Let's kiss and makeup at sevens

ROBERT KITCHIN/The Dominion Post

WRECKING BELLES: The Home Wrecker Girls manage to look cool and coy at Westpac Stadium.

Sights of the Sevens 2010

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KENT BLECHYNDEN/The Dominion Post Zoom

MAD HATTERS: Fez-wearing fans having fun in the stands.

Sights of the Sevens 2009

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KENT BLECHYNDEN/The Dominion Post Zoom

FAST AND FURIOUS: The Flash Gordons from Hamilton.

Wellington Sevens 2008

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IN DISGUISE: Sevens fan Mel Medlin with the Transformers.

Wellington Sevens 2007

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Dominion Post Zoom

SEVENS HEAVEN: Hamilton's Sheta Hall dressed as a Navjo Indian to win best dressed female at the 2007 Sevens in Wellington. Enjoy the slideshow of other fashion efforts in what is one of the biggest parties in New Zealand.

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Along the waterfront, through the streets, in the bars and in Westpac Stadium, the sight was the same – a seething mix of the weird, wonderful and wacky.

Send your photos from the NZI Sevens 2010 to yourpics@stuff.co.nz

Well before yesterday's 1pm start at the NZI Sevens, the city was overrun by fans in outfits ranging from superheroes and cartoon characters to adult babies and Arabs.

There were more Tiger Woods costumes than you could shake a nine-iron at, clowns behaving badly, men in women's clothes and women in hardly any clothes.

Courtney Smith, Danni Raynes and Hayley Gowlans made the most of Air New Zealand's free kissing booth. The airline promotion involved handing out Mardi Gras-style beads to people who could exchange them for kisses from kissing booth staff or other willing lips.

The three Wellingtonians exchanged their beads for kisses from friendly on-duty cops. Ms Gowlans and Ms Raynes managed to connect with police cheeks, but one officer copped a kiss on the lips from Ms Smith.

High alcohol prices encouraged some fans to sneak drinks into the event. One woman said she and many of her group of 30 friends had smuggled spirits in water bottles.

"They [security] didn't even unscrew them to check for alcohol. We can't afford to pay for alcohol the whole day. I'm unemployed."

Wellington man John Paradise said: "Everyone that I know has been successful [sneaking alcohol in] ... they didn't check me at all, they just said, 'Hi, give me your ticket.' I could have come in with a keg under my clothes."

Amy Mathieson, of Auckland, said she had seen people in the women's toilets removing hip flasks from duct tape strapped to their legs.

But not everyone had a fun time at the stadium – five men wearing chilly bins, featured in last Saturday's Dominion Post, were turned away at the gates. Andrew Eastwood said they were told the cooler boxes worn around their waists were deemed to be too big.

Stadium operations manager Mark Nunn said about 30 to 35 people had been turned away, mostly because their costumes were too big or were considered dangerous.

- © Fairfax NZ News