Aucklanders will be treated to Skycity's fireworks display at midnight. Photo/Jason Oxenham
Aucklanders will be treated to Skycity's fireworks display at midnight. Photo/Jason Oxenham
With New Year's Eve upon us, here's all you need to know to farewell 2020 and welcome the new year.
What's on
Skycity fireworks and Vector lights on the Auckland Harbour Bridge:
A five-minute fireworks and light show will kick off at midnight. The moment will also be broadcast onTVNZ 1, 2 and Duke. The best places to view the light show are the waterfront, Devonport, Herne Bay, Te Atatū Peninsula, Bastion Pt, Northcote and Mt Eden and Bayswater Marina.
Before the fireworks, head to the America's Cup Village to celebrate with free entertainment from 2pm at Silo Park and from 5pm on Te Wero Island. The Britomart Block Party NYE Festival will also be taking place on Galway St and Britomart Square, 7pm–4am.
New Year's Eve in Wellington: Welcome in 2021 with a family-friendly night of live music, a lighting show and fireworks display at Whairepo Lagoon by Frank Kitts Park. The night kicks off at 8pm with Electric Avenue and an hour of kids' chart-topping favourites until the kids' countdown at 9pm. This is followed a further hour of songs until Orchestra Wellington takes over from 10pm until midnight.
The Edge NYE20: The Black Seeds will welcome 2021 with a free concert at Christchurch's Hagley Park. The Edge NYE20 will start with family fun at 6pm and a kids' countdown around 8pm before a line-up of home-grown talent takes the stage and takes you through to the midnight fireworks display.
New Year's Eve in Queenstown: 2021 will be brought in on the Queenstown lakefront with a great line-up of live music across two stages, entertainment, food and a spectacular fireworks display lighting up the night sky at midnight. From 7.30pm Haven, Calico and Freefall will perform on the main stage while DJ Pops and DJ Cuz are among the acts on the DJ stage from 9pm.
Party-goers at Rhythm and Vines will be bringing in the New Year to tunes from Benee. Photo/Supplied
Rhythm and Vines and Rhythm and Alps 2020: Bene, Shapeshifter, L.A.B, Fat Freddy's Drop, Six60 and Broods are among the artists performing at the three-day festivals at Waiohika Estate Vineyard in Gisborne and the Cardrona Valley in Wanaka.
It's shaping up to be a dry New Year's Eve but you'll need to wrap up warm if you're planning to ring in the new year outdoors.
The top of the country looks set to be the warmest place to farewell 2020, with a high of 25C and a low of 14C predicted for Whangārei - although there could be a few showers in the afternoon.
Auckland is not far behind, with a high of 24C and a low of 15C.
Fine weather is expected all day in Wellington, up the west coast and through the central North Island, although the temperatures are likely to sit slightly lower at about 22C.
The forecast for today for most parts of the country is for fine weather. However, the West Coast may see some patchy rain later in the day and inland parts of Southland, Otago and South Canterbury could get downpours turning to rain overnight, according to Weatherwatch.
It could be a wet night for those heading to Rhythm and Alps, with rain predicted to set in this evening around Wanaka.
In the North Island, the day might start with a few patches of drizzle around Gisborne and coastal Hawke's Bay but it should clear by evening.
The Black Seeds are performing in Christchurch's Hagley Park. Photo/Stephen Parker
MetService meteorologist Andy Best said the top of the North Island was likely to get temperatures of 20C to 24C during the day with the rest of the North Island sitting around 20C to 22C. Overnight lows were expected to be 10C to 12C in most places.
As for the South Island, Alexandra and Wanaka could hit 25C or 26C but the rest of the island was likely to sit around 20C to 21C. Overnight the temperature for most parts would be in the low teens, he said.
Staying safe
"If it's not tested, don't take it." That's the advice from drug-checking organisation Know Your Stuff.
They said only a small amount of MDMA was available and half the drugs purporting to be MDMA contain dangerous cathinones, also known as bath salts.
Dubbing this the "summer of cathinones", Know Your Stuff's Dr Jez Weston revealed a massive uptick in the amount of substances detected.
"The most common cathinone right now is eutylone. We saw small amounts last year and now there's heaps of it around. This is a big change and bad news," Weston said.
Weston warned that users were redosing with the drug, which offers a shorter "high" than MDMA, and then found themselves unable to sleep for days.
"Initially, eutylone feels like MDMA - euphoria - but that fades after an hour or so. You may think it is weak MDMA and be tempted to take more. Don't."
Police said their advice around illegal drugs was always not to use them.
Fireworks on The Strand in Tauranga to celebrate the start of 2020. Photo/George Novak
"Illicit drugs are generally manufactured and/or imported by people who put profit above all else and do not consider the health and wellbeing of users."
The police also asked people to drink responsibly: have something substantial to eat first, have a glass of water between each alcoholic beverage, plan how you are getting home and have the money to pay for it.
They also urged people to look out for their friends, make sure their phone was fully charged before they headed out, never leave their drinks unattended and stay in groups when walking home.
The New Zealand Alcoholic Beverages Council reiterated the police messages and reminded people it was okay to drink no- or low-alcohol beverages or slowly sip and savour drinks in order to keep celebrations safe and social.
