brussels_sprout

I lived in the Canary Islands (La Palma island not Tenerife !) for a year, but the summer weather here in Wellington is much better than there even. Here, it seems to be sunny almost every day and the sun is a warming strong one. That is one of the most pleasant surprises about emigrating here. Just another great thing about living in NZ ! It is sunny and warm but now unpleasant like in Australia, it is always in the 20s, sunny but not too hot

Jude J

Its just about perfect here in Auckland today, still lovely and warm but not too humid. I've just been to the bech in my lunch break and there are loads swimming. Last Tuesday on my day off I took lil one to Long Bay with her new kite but it was pretty impossible to be in the sun for more than 10 minutes it was so hot.
I couldn't stand it any hotter, I would be imprisoned in an air con'd house if I lived in parts of OZ. My mate the flight attendant spends days at a time in different parts of OZ and she says she doesn't leave the hotel room until the evenings.

helinuk

The kiwi folk who came to our house warming last weekend were saying they've never had a spring /summer like it here in BOP ....and we thought it was normal. I'm just enjoying every day!
Apart from our first 2 weeks in Oct. when it was decidedly cool (and who enjoys tropical weather) have worn tee shirts and short everyday. It's beautiful here , we have a great view of the Kaimais today and I'm about to take the dog to the beach for a paddle...yes our move was all about lifestyle change and so far I've got that!

lardyl

Yes, but the warming sun can very easily be a burning one........last Feb burn time as down to LT 5 minutes, so slip, slap, slop and whatever "the new one" is.
Having just come back from the Mainland to Auckland I must say that it was less humid down there and more pleasant, but then the days vary, in Auckland Tuesday was very humid, Wednesday not so and by today its a bit muggy again.
Not as bad as Oz though - just got my folks back from there and they had temps in the 40s - yuk.
I think I'd rather have the canaries for the more "even" weather, not having been there in the Summer mind, although I bet they can take a buffetting on occasion ??
Come on Martin enlighten us....?

Jude J

Hell yeah. Makes me cringe seeing all the burnt people about.

lardyl

and the advert on the TV seems to have an effect on me - I am a moley person and everyone else here is really fair

Jude J

D'ya mean the one with the burnt kids? My sister was shocking when she was here with her 10 month old pale, blonde daughter. I had to keep nagging her until she got the message.

P18PPS

I've got a 10 year old who we have tried and tried and tried to get through to her the importance of wearing sunblock - SPF 30-45 permanently resides in every bathroom cabinet and entrance to the house (plus one in the car and I always have some in a bag), but again this week (2nd time badly so far this summer) she burnt herself. We've tried numerous ways to get it through to her - the graphic ads on TV, making her watch anything to do with cancer then we tried by stopping her pocket money. This week she's had her mobile phone and cranky old laptop taken away for the weekend.

My 3 year old however is very good at slip slap slop all over the bathroom, in her hair, up the walls, carpet etc etc ...

lardyl

Jude - yes that ad.
Bought some Toddler Milk on a stick to put in LardyMkII's school bag so he can top up during the day - bless him, just 6 and now having a go at putting the stuff from the ordinary bottle on his face.

Here comes the sun

Just wondered how the price of sun screen compares to the UK? Is it cheaper in NZ?

Also can anyone could recomend a nice moisturiser with sun cream built in for the face.

lardyl

we use Cancer Society SPF 30+ for adults and Sun Sense Toddler Milk SPF30+ for kids.
250ml of Toddler Milk is about 20 to 25$
Cancer Soc stuff is cheaper - dont buy the squeeze handle spray as the gun falls to bits in a day and you end up pouring it into another bottle.
nothing here is quite like Garnier/Ambre Solaire for price/range, but someone mentioned that Sun Sense (Aus) is better suited to our conditions - recently there was a fuss over "Hawaian" brand as I recall being a lower SPF than labelled??

Kiwiprincess

General rule of thumb

Always wear sunscreen. At the very least it is a moisteriser
Make sure it says AS/NZS 2604:1998
regardless of if it is waterproof, reapply it after swimming
keep putting it on every two hours. b*gger what it says on the packet. if it says that it can last all day then almost certainly ignore it.
keep putting it on.
and then put it on again.
make sure you put a zinc on your lips (they have no natural protection).

I grew up in NZ in the mid 80s and our school had a very simply policy - no hat, no play. It stretched to no sunscreen no play but i can tell you this much, it taught me to protect me skin. one thing that truly scared me when i lived in London was the amount of people using sun beds and who went to various islands and got competely burned. scary scary scary. scary.

lardyl

I have a friend in the UK who believes that the chemicals in sunscreen (not the TiO2 - that stuff is in white paint to reflect light and in many sunscreens, but the organic stiff) is bad for her kids skin so as a matter of health refuses to put sunscreen on them - totally scary.....NZ would not be "God's Own" for her, although they would be nearer to God if they came over (bad joke)
....but she also uses "balls" in her washing machine rather than detergent in order to preserve the planet.......

Here comes the sun

I think its one thing having principles, but when it affects your kids health its taking it a step too far, after all how many chemicals are there in a session of chemotherapy!!!

After saying that i did wonder if there are any natural alternatives as the chemical content is slightly worrying but i would never not use it unless there was a safer alternative.

Nerine

The safe sun message is quite advanced here but there are still quite a few very bronzed bodies around. However, I saw a lot more badly sun damaged skin in NZ - some of the women in their mid 20s had skin that was quite shocking.

Our kids school has suncream dispensers dotted around the place, which I think is an excellent idea and large shaded play areas for the younger children. It's compulsory for even the high school pupils to wear their hats to and from school, not the useless baseball caps that they wore in NZ either but dense, wide brim Aussie style things.