Auckland Lantern Festival

Last night we went into the city for the last night of the Auckland Lantern Festival. We had heard it was pretty cool and we are always on the lookout for free and fun things to do together so we decided to give it a try.

We got there pretty early which meant it wasn’t crowded the first time we walked around. We made our way through the park and visited the street with the food carts first because we wanted to eat dinner and knew the food area would get crowded fast.

We strolled up and down the street with the food stalls a few times and each time got something new to nibble on.

There was a lot of good food and we definitely enjoyed it.

To see the rest of the food we ate check out my post on the food blog.

After we ate we walked around for a few minutes and took pictures of ourselves and the interesting creatures found at the festival.

I have to be honest and say that I have no clue what this red thing is.

We settled in to watch the end of a martial arts demonstration.

And then a “fashion show” … at least that’s what they said it was. It was more of a slow synchronized dance.

After that – KARAOKE!  I have to say, this guy was hilarious. He was the first to go and was technically an employee “testing the mic” but he got the crowd in the right mood for hilarity.

In between the sessions I laid back in the grass and looked up at the sky. Not a bad view, right? It’s strange to me to live in a place with palm trees. I still forget I live so close to the ocean. Every time I see a palm tree or catch a seagull flying through the air it surprises me until I remember where I live.

Once it got dark we left the karaoke stage to wander around the park and look at the lanterns.

The moons and stars were one of my favorites. I’ve got a thing for stars and these vibrant colors made me so happy.

We saw bird lanterns in the trees above us as we walked through the park….

and underwater fish scenes by the side of the path.

There were all sorts of scenes set up throughout the park.

Those turtles made me laugh. They made me think of teenage mutant ninja turtles but with instruments. They were one of the last things we saw before heading home.

And of course the beautiful red lanterns that were hanging everywhere lining the paths. They were simple and beautiful.

Overall it was a really fun night! It was the perfect kind of thing to get me out of my “I hate NZ” space that I had been in for a couple of days. There really are some fun things here that I enjoy – like all the festivals and markets we have access to living in Auckland. I’m going to try to focus more on the positives than the negatives because like it or not I’m stuck here for the next few years. ;)

Have you ever been to a lantern festival? Do you like going to festivals and markets?

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