The Weather - Kiwis everywhere are apologizing for the abnormally bad weather we've been experiencing throughout our stay. We have been taking advantage of every sunny day though so it hasn't affected our enjoyment of the experience.

Annual rainfall totals as a whole were above normal in parts of: Northland, Auckland, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty, Nelson, and Central Otago as well as around New Plymouth, Napier, Wanganui and Palmerston North. But it was relatively dry year for the Kaikoura Coast and Canterbury, as well as much of Fiordland and Westland.
Annual mean sea level pressures were much higher than usual to the east of the North Island in 2011, producing more north-easterly winds than usual over northern and central New Zealand. The winds resulted in above average annual temperatures and well above normal rainfall for the northeast North Island and the north of the South Island.
The climate pattern was mainly driven by a very strong La Nina event at the start of 2011, which eased to neutral in winter, but redeveloped to moderate levels during spring.
Annual temperatures were between 0.5C and 1.2C above the long-term average in the northeast of the North Island, and over the north of the South Island. Elsewhere they were generally near average. The nation-wide average temperature for 2011 was 12.8C, making it the 17th warmest year since 1909.
Above normal sunshine was observed in central North Island, and for much of western and southern South Island while parts of Wellington received below normal sunshine totals.
Meanwhile, 2012 is also looking like setting records with miserable weather forcing drenched campers and holidaymakers back home.
After predictions in November that the country was in for a mild summer MetService says the weak La Nina gained strength making it hard for forecasters to predict conditions too far ahead.