Auks fly south for Bluff Oyster & Food Festival

Monday, 21 March 2016

A charter plane with 171 people aboard will fly from Auckland to Invercargill for the Bluff Oyster & Food Festival in May.

Venture Southland tourism and events manager Warrick Low said the charter plane sold out in four days, with tickets going for $349 each.

'It's gone ballistic,' he said of the ticket sales for the charter flight.

The plane will land in Invercargill at about 10.15am on May 21, the day of the festival, the passengers will be bused to Bluff to enjoy a 'wonderful gastronomical experience' and they will fly back to Auckland at 6.15pm in the evening.

The charter flight was another step in the maturity of the event, he said.

Festival committee member Kylie Fowler said a charter flight with 42 people on board was also flying from the Chatham Islands for the festival. She believed most of those on board would be former Bluff residents.

Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt, speaking of the Auckland charter flight, said it would be a good promotion for the event, which he predicted would be the most popular ever in terms of numbers of people at the festival.

The mix of a venue with fixed sheds, instead of marquees which were susceptible to high winds, and the extra publicity generated from the chartered flight would result in the best turnout to an Oyster and Food Festival, Shadbolt said.

'It will be fantastic and next year they might put on two planes. It's great news, absolutely fabulous.'

Aucklanders heading south for the festival could expect fun, friendship, excitement, entertainment and plenty of seafood.

Bluff Community Board chairman Raymond Fife said the festival was going from strength to strength.

'That's quite a lot of Aucklanders,' he said of the 171 coming south on the plane

Festival-goers arrived in Bluff from all over the country and overseas to enjoy not only oysters, but other seafood from around the region, he said.

'All visitors are welcome.'

The building of a purpose built site, used for the first time last year, had been a big success, he said.

'The committee have done a good job.'

An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said it was too soon to say if the chartered flights would continue in future years, but Air New Zealand was proud to support the 'iconic event'.