[Leccy-Lee]

Weird question this one, but here goes..

Although my dream life in NZ most likely to be governed as to where i can find work etc. I have since a young boy always wanted to live somwehere that has what you could call "proper" seasons (unlike UKs general mass of randomness)

I would love spring to be spring...
Summer to be warm/dry and sunny,
Autumn to be Autumn,
And Winter to be cold/icey and plenty Snow...

So if at all, where in NZ has a warm sunny summer, and yet still gets a cold snowy winter? Or is that ideal nowhere :roll

(awaits posts saying "dont go to NZ then!" lol)

[Diny]

Wherever you choose to settle in NZ you'll still get the general mass of randomness.

It's a well known fact that over here you can get 4 seasons in 1 day - really you do !!!

A general rule of thumb is the further north you go the better the weather, the further south the worse - however, not even this holds up very often.

My opinion (for what it's worth) is that anywhere along the Hawks Bay and BOP has the 'better' climate.

Diny

[wiki]

Central Otago (Alexandra, Cromwell area) have some of the most extreme temps in NZ - regularly over 30C in summer, and really icy cold frosts in winter with a lot of days barely reaching 0C.

Queenstown and Wanaka also get a recognisable summer and winter, but not as extreme. Q'town and Wanaka are ski towns, so although it won't always snow on the ground, you'll see it most of the winter on the surrounding mountains - and then in summer it's warm enough to swim in the lakes. Autumn is also very pretty around Q'town - particularly down the road in Arrowtown which is an old gold mining town and has streets full of wooden houses and golden-leaved trees.

Spring is pretty evident all over because of all the lambs :)

[Howie]

As far as I can tell there is no winter in NZ. To me, winter is where there is snow on the ground for months and you have a few weeks where the temperature doesn't go above -20C. Even in Queenstown, where it can get "cold" it rarely snows in the town, but you can drive up the mountains to find some snow. The fall is also quite different as all of the leaves don't turn colours at the same time. In Auckland everything is so green, right through the winter. I still can't get over having to mow the lawn in the winter.
So the seasons are quite different here and they are also quite different in different parts of the country. This is part of the charm of living in a new place. And life without winter is really not so bad.

[veronica]

head for the south island. pretty much all of it has proper seasons. ( sometimes all of them in one day)

[Moorf]

I'll second Veronica - south island seems to have a more varied climate, but as we haven't been to north island I can't comment, although they don't seem to get the extremes we do, or the snow!

[K&CS]

I've heard a lot of people saying that Central Otago is the best place for all 4 seasons.

I guess if you're used to extreme winters like in Canada and parts of the US, then NZ winters will seem pretty tame wherever you are!