Big chill has Tasman locals pulling on ice skates as pond freezes

One person's bitter cold snap is another person's very happy place.

One glorious by-product of the chilly conditions gripping the country is an unexpected opportunity to lace up the ice skates in the Tasman region.

For the last week, Teetotal Pond in St Arnaud has been frozen over, with locals and holidaymakers flocking to make the most of it.

It's particularly special because some winters it doesn't freeze at all, while in others it's just for a day or two at a time.

Sisters Emma and Kaitlyn Robinson recently set up their business Skate Sisters, using their school holidays to hire out ice skates.

"We've had 70 pairs of ice skates and they've just been selling out lots. We've had people from Buller Gorge, Murchison, Havelock," Kaitlyn said.

"It's been really crazy. Like way more than we expected," Emma said. The teenage sisters have enjoyed seeing how much fun people were having.

When 1News visited on Friday morning, it was -6C at the pond, rising only slightly to -3C by mid-morning.

The town — along with the rest of the country — has been in the grip of a sustained high pressure weather system this week. That's brought calm weather, clear skies and frosts that often last longer than usual.

Along with the many novices at St Arnaud, was figure skater Emmy Wratt from Nelson who traveled to Christchurch every three weeks to train and compete.

"It's much different than in the ice rink but, yeah, some rough patches and stuff but it's still an amazing opportunity."

One person from Nelson commented: "I haven't been to see this pond before ever but I have live locally for almost 20 years and I've never heard of anybody ice skating here in that time so it's pretty special".