After a perfect Spring and Summer (lots of sun), we finally have our first Autumn and Winter. The temperatures are dropping steadily towards the 5 degrees celsius (daytime) and 0 degrees nighttime. Although today, as I write this, the temperature is around 18 degrees and we are sitting on the deck in our t-shirts. We experienced our first real "Foehn" (as the Swiss call them); a warm wind coming from a particular direction. Besides changing the weather significantly, as in warming it up, some people get a headache. We also got the first snow here on the Canterbury Plains last weekend; we only got 2 centimeters of "wet" snow in our garden, but other parts of the city got 5 centimeters of "dry" snow.The downside of it all is that the humidity is climbing inside the house. As we have a lot of (single sheet) glass in our house, warmth leaks away faster then it does in the average European house. At one point the bedroom was around 8 degrees celsius with the relative humidity of 80% when we got up in the morning; not healthy at all! So we did what every Kiwi does; turn on the electric heaters to get it back to normal. We do realize the average house over here is not comparable with what we are used to in The Netherlands or Switzerland; thermal isolation of the walls, roof and floor is not a thing the Kiwi expect in a (affordable) house. If it's not in there the owners probably won't install it as it is to costly for most of them. So we will just have to wait until we get a place of our own to be able to enjoy a well insulated house. For the time being, we are looking into buying a secondhand dehumidifier to get rid of some of the excess humidity.
George's birthday was on the 25th May. To celebrate this we invited some friends and colleges from his work. As it was the first birthday in NZ, someone suggested that George has to drink beer from a yard glass. This is a Kiwi tradition when you turn 21 and officially become an adult. About 6 cans of beer went into the glass to fill it up and then it was George's turn to empty it as fast as he could. It took him about half an hour, but he did finish!!! Although he didn't move or say much for the next hour :-)
The 2nd of June was a Public Holiday (Queen's birthday, even if she is far away in the UK), so we had a long weekend. We decided to spend the weekend at a place called Lake Tekapo; it is about a 3 hour drive from Christchurch and is located in the middle of the South Island. The lake is one of 8 lakes in a chain which is used to generate power using hydro-generators. About 60% of the total NZ energy pool is generated in this way; surely a very nice amount. The Lake has a small settlement with some shops and quite a few rooms to rent. On the weekend we were there, a yearly mountain-bike-race was being held; they had to ride one side of the lake, wade through a 9 degrees celsius river and ride back along the other side of the lake. The fastest ones did it in just under 3 hours; if they didn't finish within 7 hours, a special bus would pick up the rest along the route to prevent them getting stuck in rapidly declining weather. We came there not to ride the bike, but to walk en enjoy nature; we walked up to the Mt John observatory to enjoy the view and to see if we could do some stargazing that night. Unfortunately, the weather prediction was not favorable (cloudy), so we decide to come back another time. We really do would like to see the night-sky here as it is rumored to be one of the best spots on the South Island to do so. We stayed at the Riverside Cottage accommodation which was situated next to the river and only a 3 minute walk from the lake. The rooms were very comfortable (warm) and the views amazing. Needless to say, we will definitely return to Tekapo do some more "tramping" and stargazing.
At the moment, the Kiwi's are concerned about the energy-supplies stored in the "hydro-lakes"; due to the fact that they where not replenished by rainfall, the levels have dropped significally. But because it is election-year, they don't want to scare the voters by saying we have an energy-crises. Everybody knows the recent governments haven't done enough to make sure the rising demand in energy is being met by investing in more energy-production-facilities in the previous years. And now there are already rumors of power cuts in the evenings if the situation gets worse. Meanwhile, the Labour government and the opposition parties are outbidding each other with personal(private) tax cuts; they try to win votes by promising more money per household in tax returns instead of investing it in future like more hydro-schema's or subsiditing home-insulation. This is typical NZ; look for the short-term benefits, don't plan ahead! :-/Our house is heated by gas bottles which also heat up the warm water. In case of powercuts we will sit in the dark but not in the cold!
There are many fountains in Christchurch, but one of it really stands out. It is situated on Victoria Square and resembles 3 flowers, dandy lions to be specific. The special thing about this is the fact that in a place called Romanshorn (Switzerland) is a similar fountain. That place is about 5 km away from the village where Esther grew up and her family still lives. Quite a coincidence!!After all the hassle about having to pay GST on our own stuff from the container, we read something on the internet about changing the law again. Apparently, customs had so many complaints about the new law that they decided to reverse it. We will file a complaint and try to get a refund!
