Wind, rain, slips mark 2006 

There's no doubt the crazy weather patterns had an impact on most New Zealanders in 2006.

While the South Island's massive mid-winter snowstorm left a legacy, a seemingly relentless cycle of downpours, landslides and gales battered the rest of the country.

This year it rained, and then it rained some more.

Summer for some brought wind and rain in January and thunder in February.

Then came the autumn, and more storms.

Rainfall was at least 150% of normal in the far north and in the east.

Canterbury and North Otago also had downpours. In April, the ground was sodden from the Hauraki to the Taieri Plain.

Winter in the Wairarapa saw roads turned into rivers and paddocks became ponds. In July, over 300 millimetres of rain fell there in 24 hours, closing more than 50 local roads.

It kept on falling further north as well as a winter of rain meant a season for slips.

While houses fell off hillsides in the Hutt Valley, millions of tonnes of earth plunged into the valleys of Rangitikai, Manawatu, southern Taranaki. The council was forced to consider retiring the land to farming. Bridges were out and communities cut off.

Auckland and Christchurch had slips too, and so did the East Coast.

In Wellington, big winds meant big swells in Cook Strait where some ferry crossings were rough and a couple atrocious.

The summer has been a long time coming. For the first half of December, temperatures across the country were two degrees below average - and in Wellington, three degrees lower. And that makes it the coldest start to Christmas in the capital since records began.

See related video for more...