Blues, Brews & BBQ's is one of the most popular events on the summer calendar - a family fun day of barbecue fare, fine ales and great music that is held at three locations; Blenheim, Hastings and Mount Maunganui.
The festivals are a celebration of everything that is unique about the traditional kiwi summer lifestyle; our love of outdoor cooking, great music and enjoying an ale or two with good friends and family.
New Zealand is widely recognised for its achievements in wine production and this often overshadows the fact that we have a burgeoning industry producing fine crafted ales that can and do compete with the best anywhere in the world. Blues, Brews & BBQ's pays homage to the craft of brewing enabling small and large brewers alike to present their premier beers to a large and appreciateive audience. For the public it really does represent a unique opportunity to sample a massive range of different styles and flavours. And the range extends to wine, cider and even the odd tipple of schnapps can be found.
The barbecue too is a real taste sensation with some of the leading chefs from each region serving up gourmet grill fare fit for royalty. The culinary menu can only be described as simply delectable with the range typically extending from authentic Indian, Middle Eastern, Ostrich, Westcoast Whitebait to sweets and of course everything else that you would expect from the typical 'barbie'.
All this is served up to a background of easy listening music with a strong 'blues' flavour. The festivals have seen many of the country's best performers lining up to entertain the crowds including icons such as 'Hello Sailor', 'The Winch Brothers', 'Midge Marsden', 'Darcy Perry Blues Band', 'Darren Watson', 'The Coalrangers', 'Bullfrog Rata'. There is even the occasional international artist such as Geoff Lang and the Australian duo 'Wizard & Oz' appeared at a recent Mount Maunganui festival.

2010 Ellerslie International Flower Show shaping up to be biggest in 15-year history
Ellerslie 2010 is reaching the exciting stage in its development with everyone – designers and exhibitors – putting the finishing touches to their designs and the venue lay-out almost complete. With almost 100 horticultural exhibits, including 30 gardens, Ellerslie 2010 is shaping up to be the biggest and best Show in the 15-year history of Ellerslie.
The Great Ellerslie Photo Competition returns in 2010 and I encourage everyone to get out with their cameras and Focus on Flowers this summer – the theme for next year’s competition. Competition organisers, The Fusion Trust, are asking everyone to “think outside the square” with their images, using flowers as the embryo to show some real flair and imagination in their images. Think of flowers in the broader sense, worn in the hair, used in children’s play, such as the making of daisy chains, at cemeteries, weddings and events like ANZAC Day – the options are endless. Entries close on Friday 12 February 2010.
Gold award-winning Ellerslie International Flower Show garden designer Carl Pickens is asking all New Zealanders for their help in creating his garden for next year’s Show. The sustainable landscape architect and organic horticulturalist needs at least 2000 people to respond to his question – “What can we do to make the world a better place?” – by the end of January to help create his garden.
While details of the actual garden design are being kept under wraps until the Show, everyone who responds will find their answer embedded in the design. Please take a few minutes to go online at www.oneearthmatters.co.nz and respond to the Ellerslie Question before the end of next month, then visit the garden at Ellerslie in 2010 and search for your answer – Carl guarantees it will be there.
Tickets are available from the website www.ellerslieflowershow.co.nz, Ticketek or Countdown supermarkets. If you haven’t already, why not also treat yourself to tickets to the Show.
The Great Ellerslie Photo Competition returns in 2010 and I encourage everyone to get out with their cameras and Focus on Flowers this summer – the theme for next year’s competition.
 Multi award-winning Chelsea Flower Show designer Chris Beardshaw has designed and will build the largest ever exhibition garden in the 15-year history of the Ellerslie International Flower Show at this year’s Show.
Stretching 12 metres across the shore of Victoria Lake, it will extend 64 metres into the showgrounds and is guaranteed to be a real show-stopper, says Ellerslie International Flower Show Exhibition Manager Kate Hillier.
“With almost 10,000 plants, including 4500 annuals and 3000 herbaceous plants, this magnificent English garden will have loads of colour and plenty of fragrance, making it a real feast for all the senses.”
Chris Beardshaw is renowned for his formal English garden designs, having won nine Gold and Silver Gilt Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) medals, as well as many Best in Show and People’s Choice Awards and the coveted RHS Tudor Rose Award.
He says his Ellerslie 2010 garden will be positioned between two grand Poplar trees on the shore of Victoria Lake, borrowing from the surrounding landscape to make the garden look like it goes on forever.
The garden will have multiple viewpoints but one main axis.
“You will stand with your toes being tickled by the herbaceous perennials looking west through a formal garden with a grand lawn leading down to a Victorian portico with classical references.
“The borders will be 3.6 metres wide, punctured with trees and shrubs so as you look towards the lake there will be a kind of rhythm in the way the structure unfolds. Underneath will be a swath of tapestry planting combinations.
“The first section will be hedged and then opening through wrought iron gates the garden will feature plants usually found in bright, sunny regions and lead up to the portico with potted palms and citrus fruits.”
Chris says in the open-sided portico there will be sculpture and tender exotics. The portico will lead on to the second part of the garden which will be more informal.
“A close mown lawn will lead down to the edge of the lake. On either side, long grass will be peppered with perennial wildflowers and punctured with topiaried trees and informal plantings of rhododendrons, camellias, Japanese maples and ferns. This section of the garden will be more relaxed and less contrived.”
Chris says Ellerslie is not the biggest show garden he has designed. Three years ago he designed a 50m x 50m garden for Hampton Court, demonstrating to schools how they could use their outdoor spaces for learning opportunities. This garden won Gold, Best in Show and the Royal Horticultural Society’s Tudor Rose Award.

