The remnants of Cyclone Cook have turned one of New Zealand's biggest youth camps into a mud pit, much to the delight of the 3500 teens camping out in tents for the weekend.
Southern Easter Camp is held every year at Christchurch's Spencer Park and is usually an occasion to get the out the shorts and jandals.
This year the uniform became gumboots as campers from 90 different church groups were subjected to 60mm of rain on opening night.
Organisers have set up a temporary tent city, with 11,000 stretching across just 15 hectares.
Mike Dodge of organiser Canterbury Youth Services says his team were fielding a few concerned calls from parents as the cyclone closed in.
"We got a lot of rain, and we expected a lot of rain, so we put everything up for wet weather - hence all the tents behind us for young people to hang out in," he says.
"I think it creates a sense of community when you're all struggling against the elements. Teenagers really like having something healthy to fight against, like the weather."
However, the teenagers were enjoying themselves, playing rugby in the mud and in some cases even traipsing through the bog in their bare feet.
Camper Rueben Fortune made the most of the opportunity, mudwrestling with friends in a mess he described as smelling like "cow poo".
The sun came out on Saturday, but the mud looks set to stay put right through the weekend.
Newshub.
