Large swells made conditions too dangerous for early morning Cook Strait ferry sailings and snow closed the Desert Road after a day of wintry weather.
Stormy conditions around the country led to power outages, flight and ferry cancellations and road closures on Wednesday.
Interislander cancelled the 2.30am Picton to Wellington sailing on Thursday, and said the Kaitaki would run as a freight only vessel and the Aratere would be its key passenger ship.
It had cancelled four sailings on Wednesday because of increasing swells and deteriorating conditions.
Interislander said it was monitoring the weather regularly and warned other sailings may run late.
Bluebridge cancelled its 2am Cook Strait ferry service from Wellington to Picton and its 2.30am sailing from Picton to Wellington.
In the central North Island, snow closed the Desert Road (SH1) between Rangipo and Waiouru.
Remutaka Road (SH2) north of Wellington, which had been closed on Wednesday due to snow, reopened between Kaitoke and Featherston.
MetService said low temperatures would bring more snow to the road and Waka Kotahi is warning drivers to take extra care. A heavy snow watch was in place for Wairarapa until 9am on Thursday.
A light dusting of snow on Remutaka Hill Road (SH2). Photo: Waka Kotahi
Areas further north did not escape either, with strong wind gusts forcing some lanes of the Auckland Harbour Bridge to be closed at times on Wednesday and hail storms lashing parts of the city.
MetService said this morning that Auckland had just experienced its coldest night of the year, and further chilly temperatures were expected.
However, the wintry weather gave South Island ski fields a welcome dusting of snow, with 25cm accumulating on Queenstown's Coronet Peak on Wednesday.
The ski field had to be closed yesterday due to the high winds, but staff were now expecting an influx of skiers who have been waiting for good conditions all season.
Coronet Peak spokesperson Laura Hedley told Morning Report it was the snow they had been waiting for all winter.
"Our team are absolutely stoked, we've had probably about 45 centimetres over the past couple of days, which is great."
Hedley said prior to yesterday's weather, the ski field had a fairly small base of snow, with much of it man-made.
"Our snow guns and our snow makers have been working pretty hard to get everything open, so this is definitely welcome."
South Island ski fields have welcomed the snow brought by Wednesday's cold blast. Photo: 123RF
The dump of snow would set the resort up for the season, she said.
"We've had the cold temperatures, which meant we could make snow, which was great, but we just haven't had that precipitation - every storm that's come through this year's kind of been around 4, 5 centimetres which isn't ideal, I mean, it all adds up but this one being more like 40 - 50[cm] is much better.
"This'll get us through."
The fresh snow would also allow some great off-trail skiing, she said.
"The wind pushed the snow around quite a bit so there'll be some really big drifts of snow - over a metre in places - and I'm sure there'll be those hardcore who are gonna get out there and get into it.
"The good thing is there'll be heaps of terrain to explore."
Cardrona, near Wānaka, also had to be closed yesterday, with snow falling all day and strong winds blowing on the mountain, but it has reopened today.
The Remarkables and Treble Cone ski fields are also open.
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