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It doesn't get much better than this - a teddy bear to cuddle and a tasty sizzled sausage to munch on.
Two-year-old Niki Saeidian found plenty to smile about at yesterday's Teddy Bears Picnic, where it was the owners, rather than the bears, who got the benefit of free sausages cooked on the world's biggest gas barbecue.
Mercury Energy provided the 18m barbecue, with its 96 gas burners that could sizzle 48 sausages a minute.
It took nine builders a fortnight to assemble the barbecue, which has been confirmed by the Guinness Book of Records as the world's biggest.
In all, 14,000 meat sausages and 500 vegetarian ones were provided for the crowd at the Auckland Domain.
The picnic takes place each year on National Children's Day.
Celebrities helping to cook the sausages included the Mad Butcher (Peter Leitch), Shortland St actors and former Warriors star Stacey Jones.
The lineup included only one woman, Greer Robson, who said she felt under pressure as her husband usually manned the barbecue tongs.