[Lisa&Andy]

Hi
Any ideas of what the weather will be like North Island - North of North Island to start off in July? Any thoughts of what we should/should not pack?

We could ask our family in NZ but they are probably used to the climate :yes Will it be cold or milder than UK winter? Remember we live in Glasgow - where the forecast is mainly rain and cloud and more rain. That said it is very sunny today :D :D

Lisa

[Cardy]

Hi there thers usually a lot of rain bit i,d say quite warm . i only wore my coat 3 days last year . :nice1

[Brad77]

compared to Scotland you will find NZ very mild especially up north, but it is wet and cold at times. Where up north? Winter days mid teens... and wet. Central north island temps are 10C and wet, and gets colder the further south you go.

[katandbob]

I would suggest a waterproof/ windproof jacket, thats all we used in the Nth Island in June, and my OH who is a hotbod even in Invercargill just wears this, with a sweatshirt underneath on a cold day here!

I have a light wool coat for normal wear - I use my Caldene riding coat if I ride out in windy wet weather

But I would say that so far other than the snow that hit the Sth Island in June last year I can say that the UK seemed colder outside.

OH and bring Thermal PJs as the houses are Colder!:laugh

[Familyofmonkeys]

See....When everyone starts talking like this, I automatically drop into my "soft southerners" mutterings.....But that isn't gonna work in NZ, because of everyone being upside down.

Let me take us back to the seventies in working class UK, when I grew up in the grom north of england.
We had a pantry!
We had coal delivered every fortnight.
The only heating in the house was the coal fire - in the mornings if it was cold my mum would put the oven on for us to get dressed in front of.
It was a much colder part of the world.

Compare and contrast the house my parents live in now - It only has GCH downstairs, but its pretty warm. However, my soft southern wife refused to get out of bed the first time she stayed at my parents because it was winter and she said it was too cold. I had to find an electric fan heater and leave it on for thirty minutes!

Soft South - er Northeners

[Trigirl]

Let me take us back to the seventies in working class UK, when I grew up in the grom north of england. exactly where i grew up also (one of th little mining villages). luckily most of the world has moved on.

the whole north-south thing is very confusing though

[thepiesleys]

Let me take us back to the seventies in working class UK, when I grew up in the grom north of england.
We had a pantry!
We had coal delivered every fortnight.
The only heating in the house was the coal fire - in the mornings if it was cold my mum would put the oven on for us to get dressed in front of.

Oh dear - the first thing I do when I get up is put the oven on and two of the rings when I make the coffee and kids sarnies in the morning...Mind I'm from Dover so I'm basically french ergo an extremly soft Southener. :exit

Going back to the weather - I have not a winter but am very curious to find out. It's still in the 20's during the day in auckland but we have been blessed with a high that wont go away, we light the fire some evenings but not all - have not had it on this week at all.

[willowshouse]

At the moment:

It's crisp in the mornings .. I start off in long trousers, vest, jumper and wooly socks (in the house only!)

By 8.30am it's T-shirt weather outside (unless it's windy or raining)

At about 5.00pm it starts to chill again .. possibly time for a cardigan

Have been known to wrap up in a fleecy blanket by 7.00pm



My advice - Bring lots of layers! Can't stress that enough.....

[Tia Maria]

The answer to your weather question is that its ....... very changeable!

I live in Auckland and from my vast experience of 1 year, I can tell you last year in July we had lots of rain, but as I was out walking with a buggy I was probably more aware of it than most. Don't bother with umbrellas as its normally too windy but the downpours can soak you within seconds so a three quater length waterproof is best.

As to temperature I found it cold and wore my UK winter coat, but if you don't feel the cold then probably the best thing to do is bring a fleece to wear under your waterproof so you can remove it if you are too hot.

It was sunny between the showers, we have a few birthdays round then and we managed to do out doors things, although we did have to run for cover many times and wait for the rain to pass - fantastic rainbows! I even managed to wear my sunglasses.

It hailed twice in August much to the dismay of some UK visitors we had. The local pub had a fire going from the end of June. Don't be fooled by just looking at temperatures, how cold you feel can be affected dramatically by how much wind there is and how much sun you see.

Depending on the type of accommodation you've booked you have the ability to be nice and toasty or absolutely freezing. So do take the advice about warm PJs and slippers if you're not sure.

In other words, bring lots of layers and don't bother with an umbrella!

I should add they sell lots of nice fleeces here, so you could always wait till you get here to decide how cold you feel and then buy a "I love NZ" jumper if necessary. :laugh

Cheers

Tia

[Tia Maria]

Ha ha just noticed Willowshouse posted at the same time as me, hmmmm seems like we agree on the layers thing!