Local woman, Claire Bryant, instigated the very first celebration of local wild food. Her wine cellar was very well stocked with a home brew of West Coast gorse flower wine and people were clamouring for a taste of her rose petal brew. So ….. why not a festival celebrating the tastes of the wild West Coast!
The event also coincided with the 125th anniversary of the birth of Hokitika in March 1990.      
    And so it eventuated ….. locals and the rest of New Zealand were captured by the magic of the idea - a celebration of Hokitika and the wild foods of the West Coast.
The Wildfoods Festival has become an iconic and premier special event in New Zealand.
The first Festival attracted a crowd of 1,800 and this year’s Festival saw 15,000 people
walk through the gate! Attendance peaked in 2003 with 22,500 Festival goers and
numbers are now capped at 15,000.
New wild foods are introduced every year and this year was no exception with such innovations as wasp larvae icecream, cucumber fish, sheep milk cheeses and wok fried clams to name just a few!     
    Roving entertainment, mingling amongst the crowd, and continuous stage performances enliven the Festival arena with bands, solo artists, mime, comedy, dancers and much, MUCH more to keep you rocking throughout the day and night.
The Festival offers local community groups, individuals and businesses the opportunity to raise funds and profile their products which is an important part of the event.
In 1996, the Wildfoods Festival was awarded the Most Unique Event in New Zealand and has twice been a winner in the New Zealand Tourism Awards.
A competition is held annually to find original artwork for posters and flyers which are distributed nationally and internationally to raise the profile of Hokitika and the Wildfoods Festival.    
 
    From the mountains to the sea, a narrow strip of scenic wonders is located on the West Coast of the South Island, New Zealand.
Glaciers, national parks/world heritage area, lakes, rivers, rainforest, wildlife, fauna and people, (“Coasters” as they are called) all interwoven in the untamed wilderness of Westland.
    Much of New Zealand’s pioneering spirit is still close to the fore in Westland, making it, in some instances, an untouched region of natural beauty and experiences.
Hokitika has a colourful history - settled in the 1860’s after the discovery of gold, it soon developed into one of the busiest ports in New Zealand. Today it is a town with wide, attractive streets, friendly people and a population of 3,300. Tourism, farming, fishing and forestry provide for the economy.
    
And so to YOU ….. we dare you to grab your friends, family and, most importantly, your
appetite for fun and join us at the next Wildfoods Festival!

Friday 2nd April - Practise Day
Gates open 7am. No set times for practises or displays, with breaks.
Static aircraft and RNZAF displays can be viewed while aircraft practise continues. All trade stands, merchandise, children's area and other displays are operational from 8am to 4pm.
Saturday 3rd April and Sunday 4th April - Airshow days
The flying programme for both days may vary in content and sequence and will be subject to aircraft serviceability.
Gates open at 7am. All displays and children's area are open from 8am to 4.00pm.
10.00am - 12 noon
Opening sequence, then during the morning acts from helicopters, jets, aerobatic teams, WWI aircraft, military trainers, Spitfire.
12.00 - 12.30pm Lunchtime
Model Aircraft Display
Warhorse Display and more.....
12.30 - 4pm
Royal New Zealand Airforce Display
Royal Australian Airforce Display
Main Warbird Display

Come and join us for three days over Easter when Lake Wanaka will become centre-stage for an extravaganza of aerial action never before seen in New Zealand.
This is one of the four top Warbirds Airshows in the world where you will see some of the most famous Warbirds join forces with the classic aircraft of yesteryear and the modern jets of today, to present a veritable feast of aviation attractions. On the ground, a variety of Warhorse military vehicles, stationary machinery and an Aviation Trade Expo will vie for your attention.
 
