Waitangi Day, London

Every year February 6 marks Waitangi Day in New Zealand. The basic history lesson is that this day in 1840 was when the Maori tribes in Aotearoa signed a treaty with the British to mark an official link between the two countrys (full history lesson here).

In New Zealand this means ceremonies at the break of dawn and a day off work for all. In London it’s an entire day on the booze train – literally! The Circle Line of the London underground is taken over by patriotic parading Kiwis doning costumes, hats, face paint and flags.





The idea behind the event, which apparently has been running for over 25 years, is a pub crawl starts at 10am at the Paddington station and throughout the day there is a stop off at each of the 26 other stations. Although technically a pub crawl most would just stand on the streets immediately around the tube station and down a drink (or two).

Meanwhile back on the trains it was against the rules to hold on whilst riding (‘tube surfing’) otherwise you would be sent packing at the next stop to choruses of ‘Off! Off! Off!’



Now you’re obviously going to be quite a machine if you manage a drink at each and every stop point but the fact is there are so many people involved it’s almost impossible to make it all the way around before the mass gathering outside Westminster Abbey at 4pm. Here, thousands of New Zealanders (and the odd bloody Aussie no doubt) join in a rendition of the anthem and view a mass Haka.

Supposedly a few thousand attend each year but TVNZ reported that some 12,000 clogged up central London this time around.

It was a brilliant day out and absolutely recommended if you happen to be in the UK at this time in years to come.