Darren Bravo, Shane Shillingford and the Dunedin weather combined to deny New Zealand what had seemed a certain victory over West Indies as the first Test ended in a draw.
No play was possible after tea, leaving the Black Caps 79 for four in their pursuit of 112, with Shillingford taking all of the wickets.
It was Bravo who was the tourists' real hero as his double-century, brought to an end on the final morning at 218, took the match into day five and allowed the rain to intervene.
When Bravo fell, captain Darren Sammy took over, moving his score to 80 and helping stretch the second-innings total to 507 before being dismissed shortly before lunch.
With rain around, that left New Zealand desperately trying to beat the elements but, in the 30 available overs, they managed just 79, hampered in part by Shillingford's fine bowling but also a conservative approach.
Shillingford set the tone before lunch as he had Peter Fulton caught behind to leave New Zealand three for one from the mini-session available after the tourists had been dismissed.
It got worse after the break as Aaron Redmond tucked Shillingford straight to leg slip, then Hamish Rutherford launched the spinner to Shannon Gabriel at long-on.
When Brendon McCullum's top-edged sweep went straight up in the air and was caught by Denesh Ramdin, Shillingford had single-handedly reduced the Black Caps to 44 for four.
Corey Anderson and Ross Taylor steadied the ship, yet failed to keep the scoreboard ticking over. That proved costly as the weather took over five minutes before tea.
Taylor, who scored an unbeaten 217 in the first innings, managed just 16 runs from 61 balls as New Zealand were left to ponder whether they could have accelerated their innings more effectively.