The biggest New Year's Eve celebrations in the South look to be in Queenstown and Wanaka, where crowds of people are drinking, dining and taking in live entertainment.
While central Dunedin was relatively quiet this evening, plenty of people were up for the party in the lakes area towns.
In the Cardrona Valley near Wanaka, the sense of anticipation was palpable, the amount of preparation was fastidious as Rhythm & Alps festival-goers geared up to usher in 2022.
The culmination of the three-day live music festival marked the South Island’s, if not New Zealand’s, biggest New Year event.
Shaking off the night before in preparation for the night ahead, the up to 14,000 attendees donned their best glad-rags to mark the end of what most called a hell of a year.
By 6pm when Salmonella Dub featuring Tiki Taane took to the main stage — The Alpine Arena — the majority were ready and scores of additional ticket holders were streaming through the gates.
While Covid-19 had dominated 2021, the festival itself did not emerge unscathed after losing five acts who were identified as close contacts of New Zealand’s first community case of the Omicron strain of Covid-19 — UK DJ Dimension.
That was a mere blip, if not forgotten, by festival goers as the atmosphere and the crowd in the Cardrona Valley just kept building.
In Wanaka itself, bars were busy through the afternoon, but by 5pm all was calm on the lakefront, except for small groups of teenage boys biking and swimming.
Shopkeepers said it was if everyone had answered the dinner bell at once.
Earlier in the day, town had been hectic, they said.
Volunteers expected young people would arrive in town after dinner and hang out into the small hours, as they have done all week.
By 6.30pm, police were patrolling on Dungarvon St as dozens of cheerful young people caught buses to Rhythm & Alps.
Cafes and restaurants were humming again with diners and Coastguard volunteers were enjoying strong demand for raffle tickets.
By 8.30pm, cans, bottles and cartons had been discarded in street gutters and under hedges in the CBD.
Groups of young people were gathering on the lakefront and the swimmers and cyclists had gone home.
Bars and cafes were continuing to fill up, security guards were patrolling Ardmore St, and the Red Frog organisation was out offering water and connecting with young people.
Several youths already appeared to be under the influence of alcohol and were loudly shouting the F word.
A group of Christchurch adults were surveying the scene from their bird's-eye perch in a willow tree.
Down at the skate park, groups of young children and teenagers continued to enjoy the facility, oblivious to what others were doing.
Queenstown
New Year festivities started early in the evening in Queenstown as street vendors and performers entertained families on the lakefront.
Piano performances, fire juggling and Happy the singing dog were part of the evening's entertainment, and music started pumping out of bars in Earnslaw Park at about 6pm.
Despite the resort looking quieter than on previous New Year's Eves, and with its annual fireworks display canned, restaurants were still fully booked and revellers enjoyed dinner and drinks outside.
By about 8pm taxis lined the streets near Queenstown Mall and young people had flooded in.
Bars were heaving, but town still felt quiet, apart from a 120-person pub crawl that was under way on Camp St.
Speaking to Otago Daily Times yesterday, Republic hospitality chief executive Blair Impey said he expected queues at Winnie’s bar later in the night, but he was looking forward to people hitting the dance floor.
Police and security personnel were patrolling and a police spokesman confirmed at about 7.30pm there had been ‘‘no events of significance’’ in the Queenstown area.
