Hundreds of people converged on Earnslaw Park last night to take in the sights and sounds of the Queenstown Winter Festival Mardi Gras - this year welcoming back the parade, which took on a Japanese flavour.
One of the highlights of the annual festival, this year's mardi gras did not disappoint, with mulled wine the beverage of choice and plenty of hot food on offer to keep the cold at bay.
The event finished off an action-packed family fun day, with hundreds more people lining the Village Green yesterday afternoon to take in the action during the Stars on Ice performance at the festival's Wonderland Ice Rink.
New Zealand champion figure skaters were joined by Ice Blacks hockey players for a crowd-stopping display, which entertained and delighted young and old.
Queenstown local and 2010 junior men's national champion Chris Boyd (18) graced the rink first, followed by solo performances from Queenstown Primary pupil Jessica Staples, 2010 senior ladies national champion Samantha Waugh and Wakatipu High School's India Haworth.
Dressed in glittering black, the country's 2010 senior pairs national champions Ariel Nadas and Grant Howie then executed seamless jumps, lifts and twirls together drawing gasps from spectators.
Bringing gnarly clashes to the rink were five Southern Stampede players, four from the New Zealand Ice Blacks squad, Brett Speirs, Mitchell Frear (U18) Aston Brookes (U18) and Connor Harrison (U18), cheered on by Ice Blacks captain Simon Glass.
On Monday night, six of New Zealand's best comedians, hosted by Brendhan Lovegrove, had festivalgoers in stitches with individual stand-ups and a rendition of TV3's 7 Days covering everything from bodily functions to politics to making fun of New Zealand's infamous townships, to the delight of the sold-out crowd.
The festival action continues today with the Downtown Day, where businessmen will don stilettos and dresses for a madcap drag race around Earnslaw Park, the Avalanche Awareness Seminar and two more sold-out events, the Murder Mystery evening and Late Night Laughs.
