Staying in Auckland over the long weekend? Check out what’s on in the city

Howick Historical Village is getting into the Halloween spirit with several spooky events planned for this weekend and on October 31. Photo / Wenxi Li
Long weekends are for sleeping in, connecting with friends and whānau, and finding ways to explore and enjoy the city you live in.
This Labour weekend, Tāmaki Makaurau is awash with entertainment options from family-friendly activities to late-night soul sessions and more. Have a gander at our round-up of Labour weekend events in Auckland and beyond.
For the full three days of the long weekend, proud comic, TV, movie, anime, cosplay and video game geeks will be celebrating their fandom at the Spring Armageddon Expo at Auckland Showgrounds. This year, expect there to be even more fans than normal given everybody’s favourite Dothraki, Jason Momoa, is going to be there, along with a slate of other special guests. Momoa aside, some of the highlights of the expo include a giant robot, gaming displays, collectibles, a retro hall, amusement rides, an airsoft range, k-pop performances, racing simulators, Just Dance LED area, artist alley, board gaming and more. There’s no outfit too outrageous for Armageddon, which means there’s top-tier people watching to be done here along with everything else. You need to book tokens for autographs or photos with the guests or you’ll have to enjoy them from a distance. Plan your travel, expect crowds and have fun.
When: October 25-28.
Where: Auckland Showgrounds, Green Lane West, Epsom, Auckland.
Price: Tickets start at $30 + booking fees from iticket.co.nz
We could all benefit from a bit more playfulness in our lives and that’s exactly what Auckland Play Week is all about. A Sport NZ and Auckland Council initiative, the week began on Friday and runs through until Sunday, November 3, with a range of different games and activities being offered. Among the events are junk play, an introduction to mahjong, a street game design workshop, Dungeons and Dragons, and more. This Saturday, there’s a Pop-up Play event at Myers Park where there will be equipment such as hoops, footballs, rackets and discs for visitors to engage with and, on Sunday, stop by Te Komititanga Square for Play in the Square, where there will be a mini-football Hungerball arena, loose parts playground, secret treasure hunts and a giant bee garden game. Embrace your inner child and/or your actual child and learn to play something new this Auckland Play Week.
Visit ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz for the full schedule.
Pop-up Play
When: October 26, 10am-1pm,
Where: Myers Park, Auckland Central.
Play in the Square
When: October 27, 10am-3pm.
Where: Te Komititanga Square, Auckland Central.
Auckland Play Week
When: October 25-November 3.
Where: Various locations in Auckland Central.
If we were to rank which local attractions were most likely haunted, Howick Historical Village with its old cottages, the original residents of which are certainly dead and probably floating around disapprovingly, is at the top of our list. The otherwise lovely wee village is embracing the spooky season this weekend with two fun events: Saturday is Fright Night, where you can explore the village after dark, get your face painted, make creepy crafts and enjoy food trucks and a gelato cart. Look out for the villagers who are lurking around looking a little more unhinged than usual (no door sales). On Sunday, paranormal researcher Mark Wallbank will be at the village to host two talks discussing the eerie content of his books, Haunted Auckland and Haunted New Zealand Road Trip. On Thursday, Halloween proper, forget bugging your neighbours for lollies, head along to Halloween at the Village where families can trick or treat through the village and picnic on the grounds (BYO food encouraged).
Where: Howick Historical Village, 75 Bells Rd, Pakūranga, Auckland.
Tickets: Visit historicalvillage.org.nz for more info and eventfinda.co.nz for tickets.
Fright Night
When: October 26, 5pm-9pm.
Price: Adult $25; child $15.
Haunted New Zealand with Mark Wallbank
When: October 27, 11.30am and 2pm.
Price: Adult $40; senior/student $38.
Halloween at the Village
When: October 31, 3.30pm-8pm.
Price: Adult $18; child (over 1 year) $12.
Get crafty with the kids this weekend at Gus Fisher Gallery in the city. On Saturday morning, it is hosting a drop-in workshop where kids will get to use their wild imaginations to design and make three-dimensional creatures inspired by the work of Christian Dimick in the gallery’s current exhibition Three Approaches, Three Rooms. All materials are supplied and participants get to take their new friend home. While there, adults might want to sign themselves up for one of the upcoming workshops surrounding the same exhibit including Visual Score-making with Helping Hands, Painting Dreams with Christian Dimick and an artist kōrero with Peter Simpson and Peter Robinson.
When: October 26, 10.30am-12.30pm.
Where: Gus Fisher Gallery, 74 Shortland St, Tāmaki Makaurau.