Cheers

Tia

[Moorf]

Let me take us back to the seventies in working class UK, when I grew up in the grom north of england.
We had a pantry!
We had coal delivered every fortnight.
The only heating in the house was the coal fire - in the mornings if it was cold my mum would put the oven on for us to get dressed in front of.

Hey, that sounds like a typical morning for us here !! Although we have our coal monthly! And the wood monthly! :D

[Cardy]

MEMORIES !!! we lived in a mining village called ASKERN we had a pantry and a coalhouse and our oven was built into the fireplace ,we used to sit on the hearth to get warm. The toilet was out near the back door and we had a hot water geyser . Every room had oilcloth floor covering with a square of carpet on top. no central heating .no double glazing ,a bit like nz really !!! probably why i feel so at home.

Cardy:laugh :D

[Lisa&Andy]

Ha ha just noticed Willowshouse posted at the same time as me, hmmmm seems like we agree on the layers thing!

Cheers

Tia

:laugh :laugh Yes I've got it! Lots of layers, waterproffs and fleecy clothing! We are staying at OH cousins house in North Shore City to start and then planning a wee tour around although not sure exactly where yet.

Thanks everyone for the advice - brilliant as always :nice1

[Lisa&Andy]

[QUOTE=Moorf;128006]Hey, that sounds like a typical morning for us here !! Although we have our coal monthly! And the wood monthly! :D[/QUO

:uhoh We are always ready for a challenge and what a challenge it will be to get used to living without central heating :uhoh Layers and fleeces all round - I have never liked those big fleecy slipper socks that some people wear however, I might consider them now :D

[Lisa&Andy]

[QUOTE=Familyofmonkeys;127932]See....When everyone starts talking like this, I automatically drop into my "soft southerners" mutterings.....But that isn't gonna work in NZ, because of everyone being upside down.

Let me take us back to the seventies in working class UK, when I grew up in the grom north of england.
We had a pantry!
We had coal delivered every fortnight.
The only heating in the house was the coal fire - in the mornings if it was cold my mum would put the oven on for us to get dressed in front of.
It was a much colder part of the world.

Compare and contrast the house my parents live in now - It only has GCH downstairs, but its pretty warm. However, my soft southern wife refused to get out of bed the first time she stayed at my parents because it was winter and she said it was too cold. I had to find an electric fan heater and leave it on for thirty minutes!

Soft South - er Northeners[/QUOT

I was just a baby in the seventies - don't remember the coal fire :laugh

[Ana&Steve]

If you are layering, and you won't be near your car/accommodation, I'd suggest a backpack to carry layers (and water and cameras), especially if there is more than one of you. We ran into this a lot when we were out and about, too many layers to tie around our waists when the weather warmed, but we didn't want to be without when the chilly wind suddenly picked up.
Ana

[Familyofmonkeys]

I was just a baby in the seventies - don't remember the coal fire :laugh

Ouch!

[Lisa&Andy]

Ouch!

Hope I haven't offended anyone - just a bit of banter! ;)

[StevieD]

See....When everyone starts talking like this, I automatically drop into my "soft southerners" mutterings.....But that isn't gonna work in NZ, because of everyone being upside down.

Let me take us back to the seventies in working class UK, when I grew up in the grom north of england.
We had a pantry!
We had coal delivered every fortnight.
The only heating in the house was the coal fire - in the mornings if it was cold my mum would put the oven on for us to get dressed in front of.
It was a much colder part of the world.

Compare and contrast the house my parents live in now - It only has GCH downstairs, but its pretty warm. However, my soft southern wife refused to get out of bed the first time she stayed at my parents because it was winter and she said it was too cold. I had to find an electric fan heater and leave it on for thirty minutes!

Soft South - er Northeners

Yup that's about the size of it, it is really "grim" like our northern childhoods, but it isn't that bad. The advent of GCH has made people soft :laugh

It is considerably milder here in the north island. We in Cambridge and it was 20 degrees yesterday, and that is the middle of autumn! The houses are colder but we haven't noticed anything too bad apart from the first nights when we were sleeping on camping mattresses and warming the house up again.

[Juniper]

The climate is very very mild in Santa Cruz, but even so, I remember moving into our house before the central heating was fixed! The cold always seems to arrive just in time for Halloween, when half the town walks around semi nude in their silly costumes and/or body paint. :-P

We walked around the house in blankets instead, watching our breath hang in the air, and built fires all the time. The fireplace sent most of our heat out the chimney though, what a piece of...

I'm the softest of softies when it comes to keeping warm, it will be interesting to see how we hold up on our tour coming up in...geez only two weeks!