On Saturday we woke up early to the sounds of dozens cars and people arriving across the street at the South Brighton Surf Club. We wandered over and discovered that they were having the New Brighton Water Festival which featured surfing competitions all weekend long. A couple blocks up the beach there is the New Brighton Mall, which is an open air plaza with a wide variety of shops and cafes. Upon wandering there to see about some groceries and scoping out the local shops we had another pleasant surprise when we found that they were having a street market and festival. 

Apparently Saturday Feb 6th is a national holiday. According to Wiki, "Waitangi Day commemorates a significant day in the history of New Zealand. It is a public holiday held each year on 6 February to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand's founding document, on that date in 1840. The Treaty made New Zealand a part of the British Empire, guaranteed Maori rights to their land and gave Māori the rights of British subjects."

So we wandered around a bit checking out the vendors, enjoyed some ragtime like live music and chatted with some local craftsmen. Here are some pics we took....