Ōtautahi / Christchurch Daily Photo

New Zealand has just been through a big storm.. yes, the entire country experienced lots of wild weather. They were forecasting snow in Christchurch but all we really got was rain, hail, sleet and a lot of wind, all with freezing cold temperatures. A lot of people were kind of disappointed Christchurch missed out on the snow – I certainly was. Though I think the novelty of snow wears off pretty quickly once you remember it’s cold, slushy, and though very pretty, it’s a jolly nuisance.

So, to make up for the lack of snow, my friends and I went in search of snow. We didn’t have to go too far west to get snow on the ground – we made our way to Springfield. As we got closer and closer to the mountains the scene just got more and more magical. It was snow at our convenience – we could turn around and head back home to sunshine and no snow.

While in Springfield we also found a tree full of wax-eyes feeding on apples.

And at the back of the park, we discovered two dogs have a very joyous time with their owners in the snow. The St Bernard pictured is only 6 months old but already weighed 40 kilos.