Gay community celebrate forty years of camping at Vinegar Hill

Campers at Vinegar Hill are preparing for an extra special celebration on Sunday night.

It is 40 years since a group of gay men first gathered at Putai Ngahere Reserve near Hunterville alongside the Rangitikei River to enjoy a peaceful holiday.

What began as respite from a conservative and intolerant society has evolved in to a celebration of diversity with events like fashion in the field, a softball tournament and the queen's cocktail party.

"This year we will also be celebrating 70s style with a couple of special performances," said Dion Leslie.

"In the early days of the camps, singers would perform on the roof of the old toilet block and their 'stage' was lit with car headlights.

"The old block was demolished but now there's a new one so we are going to re-enact the old-style shows."

Dion is a former Queen of Vinegar Hill and received the special trophy awarded every New Years Eve in 2007.

He has been attending the celebrations for the past 16 years and makes a special trip from his current home in Sydney.

A new Queen of Vinegar Hill will be crowned as campers welcome the beginning of 2018 and a "throne room" has been prepared for the occasion.

Reigning queen Andrew Fletcher will become the queen mother providing guidance for the new incumbent during 2018.

Before the coronation there will be a Queens Council to decide who the new queen will be and everyone who has paid their camp fees will be invited to attend.

"I think it's important for everyone who has paid taxes to be invited to attend," said Andrew who works as a nurse at Taranaki Base Hospital's emergency department when he is not performing queenly duties.

Campers are encouraged to party safely and there is a test tent provided by the NZ Aids Foundation where free condoms and quick and easy HIV tests are available.

Nigel Sutcliffe and Lee Eklund say they have been quite busy as some campers come from remote places where testing is not available.

The weather has been a bit damp and chilly at the site but campers said they were optimistic for a great celebration on Sunday night.