August: It's the new February
To commemorate entering our tenth consecutive month of winter here (the judges may differ on our definition, so for the record we're starting with the "wintry conditions" of November in upstate New York and skipping over some nice days in early fall we had here on arrival, even though everyone blamed us for bringing the bad weather to Wellington) I thought I'd write a bit about the experience.
Winter in Wellington has 90mph winds, drenching sideways rains and temperatures that sometimes approach but never quite reach freezing. We get socked in by storms and roads will be closed north and south of us, but only rarely are we advised to stay off them entirely. There's no snow to shovel or ice to scrape, and it's definitely a break from the average low of 15ºF (that's -9ºC to our NZ readers, and you'll want to add some -25ºF of potential wind chill) we get in upstate NY, but neither is it the mind-numbing explosion into spring and glorious summer your body so desperately needs after an upstate winter, either: it's more like a really long, unnaturally-windy spring in New York (with all the sogginess you'd expect).
As someone who revels in the parade of holidays that carries you from the final heady days of summer, through the harvest into Halloween and Thanksgiving, kicking off the month of delicious food leading up to Christmas and ending with New Year's, I am finding winter difficult to navigate here. We had a holiday or two shortly after we arrived (including ANZAC Day), but since then things have been fairly quiet. I am lost without the usual milestones of winter.
Left to my own devices and understanding that things are inverted, I've done the math and realized that August here is the equivalent of February back home, which means we have 3-4 months of wintry conditions left to endure. Several people have claimed November is actually the most difficult month to bear, which I guess makes it a really cold, windy May. I haven't looked ahead to see what national holidays are coming up, but I understand Halloween has been adopted in some areas so at least we'll have that.
Back home, summer is still in full swing but we would be starting to sense fall on the horizon: the fair is coming and only a month remains before school starts and the days will start to feel fall-ish again. The Cider Mill will be opening in a few weeks, and even now I'm sure all the song birds have already gone (back me up here, Dad). Not long after that some trees will start changing and the air will get sharp at night, making perfect camping weather.
If someone could just please bottle up those smells for me and send them to New Zealand, I'd be much obliged! When Christmas rolls around and you lot are bunkering down for winter there, I'll be getting my shorts on and firing up the barby to make some spiedies for the locals and our summer-deprived kiddos.
Winter in Wellington has 90mph winds, drenching sideways rains and temperatures that sometimes approach but never quite reach freezing. We get socked in by storms and roads will be closed north and south of us, but only rarely are we advised to stay off them entirely. There's no snow to shovel or ice to scrape, and it's definitely a break from the average low of 15ºF (that's -9ºC to our NZ readers, and you'll want to add some -25ºF of potential wind chill) we get in upstate NY, but neither is it the mind-numbing explosion into spring and glorious summer your body so desperately needs after an upstate winter, either: it's more like a really long, unnaturally-windy spring in New York (with all the sogginess you'd expect).
As someone who revels in the parade of holidays that carries you from the final heady days of summer, through the harvest into Halloween and Thanksgiving, kicking off the month of delicious food leading up to Christmas and ending with New Year's, I am finding winter difficult to navigate here. We had a holiday or two shortly after we arrived (including ANZAC Day), but since then things have been fairly quiet. I am lost without the usual milestones of winter.
Left to my own devices and understanding that things are inverted, I've done the math and realized that August here is the equivalent of February back home, which means we have 3-4 months of wintry conditions left to endure. Several people have claimed November is actually the most difficult month to bear, which I guess makes it a really cold, windy May. I haven't looked ahead to see what national holidays are coming up, but I understand Halloween has been adopted in some areas so at least we'll have that.
Back home, summer is still in full swing but we would be starting to sense fall on the horizon: the fair is coming and only a month remains before school starts and the days will start to feel fall-ish again. The Cider Mill will be opening in a few weeks, and even now I'm sure all the song birds have already gone (back me up here, Dad). Not long after that some trees will start changing and the air will get sharp at night, making perfect camping weather.
If someone could just please bottle up those smells for me and send them to New Zealand, I'd be much obliged! When Christmas rolls around and you lot are bunkering down for winter there, I'll be getting my shorts on and firing up the barby to make some spiedies for the locals and our summer-deprived kiddos.
Great post!! I can totally relate from when I spent a year in Australia. Cold cuts on Christmas were a far stretch from the oven roasted turkey I was used to.. It gets so hot in Queensland in December nobody even wants to fire up the barbeque
Don't forget to mention that this is our "Month of Birthdays" back at home where we usually spend a good chunk of time up at the compound with the rest of the family, swimming in the pool, eating cob on the corn and making s'mores!