A sleepover at Kelly Tarlton's is an experience the kids won't soon forget. Photo / Supplied
When the sun goes down, Dionne Christian finds the city comes alive with activities to entertain kids — and adults.
Warm, light summer nights often mean dealing with kids who don't want to go to sleep because "it's still daylight outside". Seeing it's school holidays, rather than have a bedtime battle, why not plan an evening outing? We discovered the options are bountiful.
Go on safari or snooze with the fishes
In the heat of a hot summer day, the animals at Auckland Zoo quite rightly prefer to be snoozing out of sight. They come alive in the evening so safari nights allow us to explore the zoo after dark. Each safari night includes a barbecue dinner and a guided torch-lit walk. The zoo has two options for kids in January: join the rest of the family on a public safari night or enjoy the kids-only safari sleepover. The sleepover, for kids aged 8 and older, includes dinner and the guided walk plus an overnight stay, breakfast and a second guided walk in the morning.
Across town at Kelly Tarlton's Sea Life Aquarium, you can make like a mermaid and sleep under the sea - sort of. Family sleepovers are for parents and kids and include a night-time guided tour around the aquarium, a behind-the-scenes look and fish feeding, a special stingray feed, and supper before falling asleep underneath the sharks, stingrays and fish.
Breakfast is served the following morning.
If you're in Rotorua during summer, Rainbow Springs sells its last entry tickets at 10pm, and if you visited earlier in the day you can return, which means you can see kiwi in the open-air aviary.
Watch a movie or listen to the music
Summer evenings mean the start of Auckland Council's Movies in Parks series. This season, 22 family favourite films are playing in parks across town and, yes, Frozen is on the schedule. Screenings are free and movies start as the sun sets, usually between 7.45pm and 8.30pm, so there's time to enjoy a picnic before settling back for the open-air cinema experience.
Papakura's Central Park combines music and a movie for a special line-up (Saturday, January 24) with music from Sammy J & Swiss and the Kingsmen and followed by Transformers: Age of Extinction.
Most of Auckland Council's free Music in Parks concerts are during the day but a handful are in the early evening. At Auckland Domain Wintergardens you can relax and unwind to the music of award- winning Tama Waipara, TK, Sherydon and Pao Pao Pao (Friday evening, January 23). Dingle Dell Reserve, in St Heliers, will be the place to be when NZ Opera stages a free concert (Saturday, January 31, 6pm-8pm).
Silo Park's Silo Cinema also returns for the summer with Friday evening movies. After a Christmas break, movies resume on Friday, January 9 with the Aussie action-flick Crocodile Dundee.
Speaking of Silo Park, there's also the Silo Night Markets every (fine) Friday evening in summer. Buy dinner from a wide range of food trucks and pop-up eateries and shop for arts, crafts and gifts - the clothing stalls are especially recommended. There's also an ever-changing schedule of local and international DJs and entertainment to provide music while you browse.
Check out the "Finders Keepers" market, celebrating all the vintage, rockabilly and retro treasures and experiences you could ever want. The market includes a classic car display, more than 30 stall holders plus an array of other Silo Market vendors (Sunday, January 11, midday-6pm).
While there, swing along to Silo Social where, each Sunday, there'll be beginner's lessons in a new dance discipline - everything from swing to hip hop and Bollywood. Check out Under The Sea, an exhibition by the Roots Creative Entrepreneurs. The group has worked with 4500 school students from 13 schools to create a massive sculpture/installation of recyclable bottles. Each bottle contains a child's illustration of hope. It's on at The Gantry, 24 hours a day.
The Auckland Night Markets started five years ago at the Pakuranga Plaza and have mushroomed all over Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga. With the slogan "Food, Fashion, Family Fun", each market features around 200 stalls where you can eat your way around the world from a mind-boggling array of food stalls serving popular street snacks. Food stalls also sell fresh fruit and vegetables. There's entertainment, browse at arts, crafts, jewellery, clothing and accessories stalls. Mobile phone stands are oddly popular, or you can get your fortune read, have a foot massage or get a henna tattoo.
Star gaze
Get outside, lie down on a blanket and look at the stars and, sooner or later, kids will start asking about what exactly they're looking at. That's when you head to the Stardome Observatory, at One Tree Hill, to marvel at the wonders of the universe - and our place in it - during one of its planetarium shows. Kids' shows run earlier in the day but 8pm's The Summer Night Sky is suitable for those aged 8-plus.