The Airshow features all the facilities you would expect of an international event including onsite parking, disabled facilities and children's area. There are many exclusive souvenirs and memorabilia available for purchase to provide lasting memories of this weekend of action and excitement.


Flying Programme: We have almost finalised an exciting overseas aircraft for the flying programme, one that has not been in the country before. Our collector’s poster will be available for sale prior to the Airshow and depicts this aircraft. Aircraft confirmations are the P-40 Kittyhawk, Corsair, Catalina, Spitfire, Harvards, de Havillands, Yaks, Mustang, some WW1 aircraft and more! All subject to availability of course.


Ground Programme: There are many changes to the ground programme for 2010. We are having Bundaberg Classic Cockpits, Warhorses and Stationary engines. New in 2010 are Classic Cars of the 1940’s, boats and campervans on display, along with Aircraft for Sale, old or new, including a Dunedin City Ford sales display.
You have to eat! We have plenty of food stalls booked in for WOW 2010 – back by popular demand we have lamb shanks, bacon butties, whitebait, wild venison and pork, rabbit pies, pancakes, Indian foods, merino tasty morsels, oysters, squid, mussels as well as the favourite hotdogs, chips and burgers to name but a few. Icecream, slushies and much more! Food stalls will be in clusters around the airshow with flags denoting their presence – ensure you get around all of them as each one has great coffee and different foods.
In the Gold Pass and Hospitality areas Continental caterers will serve up a treat with local foods and their own delicacies. Breakfast will be served in the Gold Pass area also.
Gold Pass holders will have priority car parking this year – whether you are driving from Wanaka, Christchurch or Cromwell you will be directed to a special area at the front of both car parks. We will put up a map on the website and send it to you nearer the time. Remember to have your tickets ready so the parking attendants can see the words ‘Gold Pass,’ then proceed to the Gold Pass area to collect your pack and swing ticket.

In the Silver Pass area local Wanaka caterer 63b will provide superb food for Silver Pass holders, as well as the general public. They will cater into the early evening, to ensure you have something to eat while at the Bar nearby.
Bundaberg Classic Cockpits will enable you to see for yourself what instruments pilots use while flying. The Vampire, Oxford, Canberra and Devon are a few of the fighter aircraft cockpits on display, you can sit in some cockpits that would have been flown by young teenagers. In addition instrument panels from the Mk IX Spitfire, DC3 and Fletcher Fu24 top dresser will fascinate adults and children alike.
Exhibitions: We have moved most of the stalls into hangars this year to give us additional space on the flightline. You will see Market Stalls (eg clothing, jewellery, ceramics) and the Aviation Trade Stands (eg simulator, avionics, GIS systems) inside ... don’t forget to do your shopping here.
Children’s Area: bring your children and let us entertain them! We have Mini Muscles Gym, Bungy Trampolines, space rocket slide, face painting, puppet show, balloon tying and more to keep them occupied! A crèche (small fees), breast feeding area and nappy changing facilities will mean you can look after your small children in comfort.

Recycling is a NEW item at Warbirds Over Wanaka 2010 – we will have separate bins for you to discard your waste. A mammoth task, Wanaka Wastebusters will be leading the charge and they expect over 20 tonnes of waste (food, paper, liquids) will be removed over the weekend. They will have a special area for sorting and storing and we welcome your feedback after the Airshow on how this worked for you.
NEW: Goodbars Regional Wine & Food Expo
The tastes of the lower South Island are an epicurean delight. Visit the Regional Wine & Food Expo for gourmet food and wine featuring the best of the region. The special sun-light and cooler nights here produce great pinot noirs which are now internationally recognised as perfect for a lunch accompaniment or just sit and sip whilst the non-stop Airshow action continues overhead. See Exhibitors area for application forms.
 
