Sunshine bathes country as school holidays end

Winter sun casts long shadows on Auckland's Albert St yesterday. Picture / Brett Phibbs

Fine weather is expected around the country today for the first day back at school after the holidays.

The sunny outlook follows a weekend of blue skies, which gave young skiers and snowboarders in both main islands a great day on the slopes yesterday before their return to the books.

The South Island skifields of Mt Hutt, the Remarkables and Coronet Peak had "sunshine and barely a breath of breeze", said a spokesman, while winds at Mt Ruapehu in the morning eased to make way for a still, crisp afternoon. Surfers took to the waters, particularly on the North Island's east coast, where southeasterly winds brought swells of up to 2m to usually calm beaches.

Temperatures were milder and the MetService said the sunny spell would continue for the next couple of days.

"The week's going to start off very benign during Monday and Tuesday and then it's going to deteriorate, get quite unsettled, on Wednesday and Thursday," said forecaster Oliver Druce.