As beats pulsed through studentville and thousands crammed into one tiny street at its centre, the Otago Daily Times went to meet the people behind the party. Timothy Brown reports.
Tarzans, Janes, speedo cops, SpongeBob SquarePants, elves, balloons and superheroes - what do they all have in common?
A desire to drink and dance at Dunedin's biggest student street party of the year.
The 2016 Hyde St party was a low-key affair marked less by its saturation of scandal and more by its population of "good people and good times'', as reveller James Gibson put it.
The event was a must-attend for students and thousands were left disappointed when tickets sold out in seconds, he said.
"Lots of my friends didn't even get tickets.''
But that wasn't going to stop him enjoying a day in the sun with the about 3600 others who thronged the tiny street in the heart of studentville.
"It's a big day,'' he said.
"It's a rite of passage for students. That's why they shouldn't take it away.
"It's all good.''
How much it meant to the late-teens and early-20-somethings of Dunedin was revealed by Patrick Jeferson.
After failing to secure a coveted ticket, he stowed away in a friend's flat in the street overnight and coloured in a loop of masking tape to make it appear like the wristbands afforded to ticket holders.
"I haven't slept,'' he said about 9.30am.
"I have been drinking since mid-afternoon yesterday.
"I probably won't crash until this afternoon.''
As he was warming to his work, so, too, were the Punishers.
The two flatmates, who would not provide their names, were doing some last-minute press-ups in the privacy of their flat.
"We are superheroes, so we gotta look tanked,'' one of them explained.
As Otago Daily Times staff moved through the early morning hordes, cameras became an attraction for enthusiastic and good-natured party-goers keen to make their mark.
The taming of the event had not decreased its importance, as first-timer James Edwards pointed out.
The event - despite regulation, despite an ongoing police presence and despite capped entrance - had lived up to the hype, he said, leaving the event about 5pm.
"It was really good.
"I really enjoyed it. It was a good time.
"Everyone was so friendly, so friendly. Any flat I walked into they always welcomed me.''
It's the new face of Hyde, Mr Gibson says. A party where fun is king, but control accepted.
