Naked bodies and daredevil boaties in Taupo

Taupo will host New Zealand’s first body art festival this summer. In a bid to balance the region’s proliferation of sporting events, the festival has been established to attract visitors more interested in arts and culture.

Beautifully painted bodies and theatrical prosthetics will appear in abundance around the lakeside town from 19-21 February 2010. It is hoped one of the more well-known companies behind theatrical prosthetics in New Zealand, Weta Workshop, will be one of the star attractions at the festival which is expected to draw international visitors.

With a self-proclaimed title of “the events capital of New Zealand”, the Lake Taupo region is well known for hosting a variety of sporting spectacles: the Bonita New Zealand Ironman (New Zealand’s biggest annual sporting event), the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge, the Mizuno Half Marathon, the Jamis Bicycles Day-Night Thriller mountain bike race, and the Avanti 100k Flyer cycle race. Combined, these events attract over 50,000 competitors, support crew and spectators.

However, in order to prove its “event capital” assertions are warranted, an array of arts and culture festivals are readily being added to Taupo’s event calendar – including the body art festival – and water-based events.

“We’re definitely not just focussed on the “sweaties” – as some people call our sports events,” says Destination Lake Taupo’s Event Manager, Warwick Hall.

“We’ve got all our land-based events sorted, including a couple of new ones to watch out for over next 12 months. Now we’re focussing on building up indoor, festival-type events as well as attractions on the water.”
Hall says there are three factors which can provide issues for the events industry: burning out volunteers with an over-abundance of similar events, upsetting residents and ratepayers through disruptions; and road closures.

“By moving onto the water, we can keep bringing more event business in without facing too many of those issues. That means we can continue to grow a sustainable events industry,” he says.

The Lake Taupo region already hosts four large water-based events: the NZ Offshore Powerboats, the Power Boat Association National Series, the New Zealand Long Course Swim Championship, and the Trans-Taupo Paddle.

The latest addition to the lake is Thundercat racing which will hold its first Taupo event this Saturday (25 July). “The Thundercats are perfect for us,” says Hall. “It’s a mid-winter event and it creates a huge spectacle on the lake.”

Thundercat racing is a high adrenalin, high action sport involving wave jumping and surf racing in inflatable boats. “They cover a distance of 101km on the lake and the choppier the conditions, the better,” Hall says. “It’ll give spectators a real eyeful!”

END