The RNZAF at Warbirds Over Wanaka 2010
 The Royal New Zealand Air Force are set to continue their presence at Warbirds Over Wanaka in 2010 (WOW), showcasing not only the aircraft, but the professionalism and dedication of the men and women who serve our country.
Past shows have seen many of the Air Force’s aircraft in attendance, including the Boeing 757, C-130 Hercules and Iroquois and Naval Seasprite helicopters.
Those attending WOW in 2010 will be able to look forward to the skill and dynamic flying of the Red Checkers. The RNZAF’s aerobatic team who, with flair and precision, execute aerial displays that are always a crowd favourite.
The crowd will also be able to see falling out of the sky with their red, white and blue parachutes, the RNZAF’s elite Kiwi Blue parachute team who synchronise their descent with seemingly effortless ease. The team have carried out displays overseas in Australia and the United Kingdom, making them a truly international act.
As in previous years the Air Force will be bringing to WOW a range of their aircraft from a fleet that includes P-3K Orions, used in maritime search and rescue; C-130 Hercules, the Air Force’s transport aircraft; and the Boeing 757, recently refitted to allow it to carry cargo, passengers or a combination of both.
In addition to the fixed wing aircraft likely to feature in the RNZAF display are the rotary wing fleet of Iroquois helicopters used in Search and Rescue missions and New Zealand Defence Force exercises and operations at home and abroad; together with the Sioux helicopters used for pilot training.
For those in the crowd the RNZAF displays are always a highlight, showing that today’s Air Force is an agile, dedicated and professional organisation.

Motorsport fans from Whangarei to Raglan, and many places in between, can enjoy seeing the world’s best rally drivers in action on their local roads when Rally New Zealand takes place from 6 to 9 May 2010.  The 2010 running of Rally New Zealand – the event’s 40th anniversary – covers 406km of competitive stages and 1498km in total.

Rally New Zealand’s clerk of the course Willard Martin says that new WRC event guidelines allow greater flexibility in planning the rally route to include a mixture of roads and stage timing last used more than a decade ago.

“For 2010, we have options such as mixed road surfaces in a particular timed rally stage, starting earlier or ending later in the day and the use of remote service parks outside Auckland,” says Martin.

“Competitors are allowed just the one specified Pirelli tyre, which will be a gravel tyre for New Zealand, yet we’ll be sending them through stages such as ‘New Franklin’, near Glen Murray in north Waikato, which has both tarmac and gravel sections, so the potential for exciting on-the-road action is extremely high!”

“Day one, Friday 7 May, sees the top seeded driver pairing depart the service park at Queens Wharf at 7:15am to head north for the first stage of the rally, ‘Waipu Gorge’. The day’s nine stages include ‘Cassidy’ with the iconic Hella Bridge on Swamp Road, just north of Paparoa, offering spectators a fantastic viewing point as the cars jump the hump-bridge twice during their two runs.

“Friday also sees all competitors – from the fastest WRC drivers to the smallest two-wheel-drive cars in the field – rendezvous in the Whangarei service park. The leading cars will be at Whangarei’s Quayside Town Basin for about an hour from midday where there is a brief opportunity for promotional activities and autograph signing outside the service park.

Saturday’s first stage is ‘New Franklin’ with its mixture of road surfaces, which leads into the day’s action through the Franklin and north Waikato districts. Competitors tackle eight stages in total, comprising a set of four stages repeated once and including a super special stage at the new Hampton Downs race circuit, just to the south of Mercer.

“The all-tarmac runs at Hampton Downs are sure to be truly spectacular to watch – it certainly extends the drivers using gravel tyres on tarmac – and fans can also see the rally teams at work in the service park set up at the circuit for the day,” says Martin. The rally action at Hampton Downs will be complemented by a full day of motorsport entertainment with details to be announced in the New Year.

On Sunday, crews again head south out of Auckland with the longest touring stage of the event taking them to ‘Te Hutewai’ south of Raglan, and the much-photographed, highly scenic ‘Whaanga Coast’ which runs north up the Raglan coastline. The service park will be at Raglan Airfield. The final stage ‘Old Mountain Road’, which will be televised brings the day’s total timed runs to five before the crews drive back to Auckland and the ceremonial finish at Queens Wharf at 4pm.

As well as being a WRC round in 2010, Rally New Zealand counts as a round for the FIA Production World Rally Championship (PWRC), the FIA Super 2000 World Rally Championship, the FIA WRC Cup for Teams and the New Zealand Rally Championship. Between 50 and 60 teams are expected to enter.

New Zealand National Agricultural Fieldays is the largest agri-business exhibition in the Southern Hemisphere. New Zealand is a world leader in agriculture and pastoral farming; National Fieldays is the ultimate launch platform for cutting edge agricultural technology and innovation. With over 1000 exhibitors, National Fieldays is essential in keeping up with the latest trends and developments in the agriculture and farming industries.

