Sure, when the season you are in is called winter, any Northern European expects snow, Christmas lights and skate rinks. However, when you live in Wellington, snow would normally not enter your mind because the winter is wet, you are at sea level and generally the temperature doesn’t drop below 5°C.

But, you can be proven wrong, especially when an Antarctic blast moves over the country and brings severe weather conditions with it that do not only make it snow in Wellington but also up in sunny Auckland. As people here are not used to snow, the state of emergency is almost called: you should stock up on food and water, power outages are expected, schools and roads close.

Fortunately, it’s not all gloomy doomsday mood because people are glued to the windows, run outside to taste snowflakes, scrape all snow together that they can get to build their first snowman etc. It’s a land in wonderment of snow – at least the North Island.

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