Summer in New Zealand

by Lesley Sjardins

I have been thinking a lot recently about my American and European pals - especially because of the severe weather conditions that many endure over December/January.
It came as a surprise to me to find that many of my American pals really had no idea that the seasons in this part of the world, are different from their own. They are the complete opposite, so, while some of you in places like Ohio and Michigan are contending with snow and ice, we are either enjoying the summer weather, or languishing in the heat if the temperature and humidity creep too high.

Very few ‘Kiwis’ (New Zealanders) have air-conditioning, so, although it doesn’t get as hot as a Californian or Floridian summer, the heat can, nonetheless, be quite uncomfortable - especially when the humidity is high. However, when I think about the summer that many Australians have endured this year, I really don’t feel inclined to complain. (I’m sure that many of you have seen coverage of the massive bushfires on your TV screen. The new Zealand cricket team were in Australia recently and all Australian and Kiwi players wore black armbands as a mark of respect for those who died in the bush fires.)

Cricket is very much part of the summer scene (many countries which were British colonies play cricket as a national sport.) There are three different games of cricket
(‘Twenty-Twenty’ which is relatively short and full of action, ‘One-Day Cricket’ which lasts for a day and is quite fast-moving and ‘Test Cricket’ which lasts for 5 days or when one team wins - whichever comes first. Some think that watching test cricket is much the same as watching the grass grow! Over summer you often see families and their friends playing cricket - in the back yard (if it’s big enough - or at the beach.)


Because New Zealand consists of two long and mainly narrow, islands, no one is more than 120 miles from the sea. Consequently, once the weather gets warmer, and the summer holidays begin, many families and groups of friends head for the beach. (I should explain that our use of the term ‘holidays’ is different from the U.S. usage - when we talk of holidays, we mean the period of time that we have as annual leave, not religious festivals. For many people this incorporates Christmas and New Year and some time into January. Much of New Zealand closes down over late December and early January as many legal firms, factories, and other businesses take a three-week break.)

As mentioned before, the beach is accessible and many people have their holidays at the beach. Several decades ago, many families owned a beach ‘bach’ (like a simple beach cottage). The baches were usually very small and often not very beautiful. Few of these still exist because the coastal land on which they stood has become very valuable; the baches have been demolished and gorgeous beach homes have taken their place. Only the wealthy can afford beach homes.

In recent times it has been discovered that the beach lifestyle has its drawbacks. New Zealand and Australia have the world’s highest incidence of skin cancer. When we were younger, people like me, now in our fifties and older, had no idea of the dangers the sun carried for us. Now that people are aware of the problem it’s ‘slip, slap, slop’ with the sunscreen.

Why not visit our country, trading one of your winters for a nice New Zealand summer?