Easter Weekend in Wairarapa
The Wairarapa Balloon Festival is happening over five days – with the spectacular main event of the Night Glow on Saturday night at Clareville Showgrounds, Carterton.
Please note – all ascension launch sites and flight paths will be weather dependent. Keep up to date with any changes or announcements through the Wairarapa Balloon Festival's Facebook page.
• Tonight (Thursday 6 April) from 5.30pm - 7.30pm - Burner Light Up in Masterton’s Queen Elizabeth Park.
• Friday 7 April – 20 balloons ascension at Carrington Park, Carterton, at 6.30am, just off Main Street.
• Saturday 8 April - The Meander over Martinborough ascension takes place from 6.30am from Martinborough Golf Course.
• Saturday 8 April - Night Glow at Clareville Showgrounds. Once darkness falls, the balloons will be inflated, and held on the ground, glowing like huge Chinese lanterns. This will be set to live music, providing a spectacular glow, and an impressive finale to the evening festivities. Live band, bouncy castle, food vendors, static displays.
• Sunday 9 April - Park to Paddock Challenge happens from 6.30am in Greytown’s Kuranui College grounds in East Street.
• Monday 10 April - Farewell Flight at 6.30am from a 'mystery location' to be announced on Wairarapa Balloon’s Facebook page on the previous morning of Sunday 9 April.
Greytown’s National Tweed Ride is in tippy-top shape for its nearly 200 trend-setting tweedsters for their unashamed showing off on Saturday afternoon. Watch the mad mob depart at 1pm from the Greytown Working Persons’ Club Carpark on West Street – opposite Fresh Choice supermarket.
Molewood Orchard, Greytown. It's harvest season and you're welcome to bring a bag or bucket, and pick your own apples for only $2 per kg! Saturday 8 - Monday 10 April. Why not bring along a picnic lunch as well and make a day of it. Sunscreen, sturdy footwear and hats are good ideas too!
Our wonderful staff at the Masterton and Martinborough i-SITES will be manning their stations over Easter and ever willing and ready to help. Please note - Masterton’s office will be closed on Sunday.
Poll: 🤖 What skills do you think give a CV the ultimate edge in a robot-filled workplace?
The Reserve Bank has shared some pretty blunt advice: there’s no such thing as a “safe” job anymore 🛟😑
Robots are stepping into repetitive roles in factories, plants and warehouses. AI is taking care of the admin tasks that once filled many mid-level office jobs.
We want to know: As the world evolves, what skills do you think give a CV the ultimate edge in a robot-filled workplace?
Want to read more? The Press has you covered!
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52.7% Human-centred experience and communication
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14.6% Critical thinking
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30% Resilience and adaptability
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2.7% Other - I will share below!
Share your favourite main crop potato recipe and win a copy of our mag!
Love potatoes? We will give away free copies of the May 2026 issue to readers whose potato recipes are used in our magazine. To be in the running, make sure you email your family's favourite way to enjoy potatoes: mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, by March 1, 2026.
Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
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