty slides and talk about all kinds of ran­dom things, but Pecha Kucha is scop­ing this nom­in­a­tion over Nerd Nite or Ignite because it hap­pens more often and is there­fore more enter­tain­ing. Maths is simple! Held all around the world, PK usu­ally has 8 – 14 presenters. Presenters (and much of the audi­ence) are usu­ally from the design, archi­tec­ture, pho­to­graphy, art and cre­at­ive fields. That may sound a little dry, but in real­ity, it’s like a great big shot of tequila to your cereb­ral cor­tex.
(Please note: The fact that approx­im­ately 25% of the Wel­ling­tonista have presen­ted at Pecha has little or noth­ing to do with its nom­in­a­tion. Their present­a­tions sucked. But all the oth­ers were awe­some.)

Tues­day Night Din­ner at Mike’s
Every Tues­day night for the last 11 years, Tues­day Night Mike has opened his home for a potluck din­ner to who­ever wants to come. He turns his kit­chen over to the culin­ary skills of both reg­u­lars and strangers who’ve wandered in for the first time. Why? Well, din­ner parties are fun. Mike’s also turned his focus on help­ing those who have less on their plate, sup­port­ing the Eat So They Can char­ity. Deli­cious and enter­tain­ing, Tues­day Night Din­ner is a Wel­ling­ton insti­tu­tion.

Wel­ling­ton Phoenix matches
With the All Whites mak­ing it to the FIFA World Cup, interest in the game formerly known as soc­cer was high this year. The Phoenix’s reg­u­lar Hyundai A‑League matches against Australia’s finest proved a choice way to spend 90 minutes. More than just a sport match, the Phoenix’s staunch Yel­low Fever sup­port­ers liven up the game with their infec­tious chant­ing. And if you enjoy see­ing pale flabby manchests jump­ing with joy, then you’ll like it even more. If you don’t, I guess that’s what Roller Derby is for.

ASB Gar­dens Magic Con­cert Series
ASB Gar­dens Magic at the Sound­shell is the super pop­u­lar series of free music con­certs in Janu­ary that really lets Wel­ling­to­ni­ans know that sum­mer has arrived. Gar­dens Magic nestles under the col­or­ful stripy fest­iv­al umbrella of free coun­cil events  “Sum­mer City” that run from Janu­ary to March.

Gotta love the sparkly lights hung through the gar­dens, the mir­ror balls and bubbles, the wine and pic­nics on the grass, and of course the music. This year a wide range of loc­al musos brought a dif­fer­ent crowd every night, which frankly is just excel­lent pro­gram­ming.

Did we men­tion it is free?