Auckland Pasifika Festival March 2016

Last Sunday I went to the Pasifika Festival at Western Springs in Auckland.  Another awesome day out!  Auckland is the biggest Pacific city in the world!  We are so lucky to have so many amazing cultures all in one place! 

These are some ladies from Hawaii demonstrating their dances.  So graceful and beautiful to watch!

 This gorjuss lady above and below was from Hawaii, and now lives in Whangarei, here in New Zealand.  I just loved watching her dance, she was so beautiful.

 I just loved her gorjuss hair adornment!

 This is another lady from Hawaii, below.  They were all so graceful and colourful!

And here, below, is their sign and their flag.  Everyone was so bright and colourful that day! 

 I can't recall where this group of singer was from, but all the Islands were represented this day.  Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, Hawaii, just to name a few.  They all had their own groups who were singing and dancing.

The jewelry was not only stunning but also amazingly colourful.  Everywhere you went there was something sparkling int he sun!

As well as jewelry there were many different carved ornaments and trinkets. 

As I walked up an over a hill, I spotted bubbles everywhere!  There were coming from a bubble machine that was cleverly hidden behind a big box of some sort.  All you could see was the bubbles! 

The festival was at Western Springs, which has a big lake.  The tents and stages were set out around the entire lake.  There are pathways all round the lake, and plenty of shade and seats to it on an have lunch.  There was lot's of Island food for sale -I didn't buy any as I wasn't sure if any of it was Gluten Free or not.  So I took my own lunch.

There are A LOT of birds at the lake...black swans and ducks and seagulls and all kinds of birds.  I am cautious of getting too close to the swans as they can turn nasty and attack you!   

I chose to keep out of their way, as I have been chased by them before!  They can run a lot faster than I can! 

I have to be honest, I am not sure if the above bird is a Pukeko or a Takahe:-(  They do look similar.  I think this one is a Pukeko!

    

 Above is one of the eels in the lake at Western Springs.  I am not keen on them at all but thought I would take his/her photo!  

While I love Western Springs, I have to say, the lake is DISCUSTING.   It is full of rubbish and looks awful.  Among other things I saw in the lake (a couple I won't mention on here), there was someones hat, paper, plastic bags, lolly wrappers, a shoe, cardboard boxes, plastic drink bottles, just to name a few. 

The sad thing is, I can clearly remember when the lake was CLEAN!  I can't figure out why it has been let get into this sad state.  Someone needs to clean it up.  It's a great place for tourists (and the locals) but it needs cleaning up asap.

Below is one of the bridges over the lake.  

And then there were these gorjuss ladies with their beautiful hats! 

This lady in red is my fave of the day!  She looked stunning! 

Besides jewelry, and clothing for sale, there was a stall selling pretty parasols. 

These are just a few of the photo's I took on Sunday; there was so much to see and do and after three hours or so, my feet told me to go home!  Western Springs (Google it to find out more if you are interested!) is a big place and you need comfy shoes on if you are going to walk around it! (I had my Skechers on, so my feet were ok)

Thanks fro dropping by, {HUGS} from me to YOU:-)