New Year’s revellers well behaved
Most people appeared to be on their best behaviour while seeing in 2019, according to police, who made the fewest arrests in years.
However, some of those in Nelson got a bit a carried away.
A few thousand gathered in Trafalgar St to attend the New Year’s Eve Countdown in the City event, which resulted in police arresting 18 people for drunk and disorderly offending.
The large crowds at Rhythm and Vines in Gisborne were well behaved with no-one arrested at the festival.
Police said they were generally pleased with behaviour across the country.
There were no significant issues or incidents reported to police at any of the main events or celebrations.
In Whangamata, about 1000 revellers gathered to see in the New Year but were well behaved.
Across the Coromandel Peninsula, police said issues were minimal and fewer than previous years, with a handful of arrests were made for disorderly behaviour offending.
Waihi, Whitianga, Pauanui, and Tairua saw in the New Year with no issues.
No major problems were reported at Mt Maunganui despite large crowds.
No serious incidents were reported at the Rhythm and Alps festival in Wanaka’s Cardrona Valley.
Hamilton said St John was kept busy across the country from 10pm Monday to about 3am on New Year’s Day.
Central Auckland was the busiest area with 27 incidents needing St John’s help, followed by Hamilton with 17, and Mt Maunganui and Christchurch with 10 each.