Winter in Auckland

vathsanclan
Jun 24, 2015
4 min read

"You will see, it's gonna be perfect. The average summer temperature in Auckland is 23'C.

It doesn't get higher than that, never! "- Said to me Vathsan, on one of this crazy hot days in Kuala Lumpur. Back then, that news felt really cool. Well,almost. Because I also knew from my own experience that air con is as well around 20'C and I never feel comfortable around it. It is always a little bit too cold for me.

So we arrived to New Zealand and we discovered the little mystery behind that country. It's always gonna make you a little bit uncomfortable. Just a little, but still, uncomfortable.

Even on a summer day there are few things which may spoil your joy.

Either the SUN will be too strong and will give you a headache or sunburn or if you are wearing hat& sunscreen - it just will be annoying to remember to re- apply it every few hours.

Either the WIND, will pull off your sun hat or will give you goosebumps.

( Wearing a bikini on a kiwi beach is a skill. I am mastering it every year)

Either sudden RAIN will come. Might be nothing major, little drizzle, might be a heavy shower, which will not take too long but will probably soak your clothes.

So what happen over the winter? Well here is the good news : NZ is still a very sunny country. It receives over 2000 hours of sunshine a year. A winter day on a good weather can still be very pleasant.

It's all about the RAINY DAYS. There are days when it can rain, and rain, and not really stop for another 12 hours. There are other days when it can be very sunny and out of a sudden a shower can literally wash the streets. And whole day can be made of such a bright sun/ heavy rain pattern. I personally prefer these fully rainy days. At least you know there is nothing to do. You don't even have to try to hang laundry in garden or go for a walk. You simply stick to indoor. These sunny & rainy days are much more tricky because when it does not rain, weather really look nice, to the extend you almost feel guilty you are still staying at home. But don't get fooled. The moment you will step outside on such a day, you will end up paying for that. On the other hand, at least you also will probably get to see a rainbow.

Rainy days are annoying even if you stay at home. You will wake up in the room with sweaty windows which are wet from last night and will stay foggy longer than usually. The laundry won't dry. You will end up using this funny device, the DEHUMIDIFIER!

When we rented our first house, landlord gave us one of these without telling what it is. It was summer, we didn't use it for few months till it got cold. Than we switched it on, and thought it's a broken heater because it was just blowing air but didn't make room any warmer. Only later, a friend explained to us, it's not a heater, it's a thing which sucks humidity out from our house! It has a little bucket inside where it collects the water. There is this strange satisfaction when you go to empty that bucket. You ask yourself :we live in such a wet house? Really??

The winter in Auckland is very mild. Yes it's not summer anymore, yes it got a bit more wet and cold but it's not too bad. And that " not too bad" makes winter experience even worser. Many houses are not insulated and they don't come with heating. If you are lucky you get a house with fire place or heatpump, if you're not, than you need to buy one of these electric heaters. Day time temperature can be around 15'C - 12'C, but at night it can drop to 6'C, with realfeel even lower. Over night house get cold and the next day, although it's already 15'C outside it will still stay cold for another few more hours till it heats up again.

Being outside on a good weather will actually make you warmer than staying at home. Going out feels like a good reason to put jacket on, but unless is raining I am wearing more clothes at home. People here don't wear much jackets. It's very popular to have only sleeveless vest.

It keeps you warm, don't protect your arms from rain, but it's not a problem since NZ is a car country and you are most likely to be not far from your car on a rainy day.

Living in NZ is a full year mixture of sun, rain and wind. The winter months are simply lees pleasant. So we decided to skip some of that cold and every august we go away to travel. Ever since we came here we have been exploring the Pacific Islands, This year will be first time we will be going somewhere else, but more details about our next trip coming in separate post soon.