Party Central suffers a bad case of wind

Crowds waiting to get into Party Central on Auckland's waterfront on Friday. Photo / APN

Howling winds threatened to blow away the assortment of airy, temporary structures on Queens Wharf, but a steady crowd still streamed through Party Central on the first non-match day of the tournament.

In Shed 10, a few dozen people leaned on bar counters and reclined on grandstand-shaped sofas watching a rerun of the Springboks beating Wales.

Some were university students having a look around on a quiet day instead of going to classes.

Several others were international visitors passing time between their teams' fixtures.

"I'll come here every other night, whenever there's a match on," said Niall Tippett, from Perth. "It's really well set up, it's fantastic."

He was in town for 10 days, a visit with Wallabies matches at its beginning and end.

He hoped he would find enough to do in Auckland in the meantime, though he was also considering a short road trip out of the city.

"There's nothing planned, I'll just take it as it comes," Mr Tippett said.

"But I thought Wellington was supposed to be the windy city."

In blustery conditions, the ANZ igloo was forced to close as gusts twisted its outer fabric.

The giant inflated rugby ball remained steady and so, too, the outer structures of the Cloud and Shed 10. But plastic cups flew around the Shed 10 bar at times, and big spherical lights hanging from the ceiling of the Cloud swung around.

The eftpos machines at some food stalls were down, but cash machines and credit card services at bars were working.

Most of the Cloud was closed to set up for the "Taste at the Cloud" culinary event. A series of events are planned on Queens Wharf through the whole tournament - yesterday, a workshop for musicians was being held in its business lounge out the back, to be followed by evening concerts in Shed 10. The "Going Global Music Summit" attracted about 100 musicians and 10 record labels.

Ardijah co-manager Te Ringahuia Hata said it was a great opportunity for networking - something that happened too rarely in the New Zealand music industry.

Without the influx of visitors for the World Cup - and the extra space made available by the Cloud - she doubted the summit would have happened.

"It's great, just listening to UK and US visitors, about their markets for upcoming, underground, Indie-type artists," Ms Hata said.

"How to break the market and how to put yourself out there."

The event was free and in a comfy place - "it's great", she said.

Renee Montgomery, from Hong Kong, said she was impressed by Queens Wharf and other facilities around Auckland.

"It's just adorable."