Weather
Geographically NZ Aotearoa lies between 37 and 47 degrees south of the Tropic of Capricorn. Generally both the North and South islands have a moderate climate, which allows Kiwis to both work (e.g. farming, fishing) and enjoy their leisure time outdoors for much of the year. The two features which heavily influence the weather are our fabulous mountains (with alpine winters dropping to lows of -10ºC in the South Island) and our seas (with some areas hitting as high as 30ºC+ in the top of the North Island). Our three big cities: Auckland, Christchurch, and Wellington all receive over two thousand hours of bright sunshine a year, which is spread across all seasons, not just the summer. As small island land masses, we do however experience dramatic weather on occasions, with wild storms, gale force winds, rain, cyclones , hurricanes and even the odd waterspout hitting our sunny shores. The aftermath of this type of extreme weather can be dramatic, causing all sorts of damage such ...