Dunedin, New Zealand welcomes a vibrant and colourful calendar of events this winter, including festivals, science fairs and cultural happenings.
Illuminating the night with a little magic on 30 June, the Dunedin Mid-Winter Carnival celebrates the season with a stunning lantern parade around the inner city. A hugely popular event, this year’s theme is ‘A Winter Tale’, and will include a variety of characters and creatures from popular fairy tales, alongside entertainers, stilt walkers and other dazzling displays.
The July school holidays bring a host of family-friendly events, kicking off with the New Zealand International Science Festival from 6-15 July. Visitors can expect ten straight days of science-inspired edutainment, from the mysterious outer limits of the universe to the marvellous inner workings of robotics, and all the weird, wacky, and wonderful stuff in between. You can also expect to meet space engineers, science gurus, astronomers, coders and NAO, a humanoid robot from China.
From 6-22 July, the Puaka Matariki Festival celebrates Māori New Year through a diverse citywide programme of community events, including shared feasts, Toi Māori visual arts, literary works, music and dance performance.
Dunedin’s winter months have a special beauty of their own, unveiling epic starlit nights and an abundance of rare wildlife just minutes from the city centre
