The quake struck at a depth of 170km, about 75km north of French Pass at 11.53am, according to GeoNet. The pass separates D'Urville Island from the mainland coast.
The tremor was felt widely across central New Zealand, with just under 20,000 people reporting feeling it, GeoNet said.
It happened as thousands of football fans were heading to Wellington Regional Stadium for the Women’s World Cup quarter-final clash between Spain and the Netherlands, which kicks off at 1pm.
It is the second quake the Spanish players would have felt during their stay in New Zealand, AAP reported.
On the same day that they left their training base in Palmerston North due to boredom, they arrived in Wellington on the same night as a 4.6 magnitude quake centred at nearby Paraparaumu.
That tremor was of less intensity, but as its epicentre was closer and at a relatively shallow height of 40km, it was reported by roughly the same amount of people.
"Spain, Netherlands, are you nervous before your big #FIFAWWC quarterfinal? Here, have an #eqnz", Paul Bruere posted on social media site X.
Peter Griffin posted on the same site, "yikes, rolling and juddery in Welly just now".
A resident in the capital described the shaking as “quite a wallop. You could feel it working up to itself before it hit,” despite GeoNet’s description of the tremor as “light”.
“Whoa that was a big one,” said another.
GeoNet said “shaking like this is a good reminder that earthquakes can occur anywhere in New Zealand at any time”.
“In the event of a large earthquake, remember to drop, cover and hold.”
- additional reporting AAP
