Beaches around the region were busy as people tried to find reprieve from the heat and
Ashburton Art Gallery business and communications assistant Martine Tait said it was a hard day to go outside. It s incredibly hot out outside. It s just a stifling kind of heat. It feels like you re walking into a sauna when you go outside, Tait said. I had to do a couple of errands. We ended up doing them in the car so that we could only be out in the weather for a couple of minutes.
Near Timaru, Jo from Redwood Cherries & Berries said: People today have just been grabbing their ice-cream and going because they want to get back into their air-conditioned cars .