Get active
Lilliputt, on Tamaki Drive, was Auckland's first 18-hole mini-golf course. With its view of the Waitemata Harbour, is still a favourite but it has expanded to include three more centres. At Lost in Time, at the Metro Centre in central Auckland, golf your way around the battlefields of World War I, the gold mines of Waihi, the virgin forests of early New Zealand and the dawn of the dinosaurs; in Hamilton's Centre Pl, you can play Ice Mini Golf, which follows the journey of a caveman who hunts mammoths, woolly rhino and sabre-tooth tigers while dealing with the thrills and spills he would have encountered living in the ice.
Lilliputt's latest addition, Around the World Mini Golf, at Sylvia Park, is truly a global tour: golf around landmarks such as the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Pyramids and encounter flora and fauna, like a very authentic looking lion.
You can also jump the evening away at Jump indoor trampoline parks. Started just a year ago in East Tamaki, there are now Jump centres in Hamilton and Mairangi Bay. Described as a "spring-loaded urban playground", each centre comprises huge interlocking trampolines that cover floors and walls. There are also foam pits, trampoline dodge ball courts and basketball hoops. It means there's fun for all ages, especially harder-to-please teenagers.
Don't let the kids drive you up the wall; instead get them to climb one. Extreme Edge has centres in Panmure and Glen Eden with climb zones and walls for all ages.
If you want to cool down, Paradice Ice Skating, with rinks in Botany and Avondale, has regular late-night public sessions during the school holidays. There's music, special effects and on-ice games.
The similarly chilly SnowPlanet opens until late at night so ski-bunnies can get their fix, even in the summer. Without needing sunscreen the kids can slip, slop, slide with snow tubing: suitable for people of all ages it is a great way to introduce youngsters to the snow.
A late-night dip might be a compromise between activity and the calming power of water. Auckland Council pools are free for kids aged 16 and under and, during summer, a number keep the doors open for longer. The Parnell Baths, with the only salt water pool in Auckland, has recently been upgraded and, as well as the 60m main pool, includes hot pools, a children's pool and a water playground. During summer, it opens until 8pm, as does the outdoor Pt Erin Pool in Herne Bay.
From March, theme park Rainbow's End brings back its Night Rides season. Daredevils say there's nothing like riding its newest ride, the Stratosfear, at night when it lights up with 3956 lights. The alcohol-free Night Rides are suitable for the entire family, but especially popular with teenagers.
NEED TO KNOW
Auckland Zoo: Public safari night ($50 a person) Friday, January 16, 4.30-10pm; kids must be aged over 5, and accompanied by an adult. Kids' only safari night ($65 per child) Saturday, January 17, 3.30pm-8am. Bookings essential, ph (09) 360 4700 or email: experiences@aucklandzoo.co.nz.
Kelly Tarlton's Sealife Aquarium: Family sleepovers ($45 per person) Saturday and Sunday, January 17-18. Bookings, ph (09) 531 5065.
Rainbow Springs: 192 Fairy Springs Rd, Rotorua; ph (07) 350 0440.
Auckland Council's Music in Parks and Movies in Parks: Every weekend from Saturday, January 10 to mid March.
Silo Park Movies: January 16, Dark Horse; January 23, Goodbye Pork Pie; January 30, Point Break.
Stardome Observatory:, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom. Closed until January 6. Ph (09) 624 1246.
Lilliputt Mini Golf Tamaki Drive:, Ice Age Mini Golf and Around the World: open seven days 10am-9pm; Lost in Time 10am-10pm.
Jump: Mondays and Tuesdays, noon-7pm; Wednesdays, Thursdays 10am-7pm; Fridays until 9pm; Saturdays, until 10pm; Sundays until 6pm.
Extreme Edge: Panmure and Glen Eden: until 10pm weeknights, 9pm on weekends; Hamilton until 9.30pm Monday-Friday, 7pm on weekends.
Snow Planet: 92 Small Rd, Silverdale. Check the website for holiday opening hours. Ph 0800 SnowPlanet.
Rainbow's End: 2 Clist Cres, Manukau. Ph (09) 262 2030.
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