Christmas arrived early for the region's big wave surfers on Wednesday as swells of 6m to 8m hit Papatowai in the Catlins.
Dunedin surfer Leroy Rust said although the big wave conditions were not unusual for this time of year, it had been "a while" waiting for them to come round this season.
Surfing waves of this size was not to be taken lightly, and special gear and occasional teamwork was required, he said.
"You need what we call a big wave paddle gun or tow surfboard to catch them, and often towing in by jetski. Yesterday, we had two teams of three towing us in because the wind was pretty strong."
Mr Rust said he had been surfing big waves for nearly a decade, including in other locations such as Hawaii and Mexico
However, surfing on home waters was "something special".
"Because the waves here are much more fickle, when they appear in all their glory they're spectacular. We were pretty delighted to be out there yesterday [Wednesday]."
Catlins Surf School owner and fellow big wave surfer Nick Smart, of Curio Bay, said the extreme conditions seen on Wednesday were generally short-lived and restricted to locations off the south coast.
"You look today and we're back to [a] 2m or 3m swell, so you need to be on to it. There were about 10 of us out there yesterday from 7.30am, but it had died off by 11pm."
The longer-range Catlins forecast remained steady at 2m to 3m, and another big swell was predicted for Monday, Mr Smart said.
"We've had a great summer for surfing down here, and winter forecasts are also looking good in terms of some big swells, so it's good times in the Catlins."
Seven-day forecasts for St Clair in Dunedin ranged from 1m to 1.8m over the weekend, peaking at 3m on Monday morning.