National Fieldays is held over four days each June attracting in excess of 130,000 visitors from around New Zealand and internationally from 38 different countries. The current exhibition and demonstration space is over 98 acres and boasts over 1,000 exhibitors on 1500 sites.

Held at Mystery Creek Events Centre, National Fieldays is located right in the heart of the Waikato adjacent to Hamilton International Airport, close to State Highways 1 and 3; and just ten minutes from Hamilton, Te Awamutu and Cambridge.

Fieldays has grown significantly from conceptualisation in 1968, the initial aim of the event was to bring town and country together and showcase agriculture. Over 41 years later, Fieldays is now the hub of New Zealand’s agribusiness.

Regarded as New Zealand’s iconic ‘farming’ event; Fieldays is also an event of significant economic importance. In 2008 exhibitors generated NZD$285million resulting from sales through Fieldays. In 2008, Fieldays had a national economic impact of NZD$865 million.

NZ National Fieldays Society is a not for profit charitable organisation; run by a committee of volunteers and a team of over 30 staff members with additional manpower during the event.

Icon’s don’t just happen overnight, and the American Express Queenstown Winter Festival has been 35 years in the making.
Way back in 1975 a bunch of locals decided that the start of Winter was a great excuse to have a party. They organised races on the mountain and in town, lollies for the kids, beers for the grown-ups, a concert or two and a town-wide ball, all of which were a great success.
News spread quickly and the next year people came from further afield to join in the festivities.
Since then the Festival has evolved into New Zealand’s biggest winter party - it’s a 10 day celebration of Queenstown’s unique culture and community with street parties, fireworks, international and local acts, jazz, comedy, Mardi Gras, family fun, rail jams and plenty of Mountain Mayhem.  
From June 26 – July 5 this year the town will be a buzz with around 60,000 people celebrating the arrival of Winter and Festival’s 35th birthday in true Queenstown style.

