NZ is the most ‘English’ of all the Commonwealth countries. It is slightly bigger than the UK . 255,000 of its inhabitants were born in the UK .

It has a mild climate with occasional frosts in the winter, with temperatures of 25 – 30* C during the summer. Hot weather is usually accompanied by sea breezes so it is a comfortable environment.

The S40* latitude line runs through NZ just north of Wellington , in the northern hemisphere, the N40* line runs through the middle of Portugal . All of NZ is closer to the Equator than any part of the UK .

During the winter (June & July) the sun rises at about 8am , it gets dark around 5.30pm , In the summer: 6.00 am & 9.30pm . There are 2000 hours of sunshine on average per year as opposed to 1500 hours in the UK .

There are plenty of sports for all ages, whether representing your school or your local sports club. Practising is common and competitions are organised by the sporting bodies so it’s a case of turning up and playing. There are lots of individual activities also, surfing and swimming at the beach being particularly popular. The water is generally warm and clear and Kiwis will use the water mainly during the summer. Wet suits are used for surfing during the winter and as you acclimatise to NZ weather, any British immigrant will probably get a wet suit in their 2 nd winter!

Education is the most important aspect of life in NZ, not sport! You can strive to make something of yourself if you have the ability, and you can make it work. Primary, Intermediate and Secondary schools are free; at University you have to pay. However, it is a lot less than the cost here.

The population has only just reached 4,000,000 with 2/3 in the North Island; 1,300,000 live in Auckland which is one of the biggest cities, area wise, in the Southern Hemisphere. Most houses are single storied so we are more ‘spread out’ than you would be used to in the UK . The South Island has the most spectacular scenery and you may have seen quite a bit of it if you watched any of the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy recently, as it was filmed in NZ, mainly in the South Island . The Southern Alps form the backbone of the island and you will see snow on them all year round. The snow level is at 6000 ft during the winter so if you like snow, you have to go to it, it rarely comes to you. There are 12 ski fields in the South Island , 1 in the North.

There are lots of sheep in NZ, around 45 million. South Island farms are measured in thousands of square miles, especially on the slopes of the Alps where the sheep prosper.

inally, there is a very relaxed style of living in NZ. We work hard but we do like to take time to spend with the family, have a Barbie, go to the beach – we enjoy life!