Wellington on a Plate is back for second helpings from August 11-27. Festival side dish-turned main event,Burger Wellington is here with more than 200 burgers on offer, from barbacoa to battered oysters. Anything you can stick between two pieces of bread, really. Winning sandwiches announced September 4.
Don’t know who to support in the Women’s World Cup? FIFA is running a “Fancestry” quiz to help find where your loyalties lie as the teams progress. Host City Ōtepoti Dunedin is also running pre-match fixtures at the Museum of Otago (July 30, August 1), with music and face painting. Head to Toitu Otago Settlers Museum for a deeper dive into the cosmopolitan port city.
The Okavango Delta, Botswana was voted the world's favourite safari location. Photo / Africa Image Library
The beautiful game
If football isn’t your thing, Botswana also has some big game. The country between Africa’s Kalahari desert and the Okavango delta was voted Best Safari Country 2023, after a consultation of more than 4000 safari experts. The home of black-maned lions was crowned king for a third time, followed by Tanzania and Zambia.
Vanuatu, worth writing home about: The world's first underwater post office. Photo / Supplied, Vanuatu Tourism
Whale mail from Efate
July 30 is Vanuatu Independence Day. A chain of more than 80 islands, containing nine active volcanoes and a unique Melanesian culture, it is also home to the world’s only underwater post office. At Hideaway Island Marine sanctuary cards are collected from a sunken post box. That’s worth writing home about.
Peak Switzerland: The Grindelwaldview Hotel overlooks the Wetterhorn mountain, at 3701m. Photo / Switzerland Tourism, Jost von Allmen
Cantons celebrate
Since the good folk of Helvetia came together in 1291 to become “Switzerland”, August 1 has been a national day. The date is marked with Swiss-crossed buns and the hills are alive with the smoke of bonfires, lit on mountains. The Rhine Falls near Schaffhausen, Europe’s largest waterfalls, are illuminated with fireworks.
