1. Cutness alert
Flower power of spring has sprung, at least along Cornwall Park's Twin Oak Drive. With daffodils and bluebells in bloom, the Drive is be shut to vehicles for the next three Sundays. You can frolic next to the new lambs (don't touch them, their mamas will get anxious) and enjoy the free entertainment. Meet Mrs Tiggywinkle and Jeremy Fisher, have fun with JP the clown and Fairy Clare and dance to music from umpah band 'Holzhacker'.
• Sunday, drive shut 7am-6pm, entertainment 1-3pm. (also next Sundays, August 23 and 30). Cornwall Park.
2. Monkey business
And the cuteness continues with Cotton Top Tamarin monkey day at Butterfly Creek. Kids can dress up like little cotton tops in black and white to win a behind the scenes monkey encounter as well as a Butterfly Creek family pass (value of $150). Who wouldn't go bananas over that?
• Saturday, 9.30am-5pm. Butterfly Creek, Tom Pearce Drive, Auckland Airport. Normal admission prices.
3. Going Nuts
Fractious Tash theatre company - the folks who wildly re-invented The Importance of Being Earnest - pays homage to slash and horror Hitchcock movies in their new season, Not Psycho. There's a plot (a young, horror-movie obsessed man in a netherworld blurring truth and fiction), a brilliant company of actors , and lots of adjectives: ambitious, hypnotic, kaleidoscopic. Don't miss it. But warning: you may need to have a quiet drink in the gorgeous Q Theatre bar until you're ready for the dark streets and your empty house.
• Until August 29, Q Theatre.
4. Filmography
It might be the perfect weekend to get the boxed sets out and settle in for a screen session. If you're getting cabin fever, head to the pictures, big-screen style. The festival-movie set can check out Women He's Undressed (movies, fashion, gorgeousness) or Amy (Winehouse), already back on general release, the adventurers will give The Man From U.N.C.L.E. a go (our critic's not a fan [review from RB]), Amy Schumer fans will be flocking to Trainwreck. It's that sort of season.
5. Clowning around
Get the small sorts out of the house early on Saturday for Auckland Live's Pick and Mix. This weekend it's Hip Hop Clowning - high energy, hip hop dance with sadness and silliness with a funky bow from Jandal J followed by a workshop at 11.30 pm where everyone can learn what it takes to be a Funky Friend. A treat for all ages.
• Saturday, 10.30-12.30. Aotea Centre. Sunday, 10.30am-12.30pm. Bruce Mason Centre.