Seen from Mayfield Area, object was a very bright light, brighter than anything in sky, save the moon. It got brighter and dimmer every couple of minutes. Appeared to be spiraling towards the ground in direction of Waihopai Spy-base or possibly RNZAF Base Woodbourne. Did not look out of control. Appeared first around 9 or 10pm, dissapeared at approx 11pm. Was too bright to be an aircraft, too high to be a searchlight. Light was too bright and consistant to be a Chinese Lantern. Lost sight of object when trees got in way, object was still quite high at this point. Also observed were bright flashes of light coming from ground in the direction of Omaka airfield. These happened every 10 mins or so for about an hour or two.