Wintry weather grips the country

Desert Road is now open after ice and snow closed the road earlier today as the first blast of wintry weather for the year continued to grip much of the country on the Anzac holiday weekend.

Snow, hail and high winds have affected many regions.

The Rimutaka Hill road, north of Wellington, is open but motorists have been advised to take extreme care as a light dusting of snow and slushy conditions create driving hazards.

Despite savage weather overnight, flights in and out of the capital were unaffected, and only minor storm damage was reported.

Metservice reported swells in Cook Strait bigger than 8.3m last night.

Although a gale force warning with very rough seas has been issued for today, the swell is expected to be about 4m.

The Interislander ferry Arahura took seven hours to complete a crossing yesterday when it lost power in bad weather near the entrance to Tory Channel in the Marlborough Sounds.

The Maritime Safety Authority is investigating the breakdown. It had put emergency services -- including the Rescue Co-ordination Centre and the Westpac rescue helicopter -- on standby after the captain issued a "pan-pan", a call indicating a potentially serious situation, as it headed into the channel.

Conditions are expected to ease later today, although cold, wet, windy weather will continue to affect many areas.

Strong wind gusted up to 120km/h, lightning, thunder and hail rattled many parts of the country overnight.

Weather forecaster said the icy blast came straight off the Antarctic ice shelf, the cool winds reaching the South Island relatively unobstructed.

The South Island bore the early brunt, with people trapped by snow in Central Otago, and a light covering of snow blanketing Tekapo, Queenstown, Dunedin and parts of Christchurch.

Meanwhile, a solo French sailor is being towed to safety today after he issued a mayday call northwest of Cape Reinga yesterday.

High seas also forced a 71-year-old yachtsman to be rescued off Stewart Island yesterday.

His yacht was towed to the sheltered side of a small island on the western side of Stewart Island by a fishing boat, before he was winched to safety and taken to hospital for a medical check up.

- NZPA