NZ

For some reason, I imagined the southern hemisphere would be hot in January. IT is meant to be summer, therefore, I assumed the weather would be better than in Britain, where it is meant to be winter. Such proved not to be the case. I arrived in Auckland to cold and rain, and it has been typically horrid and cold since. Basically the climate is a slightly milder version of England, with four seasons in one day, not spread out throughout the year as would be the case in a normal country. Like in Dublin, the weather here can change instantaneously- one minute it will be sunny, then it will start to pour, yet within minutes, the sun will be shining again. So every day begins with an assessment of what to wear, and every outfit has to involve as many layers as I can squeeze under my coat. This odd situation also makes sight seeing in the place a bit difficult, as you never know what you will be encountering until there, leaving a high possibility of getting everything wrong. The locals claim it rains nearly every day, and so far, this has indeed been the case.

But the country does have a few advantages over the UK: it is far cleaner in every sense. Walking about, you can feel with every breath that the air is far fresher than anywhere in Europe. Part of this is due to smart government legislation. If you want to construct something here, such as a shopping mall, you must ensure that at least 20% of the land stays green, by building a park in the middle, or something similar. The obvious result is that everything around seems to be green, and there seems to be a massive park in the middle of every neighbourhood, many of which are really well designed, and ALL of which are well maintained. Furthermore, I have walked all over the country’s largest city over the past several days looking for one piece of ANY sort of litter: a chocolate bar wrapper, a cigarette bud, an abandoned newspaper, a vomit puddle…..but I have found nothing. There is no litter here. Furthermore, although the populace certainly drink their share of local and international beer, if they puke it back up, they clearly do so somewhere other than in the streets, unlike in Britain.

Additionally, partly thanks to the clever government legislation, the living standard is in certain ways is far higher. All the flats appear well constructed, with massive balconies. The other night we went over to a couple’s house for dinner, and they took us around their neighbourhood to see how they and their friends live. They (and their friends) had nice detached houses with large gardens and covered patios (due to the rain) for their “barbies.” We had dinner in the living room with the massive doors open onto the beautiful garden, flooded by New Zealand’s incredibly fresh air. Such surroundings would only be available to the ultra rich in Britain, yet this couple were far from that, and assured us such people don’t really exist in New Zealand anyway.