Elmo floats past the Auckland Town Hall. Photo / Jason Oxenham
More than a hundred thousand people were delighted by Father Christmas' Kiwiana float at today's 82nd Farmers Santa Parade.
The jolly fat man's fancy new sleigh came complete with a dolphin, little kiwi birds and a pohutukawa tree - much to the delight of onlookers, who were keen to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas.
Waiting for St Nick to head past their spot at the bottom of Queen St today, Nakul Srilal, 3, and his brother Nachiket, 8, shared their number one Christmas wishes with the Herald.
"I want racing cars," said Nakul.
"I'd like a bike," said Nachiket.
Festive cops on motorbikes kicked off the parade, wearing green and red reindeer horns on their helmets and tinsel antennae. They delighted the swarming crowds of people by doing loops down the road.
Further up the hill on the corner of Queen St and Mayoral Drive was Lucy Gardiner, 24, who had brought her 3-year-old son Todd to the parade this year to prove "Santa's real".
Mel Fernandez, 67, said his kids aged between 8 and 16 were there to see the Filipino group, which was part of the Children of the World float, a celebration of Auckland's diversity, and got waves of approval from the crowd.
Fairy tales came alive with the Storytime float featuring Peter Rabbit and Spot the Dog, and a giant blow up Elmo imported from Canada floated through the CBD, delighting many.
Gloria Hall, 83, is no stranger to the parade - she's not missed a single one since 1950.
Today she brought her 10-year-old granddaughter Terina with her, despite the fact that the octogenarian had just got out of hospital.
"We both loved it," Ms Hall said.
"The diversity float was lovely - we've got so many people here in Auckland from different countries, don't we?"
More than 4000 volunteers helped put today's parade together, and organisers said it usually attracted a crowd of between 130,000 and 150,000.
After the last float went by, many headed to the 'after party' at Aotea Square, to be entertained by singing, dancing and a special speech by Santa himself.
Zion Tautolo, 4, said his favourite float was Spider-Man (though his dad Western Siaki wasn't too sure there was actually a Spider-Man float), while cousins Pasqueena Abba, 9 and Mejock Yor, 7 said they liked all of the floats.
Meanwhile, head float builder Peter Taylor was keen for a beer after he put the last decorated platform back into storage. He'd had a long day - beginning at 5am and finishing at about 4.30pm, and this was his 40th parade.
"It's quite a physically hard job, the floats come out of the warehouse for their little day in the sun, they get dusted down, and then they go back again for the year."
Farmers boss Rod McDermott thanked everyone who took part in the parade.
"And we hope all who made the journey to town really enjoyed it."
"We are humbled that Aucklanders always come out in their thousands to support the parade and it is our pleasure to bring it to the streets each and every year."