Photo: RNZ/Samuel Rillstone
Passengers travelling through Wellington Airport described "gripping their seats" through rocky landings in the capital on Tuesday morning.
Lines of passengers were waiting at the airport's information desk trying to find out when their flights out of the capital would be, as high winds delayed or cancel several flights.
Air New Zealand extended the pause on all flights in and out of the capital until 1pm on Tuesday, but they have since resumed. Passengers RNZ had spoken to were unsure whether they would depart today.
Aucklander Nancy Rimoni has been in and out of airports for the past two days. She was travelling with a large group to Dunedin via Wellington on Monday.
Her first flight made three attempts before successfully landing in Wellington, but the second leg of the journey was not able to touch down in Dunedin at all.
"It was very scary - we almost landed [in] Dunedin but the wind was too strong. It felt like our flight would be scattered or capsized if we landed."
Rimoni said during the landing attempt she went through a lot of anxiety.
"I've never felt that before. I thought the [landing] when we arrived here was bad - no. The one in Dunedin was worse."
Photo: RNZ/Samuel Rillstone
Rimoni was hoping to get back to Auckland on Tuesday, "because our babies are waiting for us so we need to be back home to our family". But her flight was delayed yet again.
"They don't know anything yet, so until 1pm we will find out whether our flights will be cancelled or extended, but we have no idea, so we're standing in line just to be able to find out something."
The board at Wellington Airport during October's wild windy weather. Photo: Samuel Rillstone / RNZ
Air New Zealand staff were handing out lollies to passengers settling in for a long wait. Some were reading, others were on the phone
Sophie Palmer was returning from a wedding in Hamilton, but the final leg of her journey between Wellington and Blenheim was cancelled.
"So we arrived at approximately 8am on Tuesday morning, in from Hamilton and it's been a bit of backwards and forwards, a few delays, flight changes, cancelations and our flight changes again - so we're just sticking with the process and honestly hoping we can get somewhere on Tuesday night."
Palmer said her flight into Wellington on Tuesday morning had a rocky landing.
"You could see a few people pretty stressed out and a lot of people gripping their seats pretty hard. It was a scary flight coming in, for sure."
She said her group had now been split up and were heading to Auckland on two different flights, but even so she said there were people in worse situations.
"[The] saying is when it's out of your control [you have] just got to let things be, and I think that's the good ol' Kiwi way."
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