Manager of All Seasons Holiday Park Rotorua Tracey Thornborough. Photo / Michaela Pointon
Forecast wet weather has put paid to some New Year’s Eve festivities but optimism for 2024 remained high in Rotorua campgrounds even as rain began on Sunday afternoon.
The Bay of Plenty was shaping up to be one of the wettest regions in New Zealand for New Year’s Eve, with the MetService issuing a severe thunderstorm watch for 2pm to 9pm and warning of potential flash flooding.
MetService lifted the severe thunderstorm watch just after 6.30pm.
Rain began in Rotorua about 2.30pm and continued intermittently through the afternoon.
Rotorua’s New Year’s Eve Whānau Market was called off. Council-run community events in Taupō and Tauranga were also cancelled but their public fireworks displays were set to go ahead at the time of writing.
Manager of All Seasons Holiday Park Rotorua Tracey Thornborough told the Rotorua Daily Post this New Year’s was its “busiest in 16 years”.
“People are happy to get out and life’s too short. People go, ‘let’s just do it’.”
Thornborough said about 400 guests would arrive during the peak holiday period from Christmas Eve to January 3.
The business had already turned away about 30 from the door and was expected to stay at capacity for the next few days.
”I hate turning away people not just because of the money but because I feel sorry for them.”
It had 26 units, a 50-bed lodge and 100 campsites and was even hosting campervans in its carpark.
”We’ve had people on sites which aren’t even sites, just a bit of grass.”
She said this New Year’s was unique because it was “warmer” and Rotorua’s lakes were a big attraction.
For New Year’s Eve, the holiday park was putting on karaoke to raise money for leukaemia research.
Auckland visitor to the park Dee Crooks said her family of four had visited the region annually for about “four or five years”, normally staying about a week.
Crooks said she was excited for 2024 and thought everyone was looking forward to it.
The healthcare worker said 2023 had been a “really busy year” and she was looking forward to “normalities” in the New Year, resolving to be more mindful and grateful.
She said the family was “lucky” because they had rented a unit at the holiday park so could avoid the rain.
”We should be fine. I was worried the other night when we had the rain in Auckland about people camping and hopefully all their tents will be okay.
”It’s a typical New Year’s story – either camp is flooded or drought for farmers.”
Her son Liam Crooks, 7, was excited to celebrate New Year’s Eve at the park and was hoping to see some fireworks.
His favourite part of holidaying at the Rotorua park was the “bouncy castles and the bikes which you can hire”.
Elsewhere in Rotorua, camper Julie Goundar said her family of two adults and three children from Kāpiti Coast arrived on Saturday night with plans to stay 10 days in their 12-person tent.
She said having an awning or an extra room in the tent was important for riding out the rain while camping.
If the rain continued, however, “we’ll probably pack up”.
”The weather [says] it’s meant to be dry.”
MetService issued a severe thunderstorm watch for Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, Taupō, Waikato, Waitomo and Taumarunui for 2pm to 9pm.
It said heavy rain was expected over the north of the North Island with intensities of 10 to 25mm/h and accompanied by thunderstorms.
“However about Waikato, Waitomo, Taumarunui, Taupō, and the Bay of Plenty including Rotorua, there is a moderate risk of localised downpours, with or without thunderstorms, bringing intensities of 25 to 40mm/h.”
The rain would be intense enough to cause surface and flash flooding, especially in low-lying areas, and may lead to slips and hazardous driving conditions.
While the New Year’s Eve Whānau Market was called off, its organisers from the Rotorua Night Market posted on social media that there would instead be extra entertainment and activities on the first market of 2024, to be held on Thursday.
Taupō District Council still planned to hold its annual New Year’s Eve Big Bang Fireworks Display, but posted on Facebook that it had cancelled the food trucks, face painting and bands at the lakefront for safety reasons with “rain rolling in”.
“The mini bang fireworks will kick off at 10pm and the Big Bang at midnight as scheduled.”
Tauranga City Council cancelled all five of its planned New Year’s Eve community celebrations but was still hoping to have fireworks at 9.30pm and midnight, which would be visible from homes in several city suburbs.
Additional reporting Samantha Motion
Michaela Pointon is an NZME reporter based in the Bay of Plenty and was formerly a feature writer.