Gisborne

The First Light Millennium parties on the islands!!!

ODYSSEY'S END FIRST LIGHT TRIATHLON AND SUMMER FESTIVAL OF SPORT

New Year's Day may seem a strange day to rage a gruelling triathlon, but there are hundreds of athletes out there who beg to differ. Already the event is attracting the cream of the crop of New Zealand and international triathletes, and race director Terry Sheldrake is looking forward to a field of 2000 for the Year 2000. As part of the build up to the world's first triathlon there are 5-km road races for both men and women, a cycle criterium and a 1500-metre sea swim from Midway Beach to Waikanae Beach.

ODYSSEY'S END

Club Odyssey's End are planning a members-only New Year's Eve party for 60,000 people from all over the world. While much of the celebrations will be for members only, there are still many other events open to everyone, including a Mardi Gras parade through the streets of the city, a sunset ceremony and an evening of entertainment from international acts. Also in the planning is a huge fireworks and laser light show from barges on the waters of Poverty Bay. The last sun set of 1999 will be drummed out by musicians from world-wide cultures, and the new millennium drummed in when the first rays bounce their way into the bay. A nine-month long Year 2000 Trade Fair will be launched in the new year.

SERVANT 2000

A global gathering of up to 20,000 Christians are expected to take part in the "first Christian service of the new millennium". The service will be the high point of the 10-day family-orientated rally, which will include a concert, a number of inspirational international speakers and a daily district-wide clean-up campaign. Servant 2000 focuses on taking the church out of the building and into the people, a theme organisers hope will be carried on into the new millennium.

PACIFIC TALL SHIPS 2000

With the most recognised ships in Australasia already entered in the Pacific Tall Ships Festival 2000, international interest is high for the event which will take graceful beauties from bygone days into the ports of Auckland, Tauranga, Gisborne, Napier and Wellington. The Endeavour replica will lead a large fleet of tall ships into the very waters that Captain Cook first discovered New Zealand. A flotilla of ships will also be at the international date-line less than 100 -miles due east from Gisborne, to greet the new millennium. The festival will coincide with the America's Cup Series being held in late January in Auckland.

TE RUNANGA O TURANGANUI A KIWA

Te Runanga o Turanganui a Kiwa has city wide celebrations planned for the year 2000

ECO 2000

eco2000 aims to have the rest of the world understand New Zealand's efforts to earn its clean, green image. Conceptualist Joan Pollock looked to marry sustainable land use and other millennium celebrations when planning eco2000. Symposiums covering all land use from agriculture to horticulture, through to forestry, will be held monthly from February to November in the Year 2000, with the main feature held in the last month, probing the future of New Zealand's land in 20 years time.

OPERA FESTIVAL

Held every three years, the Gisborne Opera Festival presents a memorable week of opera and the arts in general, together with Maori cultural events, wine trails, garden visits and other attractions. It draws together both European and Maori cultures in a unique festival that shows the diversity of the district's distinguished land-based heritage. It is hoped that for the Year 2000 festival, there will be some personal involvement from patron Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.

PEPSI FIRST LIGHT FESTIVAL

Already the Pepsi First Light Festival is attracting more than 40,000 people to the East Coast each year between Christmas and the end of January-that figure is expected to explode to more than 100,000 in the coming years. The umbrella festival covers around 40 events, including the Pultron 2000 Windsurfing Classic, the Lucozade Beach Volleyball New Zealand

Open, the Gisborne stampede, surf life saving events and many others.

CITY-WIDE CELEBRATIONS

Gisborne city will have festivals and celebrations commencing now and leading up to and beyond the Year 2000. Throughout the millennium year Gisborne will have theme months providing activity and entertainment for visitors from around the world. To celebrate the end of the old and the beginning of the new, Gisborne will be hosting the celebration of the millennium.

SOUTH PACIFIC MILLENNIUM CONSORTIUM

A united effort by the South Pacific Nations to jointly market and promote the area as the destination for the new millennium traveller. A pool of countries and islands along the international dateline including Tonga, Western Samoa, Fiji and Gisborne are working together to ensure the world's focus is on the South Pacific for the Year 2000 celebrations.

NGATI POROU CELEBRATIONS 2000

Te Runanga o Ngati Porou and C2000 Ltd have organised a festival of activities including sporting fixtures, fishing, talent quests, 4 wheel driving to Mount Hikurangi and various others. The emphasis being the hospitality of the coast and it's people.