Ah, sun, it's all right for some

Amy Penjueli, 9, cools off - clothes and all - in the fountain at Mission Bay. Picture / Brett Phibbs

Summer still has a steal on autumn as warm and cloudless days light up a season best known for woollen jumpers and umbrellas.

And despite some light showery periods predicted, the next fortnight, including the normally chilly Anzac long weekend, will continue to bask in settled mild weather that will have people extending their summer swimming season.

But if it was particularly chilly when you woke up this morning, that was because temperatures in Auckland were due to hit the first single-digit reading - 9C - of the year.

Takapuna Beach Holiday Park temporary manager Dave Hill said everyone was wandering round the beach with big grins on their faces.

"Everyone is absolutely besotted with it. I've never seen more people look more cheerful."

Mr Hill said the holiday park was generally busy but he had started picking up more bookings for Anzac weekend.

Village SkyCity Cinemas chief executive Joe Moodabe said the weather was not doing his business any favours.

"Initial trading for the first few days of the school holidays is not what we were budgeting for ... A couple of wet days might make it up again."

Pukekohe nurseryman Terry Hatch said it was the driest summer and autumn he could remember "going back 40 years".

"The place looks like a cemetery in places. We've lost a few really big trees," including two 100-year-old tawa, he said.

Mr Hatch and other nurseries were relying on mulch to get them through the dry weather but he had welcome advice for home gardeners trying to save wilting plants.

"You mustn't cut the grass in weather like this. Let the grass and the weeds grow - it will keep plants cooler."

Northland Federated Farmers spokesman Bill Guest said there had been no rain for nearly two months and much of the countryside on the west coast had dried out.

He said the problem was compounded by autumn calving, and rain was desperately needed within the next 10 days.

But on the positive side, kumara growers were having one of their best seasons.

Northland farmer Beth Dixon, whose husband Howard's family have farmed their 120ha beef farm near Kaitaia for four generations, said a spring that had been dry only once before for a few days had now been without water for two months.

"It's been three years since we had a decent drenching right down to the water table, but we're doing all right because we can feed out," she said.

Neighbours were also supplementing with feed as pasture became "crisper and crisper".