9 hours stalking, 12 hours waiting: Harry Styles mania takes over Auckland

Harry Styles fans have gathered in droves some 12 hours before the star is set to even take the stage in Auckland.

Spark Arena issued a warning against fans camping out at the venue, telling them 8am today was the official opening time for the queue. Sure enough, at 8am on the dot, the fans took their places.

One 15-year-old fan - who wished to remain anonymous - has been there all morning and has no plans to move unless it's to head inside. She also spent the majority of Friday traipsing around Auckland in search of Styles.

The fan, who goes by @kiwihestyless and runs the Harry Today fan account on Twitter, guessed there were "probably 500" fans in line by around 10.30am.

"Most people have been here since 8am. We want to get as close to Harry as we can," she says.

She's been running the fan account since 2015, but has been a fan of Styles for some seven years, having been a fan of One Direction "from the start".

A second line of fans grows outside Spark Arena. Photo / @kiwihestyless

"We spent nine hours looking for him yesterday and we waited outside his hotel for like five hours. We didn't even know if it was his hotel but there were a lot of other people waiting there as well," she says.

And while the search didn't quite pay off, the fans are taking solace in meeting each other and connecting over their shared fandom.

One highlight came when @kiwihestyless met a fellow fan who managed to snap a selfie with Styles at the airport on Friday - "She was the only person that actually spotted Harry in New Zealand".

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@harrystyles w/ a fan in New Zealand. #harrystyles #harrystylesliveontour #harrystylesupdates

A post shared by King Harold (@inaharryway) on Nov 30, 2017 at 6:32pm PST

Harry Styles is set to play Spark Arena tonight with doors opening at 7pm.