Review from Helen Westerman, Sydney Morning Herald, who attended the World of Wearable Art awards in Wellington as a guest of Tourism New Zealand and Positively Wellington Tourism.
The air is alive with the sound of more than 3000 Kiwi accents. The sold-out arena in New Zealand's capital of Wellington is abuzz with excitement. Entertainers move through the crowd encouraging cheers or applause. At one stage there is even an attempt at a Mexican Wave.
But this is no rugby match. This is Wellington's World of Wearable Art (WOW) awards, a yearly event that claims to be a unique fusion of fashion, art and theatre in a riotous explosion of entertainment.
For 10 days in September, more than 35,000 New Zealanders and increasing numbers of international visitors flock to watch designs from around the world compete for more than NZ$100,000 worth of prize money - and be entertained in the process.
It is obvious locals enthusiastically embrace the event, and they dress for the occasion. Young fashionistas brave the cool evening in stilettos and strapless frocks, while the genteel opera crowd are outfitted in semi-formal wear and velvet wraps.  But this isn't really a fashion event either. A surprising number of young men accompany their girlfriends - seemingly without coercion - and grey haired men sit with their families.
There is almost a picnic atmosphere, with a generous number of bottles of New Zealand's ubiquitous sauvignon blanc carried in by the crowd. (The giant Montana wines is a long-time sponsor). It has the air of extreme theatre sports - but better dressed.
The show itself proves to be a spectacular two-hour theatrical flight of fancy. Once New Zealand comedy duo, The Topp Twins, finish their opening gags to pleased guffaws, the stage rapidly metamorphoses into a giant forest where gigantic grasshoppers, a ballet-dancing daisy chain and a dandelion prance around.
Within seconds, it has morphed again; in a nod to Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, the bird's nest is fitted with a sail and a small boy wearing a metal colander as a hat is hoisted into the sky; then a disc jockey at his decks hovers from the ceiling while athletic young men below him give us their best break moves.
Tightly choreographed performers dip, fly and pirouette in a mix of kitsch (think high-kicking cowboys wearing silver lame hotpants) and high operatic farce, complete with a towering diva wearing a large illuminated moon that could pass for horns.
But it is the costumes which dominate: an entry calling itself Firebird flashes fabrics of wings of gorgeous colour; in another entry called Psychedelic Symphony, performers dressed in black disappear completely into the dark stage so that only the violent neon pink violins are visible under the fluorescent light: the instruments appear to be bobbing and wheeling around the stage by themselves.
All of this is not bad for a concept which began very humbly in 1987, when founder Suzie Moncrieff decided she wanted to "take the art down off the walls" of her gallery space in Nelson, on the South Island, and put it on the body instead.
Moncrieff, an elegant woman aged 60 with long grey hair, was then a single mother on income support (she jokes how the New Zealand government were WOW's unofficial 'sponsors') struggling to realise her dream of becoming a sculptor.
A musician with no formal theatrical or business training, Moncrieff went through the phone book looking for sponsors, literally knocking on the doors of "big business".
"I didn't even know you needed to make an appointment," she says. She was knocked back; back then, business was interested in sport, not arts. Finally she told a Nelson cafe owner, Eelco Boswijk, of her troubles. How much did she need? Boswijk asked. A lot, Moncrieff told him - $1000.  "He came back with a cheque and handed it over," she says. "He is a great supporter and is now a patron."
WOW now operates with a multi-million dollar budget (organisers won't specify, saying the figure is commercial-in-confidence) and appears to have its pick of New Zealand corporate sponsors.
Even the global downturn and New Zealand's recession has not dented either its budget or ticket sales, with sales climbing 20 per cent above last year, leading organisers to add another show. All were sold out this year.
It generates an estimated $10 million for Wellington traders over its ten day run, says WOW's chief executive officer Gabrielle Hervey and uses hundreds of performers and backstage crew in a fine showcase for Wellington's cultural community, already swelled by the country's film-making boom. In the past, it has even featured members of the Royal New Zealand Ballet.
Four years ago WOW moved from Nelson to Wellington - a move which stirred considerable controversy, but was necessary, says WOW's brand manager Donna Ching, in order to ensure the event continued to grow. (The WOW museum opened in Nelson in 2001; many of the garments which appear in the shows find a home there.)
Moncrieff and her team are now concentrating on building the event's international presence. This received a significant boost this year when Alaskan David Walker won the event's supreme award - including $10,000 prize money - with his incredible Lady of the Wood 18th century ball-gown, made from planks of mahogany, lacewood, maple and cedar. It marked only the second time the event was won by someone other than a New Zealander.
International designs made up 55 of the 165 entries this year, and came from India, Hong Kong and United Arab Emirates, among other countries.
The number of Australian entrants has also steadily increased, attracting a quarter of the competition's entries this year.
Australian Felicity Hardy, a regular to the competition, based her entry, Nature's Fury, around Victoria's Black Saturday bush fires. Sadhana Peterson's Opera Diva was a version of the Sydney Opera House incorporating "Wagner, anti-war graffiti, and Bennelong Point", according to her notes.
In an effort to establish themselves on the world stage, WOW courts design schools and young students. Moncrieff's sister Heather Palmer, who is competition director, says she has even approached artists from Germany and the Netherlands after she saw their work in international art magazines.
It is obvious WOW has reached a critical point - already popular domestically, the show is clearly pondering its next move.
There are plans for a 'scoping exercise' into Australia, Moncrieff says, although this is early days. In 2001 a minishow was integrated into Dubai Fashion Week and this year it followed immediately on from New Zealand Fashion Week. But Moncrieff is adamant the event is not about fashion, instead comparing it to the wildly successful Cirque du Soleil. "This is a theatre show supporting design," she says.
Themes change year from year: this time there are seven sections - a competition for children, a south pacific section; an 'open' section where the designer is given complete artistic freedom; the eye-popping 'illumination illusion' where the costumes glow neon under fluorescent lights; a creative excellence section showcasing the sculptural premise of folded fabrics; the peculiarly named 'man unleashed', given over to male design; and the wildly extravagant avante garde.
Among the more high-profile names to enter are Academy Award-winning New Zealand film-maker Richard Taylor, best known for making costumes and weaponry for the Lord of the Rings films, as well as New Zealand fashion designer Annah Stretton (both are judges this year).
But Moncrieff is at pains to emphasise that the competition, judged blind, is not just for professional costume makers or artists.
Walker, while a sculptor, is also a carpenter, while another section winner, Mary Wing To, is a saddler from Enfield in the United Kingdom. A great many of the entries come from enthusiastic amateurs.
The more ornate costumes can involve a of huge amount of work and may (rarely) cost up to $4000, not including the cost of freight for more far-flung entrants.
Usually, though, the project is a labour of love. One Wellington entrant recycled hundreds of copper radiator parts, hand cleaning them using nail polish. Another collected 1400 plastic milk bottles for her creation.
New Zealanders Hayley May and Fiona Christie spent months planning their prize winning creation Second Skin, before either sewed a stitch on the 30 metres of fabrics that went into it.  They were clearly rapt to have won their section.