Four Tauranga-based MPs completed an unplanned, cross-country, cross-party road trip yesterday after wild weather cancelled flights to Wellington.

Tauranga MP Sam Uffindell (National), Bay of Plenty MP Tom Rutherford (National), List MP Jan Tinetti (Labour) and List MP Cameron Luxton (Act) crammed into a Mitsubishi hire car and drove from Tauranga to Parliament in Wellington.

None missed the opportunity to share snaps from the seven-hour trip down the North Island on their social media.

“Cross party MP roady to Wellington,” Uffindell wrote.

He said they earlier they had got as far as seeing the capital from the air, but heavy winds meant the plane could not land and was sent “back to the mighty Tauranga”.

Rutherford noted everyone took a turn driving.

“We arrived and we still don’t mind each other,” he wrote.

“A very harmonious car-alition.”

Luxton dubbed it an “emergency coalition” and said there was “heaps of robust … banter".

“Reached a consensus on Transport policy: get to Wellington by dinner.”

Tinetti called it a “different start to the day”.

Rutherford told the Bay of Plenty Times there was “great conversation” the entire way with lots of laughs.

“It’s great that MPs from different parties can put differences aside and do this sort of thing.”

Luxton said the best part was a stop at the Bakehouse Cafe in Reporoa, near Rotorua.

“The discussions were collegial, a few laughs, we talked about Tauranga - where it’s been, where it’s going,” he said.

MPs Jan Tinetti (left), Tom Rutherford, Cameron Luxton and Sam Uffindell after a road trip to Parliament together. Photo / Facebook

High winds delayed or cancelled numerous flights in Wellington on Tuesday as the first of two severe weather systems moved north from the South Island.

Wellington recorded peak wind speeds of around 110-115km/h, while gusts as fast as 124km/h were recorded in the suburb of Kelburn.

A man died on Wellington’s Mt Victoria after being struck by a falling tree branch, and dashcam footage emerged of a pedestrian being blown on to the road.

MetService meteorologist Katie Hillyer told the Herald peak gusts as high as as 145km/h were recorded at Remutaka Summit.

Other exposed places had wind speeds around 140km/h, she said.

“So, extremely windy even by Wellington standards.”

Another intense weather system is threatening parts of the country today, but there are no warnings in place for the Bay of Plenty.