What we witnessed in 2020

2020 Memorable moments

2020 certainly wasn't all bad! There were definitely moments in New Zealand that are well worth celebrating; here are some that turned our frowns upside down.

OK, so there were a few moments this year that made us wonder if we'd ever make it to the end of December, but here we are! While 2020 had its challenges, let's not forget the special moments that happened in this crazy year.  

Living through lockdown

Since we were unable to catch up with our nearest and dearest over a drink or two during the first lockdown, Liquorland crafted an alternative concept: Isolation Hydration, an online competition where Kiwis could share their lockdown drinks with the rest of the country on Instagram. For three weeks, the best snap was picked and awarded a $100 Prezzy card. We had hundreds of entries, covering everything from quarantinis and stay-inside-ciders, through to stay-home brews and whatever other lockdown pun you can conjure up. See below for a selection of some of the entries, or catch more of our favourite submissions here.

Isolation Hydration 550px

Festival fun

We certainly didn't take for granted, either, when we were finally safely allowed to mingle again and this couldn't have been more evident than at the epic festivals that took place, including Beervana on 20th and 21st November, at Wellington's Sky Stadium (catch our round-up of the best bits here), plus the Dunedin Craft Beer & Food Festival in October, Winetopia held in Auckland and Wellington and The Food Show at Auckland's ASB Showgrounds - all of which you can read more about here

Lil Rhino 500 

Sharing the love

And, lastly, prepare to have the cockles of your heart warmed. Kiwi brand Part Time Rangers donate 10 per cent of their profits from their drinks towards animal conservation initiatives. This year two of those initiatives bore some very cute fruit, so to speak; the first, a baby rhino in Botswana, adopted by Part Time rangers, was named after our very own New Zealand Director General of Health, Ashley Bloomfield (read more about "wee" Ashley here). Secondly, we welcomed the arrival of three brown kiwi chicks: Whisky, Ginger and Lime, who will be relocated to their forever home at Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari (read more here). See? Cockles. Warm.