Party towns gear up for big New Year
South Island holiday spots are gearing up for their biggest New Year's Eve.
Nelson and Queenstown appear to have attracted the largest contingents of holidaymakers with a variety of millennium celebrations.
Smaller centres, such as Akaroa, Wanaka and Picton, are offering more lowkey celebrations but are likely to attract more than their share of visitors.
Nelson Visitor Information Centre Infomation Officer Adrian Mann said the town was packed with visitors yesterday afternoon.
"We are not chock-a-block but we are pretty damn busy. The town is humming," he said.
Many of the visitors, in town for The Gathering New Year's Eve party, were dressed in unusual costumes or sporting outrageous hair-styles. "There is a guy sitting outside with a beehive hair-do with yellow and black stripes around it," Mr Mann said........