The wild women of Whangamata are all set to go live and intimate with a weekend of music, food and events that will calm, inspire and excite every feminine palette.

The Wild Women's Weekend is returning in full flight during May 2023, with high hopes that pandemics, cyclones and floods will not halt the amazing weekend planned by Diana and Shaun Fay.

New Zealand music icon, Annie Crummer is their lead act this year and the festival includes plenty of other things like art classes, cooking, kayaking, yoga, and wild wacky golf.

The festival was all organised and ready to go – and then the cyclones came. And went.

'We are wild. We are women,” say the organisers on their posters.

The Wild Womens Weekend from May 19-21 will also feature the Wentworth Valley Walk, a Whenuakura Island tour on kayak or stand up paddleboard, and the Smoky Pallet Wild 80's night.

The beginnings of the Wild Womens Weekend
After 14 years in Sydney, Diana and Shaun Fay decided to build a home on family bach land in Whangamata, on the Coromandel peninsular.

'Our life in Sydney with young children was full and missing our Auckland weekend escape, we often went to festivals and concerts in small towns outside of the city,” says Diana.

'It was those that gave us the idea to create a weekend for women in Whangamata called Wild Womens Weekend. We would often see groups of women in town. Why don't we just give them some structure, we'll make it the weekend after Mother's Day in May and give them lots of things to do.”

Diana says Whangamata is a perfect festival location. Situated in the apex of the Tauranga, Hamilton, Auckland population triangle it only takes about two hours to get there.

She says over half the houses are summer baches - often empty ten months of the year.

Downtown shopping is compact, there's plenty of food and wine outlets and it has a wonderful beach.

And it's one of the reason the Southern Hemisphere's most successful car festival, Beach Hop works so well.

Annie Crummer. Photo: Supplied.

'We started Wild Womens Weekend in 2017, our headline act was NZ and international star, Tina Cross. Tina was brilliant and it gave the festival a great start,” says Diana.

Following Tina came X Factor star Sarah Spicer. And again, the weekend went well. While there weren't massive profits the weekend was building.

'Our plan was to grow it here and then take it to other similar locations like Akaroa and Waiheke,” says Diana.

After Sarah Spicer, they talked Shona Lang into a concert. Shona lives not far from Whangamata and is one of Shaun's favourite singer/songwriters.

'I grew up with Shona- one of our finest talents. When she agreed I was just star struck.”
Then Covid hit.

They refunded everyone and wondered about the next year, 2022. They ran the festival, but the momentum had slowed, people were Covid-weary.

Early 2023 and they decided to give it another go.

'We didn't want the pandemic to define what we were trying to create,” says Diana. 'Sure it's been tough, but the festival gives us something to do in the winter and the town a much needed event to look forward to.”

The year has had a rocky start with cyclones impacting hard on the Coromandel area.

'Yes, our current situation is precarious, and we have noticed people are again weary, but things are improving every day and hopefully the bookings will come,” says Diana about the wild ride.
'Whatever happens it certainly adds some excitement to our lives.”

For more information on the Wild Womens Weekend on May 19-21 and to book, go to www.wildwomensweekend.co.nz or to their Facebook page .