Screams will head in One Direction

The band One Direction are confronted by screaming fans wherever they go.

Get ready for the screams. Teen heartthrobs One Direction hit New Zealand today and pandemonium is expected.

The British group - comprising Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson - are set to land in Auckland about 5.30pm and are looking forward to sheep and earthquakes.

In a YouTube video, they told fans they were heading to New Zealand, "where there's lots of earthquakes".

"And a lot of sheep," Horan said.

"Someone told me, and I don't know how true it is, but in New Zealand there are so many earthquakes a day, but you don't actually feel them.

"I want to see what it feels like in New Zealand," Payne said.

The band is crossing the ditch after four shows in Australia, which they kicked off by stripping off and jumping into Sydney Harbour.

Throngs of screeching Aussie girls crammed the streets and held up traffic, desperate to catch a glimpse of them - and the same is expected here.

Since coming third on the UK's version of the X Factor, the group have gone on to amass more than 4.6 million Facebook fans and their video for the song What Makes You Beautiful has had more than 103 million YouTube hits.

One Direction, who are all aged under 20, sold out 80,000 seats in just 12 minutes in the UK earlier this year and beat Adele to pick up a Brit Award for Best British Single last week. Their album Up All Night debuted in the top 10 in more than 15 countries.

In New Zealand, tickets for the bands three shows sold out in record time - 10,000 tickets in under 10 minutes.

Many fans were distressed as they then saw tickets on Trade Me minutes after going on sale for up to five times their face value.

But to the relief of thousands of girls, the band last week announced a full tour of Australia and New Zealand in 2013. The exact dates or venues of the shows have not been confirmed.

The boys are expected to spend tomorrow giving media interviews, before their shows at the Trust Stadium in Auckland on Saturday.

They then fly to Wellington for their final show at the St James Theatre on Sunday.

- © Fairfax NZ News