Weather fails to dent high spirits

Those who attended the two-day Rhythm and Alps music festival in the Cardrona Valley went home yesterday morning having dodged at least one bullet.

No-one was very likely to have a case of sunburn from their time camping, drinking and listening to music, as the sun emerged properly only as patrons left the festival grounds on Robrosa Station.

The festival attracted a crowd of about 5000, about half last year's.

However, a passing parade of heavy rain showers, strong southerly winds and cold temperatures did not seem to affect the good mood of those spoken to by the Otago Daily Times.

Hannah Cleaver, of Auckland, said the weather was ''pretty average'' but she had enjoyed the festival, lamenting only the lack of a countdown to midnight.

Abbey Holloway, of Christchurch, said she was ''absolutely saturated'' on New Year's Eve and had a ''freezing'' night in her tent, but the rain did stop before midnight and she had a really good time.

Rory Hill, of Queenstown, said he did not suffer from the cold and the festival ''couldn't have been much better''.

Edward Williams, of Christchurch, was attending the festival for the second time and considered it ran more smoothly than last time. With a smaller crowd, it was ''a little bit less hectic but still heaps of fun''.

Kyle Howard, from Vancouver, said on New Year's Eve there were gazebos flying across the campsite in the wind.

''Everyone was still in high spirits, ready to face the elements, so it was very nice.''

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Weather fails to dent high spirits