Campers seize the day
THE holiday season forecasts have changed as regularly as people complain about eating too much at Christmas – but it looks like bad weather is on the way.
Boxing Day was sunny in Wellington after an overcast Christmas Day but latest signs are that Sunday is going to be a bit grim, with rain building from the morning.
Showers will continue through to Monday before perking up a bit before New Year with a couple of days of fine weather.
New Year’s Day showers.
Campers at Kaitoke Regional Park outside Upper Hutt were
could
have enjoying the Boxing Day sunshine yesterday but prepared to change plans because of the bad Sunday forecast.
Renee Hayes’ two children Sophie, 7, and Ethan, 5, were splashing in the river while their dad Matt put up the family tent.
‘‘The weather might be a bit icky on Sunday – we were going to come up tomorrow but we decided to come today,’’ she said.
It was the kids’ first time camping and they enjoyed the park.
‘‘We prefer this sort of camping rather than a [commercial] campground – we can just turn up and you don’t have to book. We had some friends who had a horrendous trip at a campground, it rained all the time and that’s tough with kids.’’
Also among the campers were Boyet Labilles, his brother Aldrin and their families. Boyet lives only minutes from Kaitoke so it was convenient for him.
‘‘We’ve got three families staying,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s the tranquility, the kids can have a nice dip in the river, you can relax ... it was nice here last night, there was a bit of drizzle in the afternoon and there are bugs, but it’s not too bad.’’
The Labilles come from the Philippines, where camping isn’t quite so easy.
‘‘In the summer you can go up into the mountains [where it is cooler] but we don’t have camping areas like this, people go to motels and motor lodges.’’