Pasifika Festival in Auckland

Yesterday Kepa and I went to the Pasifika Festival in Auckland. I was really excited to go to a celebration of the culture of the Pacific Islands. I love festivals and island culture so it seemed like a perfect match.

It was a beautiful day and I had a lot of fun. The festival was at Western Springs park and this is the first time I’ve visited that particular park.

It’s set around a beautiful lake, so all the islands got separate areas to set up a stage and the many booths with their vendors and food stalls. I really love the park with it’s winding paths around the lake and through the wooded areas. It was really fun just to walk through the park.

The festival was packed with people. Every area was full of people, especially Aotearoa (New Zealand).

There were stages in each area too so we saw a lot of performances during the day.

There were traditional and modern style performances.

All sort of different dancing and singing and performing. There was even a dance contest on one stage but we didn’t end up watching much of that.

We ate some food but since I’m doing an elimination type diet sans gluten and dairy I didn’t get to eat much. I did however get the most awesome mango smoothie in the Cook Islands area. It was so, so, so, so very good. Fresh mango in a smoothie? YES, PLEASE!

Mango in anything, really, is amazing. I couldn’t put my smoothie down after I got it and slowly sipped it until we left. Delicious.

Days like this are one of my favorite things about New Zealand. I love the summer/fall here and the awesome free events and festivals that take place. I also love the diversity and food and the happy atmosphere at events like this.

Seeing all the different yet similar cultures of the islands made me even more excited to eventually visit them. I would like to visit at least a few islands in the next few years after we get married before we move back to the US since they are so close. It would be fun to see more styles of island life.

I think I might have an obsession with islands. It’s okay though, because it’s a great obsession to have. So far I’ve only been to Puerto Rico, Aegina (Greece), and New Zealand, but almost all the places on my travel wish list are islands.

Do you like islands? Have you ever visited any of the Pacific Islands? Which ones? Which one should we try to visit first?

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