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Kavinda Herath / Things
Michael Mallinder, Aubrey Mallinder, 1, and Adeline Mallinder, 4, on Riverton Beach Tuesday.
Southerners were enjoying the beautiful weather as Invercargill was one of the hottest cities in the country on Tuesday.
NIWA predicted that by midafternoon, Invercargill could reach temperatures of 26 degrees Celsius, topping Queenstown and Kaitaia with 24 degrees Celsius.
At least 50 cars were on Invercargill’s Oreti Beach around 1pm.
Caleb Campbell and Taliah Tither had just returned from Otago and headed to the beach for lunch on Tuesday.
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What did Tither think of Invercargill having the best climate in the country?
“Unheard of,” he said.
The weather had been choppy and changing, it was good to finally have a summer, Tither said.
Melissa Palmer said she and her family were supposed to go to Cromwell, but given the southern sun they can stay.
JOHN HAWKINS / Stuff
The sun is definitely shining in Southland on Tuesday and temperatures are expected to rise to 26 degrees Celsius.
Palmer’s 18-month-old son Caspar was rolling in the sand, enjoying his first trip to the beach.
Christchurch couple Paul Sapsford and Elaine Fluit chuckled when they heard that Invercargill might be the hottest place in the country.
They were having lunch on the beach Tuesday, midway through a two-and-a-half-week vacation in the Deep South.
Fluit was surprised by the number of cars on the beach.
The couple said they regularly traveled abroad and that being in Southland was something of a Covid-19 vacation.
They had stayed at Bluff.
Sapsford commented that the Catlin’s time was worth taking and that they will now head to Te Anau and Queenstown.
The McNeillys, Grandma Diane, 12-year-old Nikau, and 5-year-old Tahu were sunbathing, taking a break after the children built a model city out of sand.
Nikau said it was very nice to be in a warmer place than his hometown of Dunedin.
Riverton Coast Guard President Ross McKenzie said the crowd on the beaches over the past two days was the largest he had ever seen.
It was great to see so many people on kayaks and surfboards, he said, as well as people fishing in the Jacobs River estuary.
However, a queue was starting to form as many boats entered to avoid the afternoon breeze, McKenzie said.
