Hyde Street

March 24, 2012

Hyde Street

BEWARE OF HYDE STREET! You may dress up in a ridiculous outfit, drink too much, fall through a roof, see scandalous things, get arrested, burn a couch, throw a glass bottle, be part of the biggest party on the South Island and have way too much gosh darn fun! Now, I didn’t do all of those things but it was definitely a great time!

The party on Hyde Street is hosted by all of the flats lining it. Each chooses a different theme, publicly announces it, and young people from all over the country come dressed in whichever theme they find the most fun or cheapest and easiest to throw together. I embraced my ABC’s (anything but clothes) and dawned a New Zealand flag and a wig to match. Miss New Zealand better watch out! (Or maybe Katy Perry?) People living on Hyde Street start drinking around 6am! and are required to do ‘ten by ten’ (aka ten drinks by 10am). We slept in and started around eleven, but that’s okay because the party goes straight into the evening. Now, I didn’t make it that long and had to come back and nap around 3:30 (yes, I know I’m getting old), but we did go back out dancing that night, which most people couldn’t rally for.

This annual celebration originally began as a keg race on Hyde Street and since then has blossomed into the big drunken fest it is known for today. People used to, in Kiwi tradition, burn couches and throw glass bottles. Both of these actions have since been banned and this year was the first year glass in general was not allowed on the premises. Despite these measures, something always goes wrong and a couple of roofs collapsed due to massive amounts of people climbing them (myself included). Luckily, no one was hurt.

Here’s a video of a past year’s event:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5f0OcjCP3M&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJPRx61_gyM&feature=related

Note that even if you’re not up for taking part, it’s still a lot of fun to walk by and see the sea of costumes.

Some of the whole crew.