Price: Free. Register at gusfishergallery.auckland.ac.nz.
Anyone low on plans but high on vibes this weekend should consider checking out the Crown Range Lounge in Parnell which has had a bit of a reinvention recently. Along with a new menu from chef Rhea Macapinlac, which embraces tapas-style shared plates with an Asian twist, there’s a comprehensive line-up of entertainment every week, Thursdays to Sundays. This Saturday, DJ Soultry will be spinning Motown, RnB and soul tracks deep into the night and, late Sunday afternoon, the Mike Murane Trio will be performing some classic jazz standards. Call the gang or message the group chat and make plans for some late-night shenanigans to a soulful soundtrack or a lazy Sunday evening of jazz music with a side of tapas and cocktails.
When: October 26, 9pm-late (DJ Soultry) and October 27, 5pm-8pm (Mike Murane Trio).
Where: Crown Range Lounge, 251 Parnell Rd, Parnell, Auckland.
Price: $15 door charge for DJ Soultry.
Anyone willing to do a Labour weekend road trip should put Edmonds Ruins into Google Maps and set forth towards Kerikeri because on Sunday there’s a guided tour of the historic site. Likely Aotearoa’s oldest stone house, Edmonds Ruins was the first settler house in the region after being built by John Edmonds and his sons between 1840 and 1858. The house was destroyed by fire in the late 19th century but the ruins that remain provide a rare example of early farm living in Aotearoa. This year the main stone wall at the site was repaired by a local stonemason, the grounds have been maintained by a descendant of the Edmonds family and an orchard of heritage fruit trees has been planted on the original orchard site. Visitors are invited to come along for the guided tour, bring a picnic lunch – some kai will be available for purchase as well – and enjoy learning about the past, present and future of this heritage site.
When: October 27, 11am-4pm.
Where: Edmonds Ruins, Edmonds Rd, Kerikeri Inlet, Kerikeri.
Price: Free.
Three days to entertain the kids this soon after the school holidays is a couple too many but thankfully for parents this long weekend at Motat there are hours of fun to be had with bubble-based mayhem. There will be bubble machines operating across the museum all weekend long and lots of interactive foam and bubble activities as well, including water rollers, bubble foam and giant bubble wands. Plus, the wonderfully talented science enthusiasts from Nanogirl Labs will be conducting five bubble shows each day. All the current displays and exhibitions will be running including Whakatangi Puoro Make Music and Te Kōtiu, along with trams, live entertainment and food trucks. Messy play such as foam and bubbles is great for kids’ development and, when it’s done outside their own home, it’s great for parents’ temperament as well.
When: October 26-28.
Where: Motat, 805 Great North Rd, Western Springs, Auckland.
Price: Usual Motat entry fees apply.
Consumers of Aotearoa’s local television outputs – from Country Calendar to Celebrity Treasure Island and everything in between – should head down to Q Theatre on Thursday night for a spirited discussion led by Alex Casey with Kura Forrester, Rhiannon McCall, Stewart Sowman-Lund and Lyric Waiwiri-Smith. Following the release of The Spinoff’s definitive list of the Top 100 New Zealand television shows of the 21st century, Thursday’s event is all about uncovering the television gems that didn’t make the list and making a case for their place in Aotearoa’s broadcast history. It’s bound to be an entertaining evening of deep dives, half-baked theories and unhinged debate, all based on a deep-rooted love of local television.
When: October 31, 7pm.
Where: Q Theatre, 305 Queen St, Auckland Central.
Price: Tickets start at $19.50 + booking fee from qtheatre.co.nz
Curb the candy consumption on Thursday by skipping trick or treating and celebrating Halloween at Stardome Observatory & Planetarium. It is going to have two screenings of Spooky Space in the planetarium, which is a whānau-friendly look at all the oddities of the cosmos such as the Witch Head and Tarantula nebulae and black holes. Later on in the evening, it is screening The Addams Family film starring Christopher Lloyd, Christina Ricci and Anjelica Houston. Visitors are encouraged to dress up and spot prizes will be handed out for the best costumes. Plus, each ticket comes with free popcorn. If you ask us, there’s nothing more unsettling or spookier than pondering the infinitely expansive void that is the universe, which makes Stardome the perfect place for a Halloween fright night.
When: October 31, 6.15pm and 7.30pm (Spooky Space), 8.45pm (The Addams Family).
Where: Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, One Tree Hill Domain, Epsom, Auckland.
Price: Tickets start at $12 + booking fees from stardome.org.nz