Summer daze

Summer is finally here in New Zealand. Yup, you heard it right. December is the official start of summer, and this sunny season will last til February next year. When we arrived here, winter had just ended but the spring air still had that cold bite, and we would usually go out with jackets, bonnets and scarves. It has become considerably warmer though, and there were a few times when the duvet made it a bit too warm at night. We now also find some afternoons too warm for sweaters and jackets. That said, the weather is still relatively unpredictable. You can have an overcast sky in the morning with some showers, and then it will be a sun-shiny day by lunchtime.

See the photos below? They were taken only a couple of minutes ago. It is now 8:30PM. Amazing, huh? At least, for us from the vicinity of the equator.



This sunny disposition has actually left our body clocks a bit confused. A couple of times I was in the city and I thought there was still a lot of the afternoon left. I would realize it was already 7 only when I would looked at my watch and beat a hasty retreat to the bus stop. We would also sleep at around midnight and wake up quite late in the morning already. Whew!

Santa also gets a costume change in this part of the world. Instead of being all wrapped up in red, he's in shorts and with a surfboard by the beach!