The youth park, set up on the former Queenstown Camping Ground site, was buzzing yesterday afternoon as hundreds of young people set up their tents and lapped up the Central Otago sun. Among them, a group of girls from Dunedin who arrived yesterday afternoon.
Emily Mathias (18) said her camping experience started off on a bung note, thanks partly, she said, to her mother.
''She told me the tent was all sorted.
''We came up here and [found out] it was only the fly.
''I had to go ... and buy another one. It cost me $17, but it's not waterproof.''
The girls also forgot a chilly bin - by yesterday afternoon, they were drinking warm beer - but they did remember to bring other supplies, including a loaf of bread, some fruit, cereal and ''a couple of potatoes'' picked up from Abby Zonneveld's grandfather on the way through Alexandra.
For some of the girls, it was their first New Year in Queenstown - described by Amelia Gaskill as ''the New Zealand version of schoolies''.
Queenstown Lakeview Holiday Park manager Peter Coppens said he was happy with the numbers and the behaviour so far, helped in no small part by a team from Cougar Security, on a 24-hour watch over the coming days.
Yesterday, there were about nine security guards on duty, doing sweeps of the camping ground every 20 minutes - by tomorrow, there would be about 30 security staff on deck.
''We're trying to do the community a service,'' Mr Coppens said.
''We over-provide, but we do it on the basis of safety first - it's all about safety.''
A separate area had been set aside for ''vulnerable'' campers, including young women, set up directly beside security staff.
The Arrowtown Holiday Park opened its youth park yesterday, on Jack Reid Park, beside the camping ground.
Along with Connectabus, a shuttle bus would be operating from Arrowtown to Queenstown from this afternoon, including New Year's Eve.
