Sun lovers at home on water front

The Coromandel and Hawke's Bay are set to become a sun lovers' paradise as the heat arrives from Australia.

Temperatures could reach as high as 30C in those areas, with WeatherWatch saying other areas mainly on the eastern coastline of New Zealand are set to reach "heatwave" status — defined as 5C or more above normal for at least five days.

Kids made the most of the summery heat in the Bay of Plenty, heading to the beach for a springtime swim.

While Auckland and western parts of the Norh Island will still enjoy a fine day today and into the new week, they won't be as hot courtesy of breezes coming off the Tasman Sea.

Low cloud and a chance of fog in the mornings is expected to keep the high in Auckland to 20C, rising to 22C on Tuesday and Wednesday.

"In Auckland, set-ups like this show how the city acts more like an island — which it almost is, with the narrowest part of the city just over 1km wide between the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean," a WeatherWatch forecaster said.

Enjoying the Taste of Auckland festival. Photo / Michael Craig

"So when the winds blow straight in from the Tasman Sea some suburbs don't get much warmth with the air not travelling over land to warm up first."

It's still plenty hot enough for those at Taste of Auckland this weekend. The four-day festival — featuring 40 pop-up restaurants and bars — wraps up today at The Cloud and Shed 10.

MetService meteorologist Andy Best said while temperatures weren't breaking records, the warm start to November was slightly unusual and was because of the persistent ridge of high pressure over the Tasman.

That mass of hot air is flowing in a south-east direction from Australia, which has had an extremely hot and dry October. Maximum temperatures there were almost 3C above average, making it the second hottest October in records going back to 1910.