By Rachel Morton
For those people who have spent summer enjoying the sun, spare a thought for those in Wellington.
Although the capital is not renowned for its good weather - this summer has brought new lows.
Wellington's Oriental Bay is usually the place to be in summer, but this year it has been mostly deserted, and no wonder when it's 12 degrees, raining and there is a howling southerly.
A UK family touring New Zealand spent last night in a tent and said they were freezing.
“We couldn't believe it, we just come from Waitomo Caves where we were sun blocking the kids every hour or two hours and we drove here and couldn't believe it, it was like ‘oh my god’,” say the Sinclair family.
“I thought the tent was going to turn into the biggest kite in Wellington at one point it was just blowing - it didn't stop all night.”
It was not bad news for everyone though; Te Papa had a busier day than usual with people sheltering from the rain to see the exhibition “A Day in Pompeii”.
Since Christmas Eve, 23 days ago, Wellington has had six days of sunshine but MetService is urging Wellingtonians not to give up on summer just yet.
“February's traditionally the best month so there's still plenty of summer to hope for something better to come along,” says ******
Metservice say the next two weeks may see the country replicate Wellington’s recent weather.
“The next fortnight it still doesn't look particularly settled. We get the odd good day as we have up til now,” says *****.
“But there's still no sign of things settling down in the next ten days or so.”
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