Streets were turned into neighbourhoods and strangers into friends when some old fashioned values returned to Tauranga yesterday.
Residents of the Pillans Point cul-de-sac of Brinkley Rd and Hunter Way were one of many pockets of the city that decided to celebrate Neighbours Day.
About three-quarters of the neighbourhood's residents brought food and refreshments to the streetside meet and greet that stretched into the early evening.
"It is a really fantastic thing, it is so good to see people again," Brinkley Rd resident David Capes said.
The only residents who did not attend were those who were out of town for the weekend. It was the second time the cul-de-sac had responded to Neighbours Day Aotearoa, a celebration that began small and was spreading to every corner of the country. Its vision was for every household in New Zealand to be a bit more neighbourly every day.
Host of the Brinkley Rd celebration Sharon Blaikie said people were so busy coming and going these days, with women working and parents taking their children to sports at weekends, that people did not feel they could pop into a neighbour's place and say 'hi'. "It's different to how it was when we were young, it is sad really," she said.