Spring is springing - new life and all that

It's been beautiful weather here today. Not that we can complain about the weather generally. Auckland and the Northland don't really 'do' winter we've discovered. We have had the odd rainy day, but mostly it's been fine. This far north, I have been told, is classed as sub-tropical and there are little signs if you look for them.

The obvious signs are the orange and avacado orchards everywhere and the palm trees in everyone's gardens. We have a lime and a madarin tree outside our apartment and you can buy a big bag of oranges for $2 (about 70p). The more subtle signs include the very, very steep driveways which are common - scary if your driving, daunting if you're walking. A sign of the lack of frost and ice in these parts. You'd have trouble using them in a British winter.

But the half decent weather is getting more decent every day. It's five days until spring officially starts here, though the weather is like early June in the UK and there have been daffodils and snowdrops aplenty for a while now (as well as tonnes of wild callow lillies). Lots of lambs in the field and ducklings on the water. New life and all that.

Speaking of which, congratulations to Joanne and Colin on the birth of baby Amy and thanks to Larry and Leslie for the pics. She looks gorgeous and we're really looking forward to meeting her in person when we get home.

It's weird getting used to the idea of spring in September though. The months have become an abstract concept since we left home because they don't really relate to anything we're used to in the UK. I imagine whilst you guys are in the middle of winter I'll be out in the sun pining for the Jura regatta and gala day. It's kinda weird (but good) people emailing us about what's been going on because a lot of what people are saying is 'summer stuff'and it just sounds abstract here.

On the whole we have been pretty lucky and haven't yet had to deal with really cold winter weather yet (despite the shock acclimatisation to NZ when we arrived from Asia). There has been snow, lots of rain and landslips further south in the North Island, but we're keeping our heads down here til that clears. What I am missing though is light evenings, which we have been without for near on a year now, what with British winter, being in SE Asia (where the time it gets dark is pretty uniform throughout the year), and now NZ winter. And, as warm and sunny as the days here are at the moment, as soon as that sun goes down it gets chilly. Roll on summer...