Cyclone Hola's cloudy skies offered a silver lining for a group of tourists at Hot Water Beach on the Coromandel Peninsula.
While most of New Zealand was hunkered down against the elements on Monday, these visitors to our shores could not be deterred from enjoying one of our most beautiful coastlines.
As the winds and rain lashed the beach, they dug a hole in the sand to create their own spa pool filled with the naturally warm water.
"We picked the worst day possible to come up to the Coromandel," says one. "We drove up from Auckland this morning.
"But we're stoked. There's no-one here... otherwise it would be packed."
Said another: "Beautiful... it's a beautiful day out there."
Newshub.