Weather limits activities | Otago Daily Times News Online
High winds closed the ski slopes yesterday, forcing families to get creative to enjoy their school holidays in Wanaka.
Arriving two days ago, Auckland teenagers Izzy Mullan and Lucy Nevill said they plan to spend the majority of their two weeks skiing in the local fields.
Due to the unexpected weather yesterday, they decided to take the opportunity to explore the city.
“We’re going to watch a movie, check out some of the shopping and relax after that,” Ms Mullan said.
Along with the cinemas being a wet day attraction, over 300 visitors made their way to the Wanaka Leisure Centre.
Dunedin locals Kim Bailey and Harper McLay said they would spend the afternoon shooting hoops at the Centre.
“We had planned to go skiing. We have season passes, so hopefully we can go this week,” Ms Bailey said.
A spokesperson for Puzzling World said the tourist attraction had its busiest day yesterday, despite Australian and New Zealand holidays overlapping last week.
“We got about 1,000 people through,” the spokesperson said.
For some visiting families with young children, entertaining the kids in wet weather took a creative approach.
Visiting a family in Wanaka, the Phipps family from the Hibiscus Coast said that normally on rainy days they would have a few pre-planned indoor activities.
“It’s good to bake. The kids loved doing that this morning. They also did an obstacle course, which helped burn some energy. We also kissed the rain, put on the ‘rain gear and out,’ Ms Phipps said. said.
David Phipps said one of the highlights of the day was converting the garage into a one-tent campground.
“We cleared out the garage and played ball football, then our Pappa set up this tent and we set it up to play inside,” he said.
Her younger sister, Lucy, said she was happy to sleep in their inner tent for the night – “if mum lets us”.
The siblings planned to spend the afternoon watching movies and playing games in the tent.
Weather conditions varied with strong northwesterly winds, heavy rain and thunder and lightning throughout the day.
— aspen.bruce@odt.co.nz
