Winter?

The winter in New Zealand is pretty funny. It's nothing like what we experience in Upstate New York. The lowest temperature I have seen here was 49 degrees Fahrenheit. There is no snow here in Auckland (although I've heard they do get snow in other parts of New Zealand). This weather reminds me a lot of the fall or spring in New York. The kiwis are always talking about how cold they think it is, and how this winter has been especially cold. They are lucky they never saw a winter in New York.

What is also kind of funny, is that one minute you will look outside and it will be completely sunny without a cloud in the sky, and then the next second it will be completely the opposite, and then it will be sunny again. The weather changes quite rapidly, and quite often here in winter. It's still way better than anything I ever saw in New York (or especially in Oswego...)

My friends and I

Next weekend some of my friends and I are going to check out Piha beach which is a black sand beach on New Zealand's west coast. I have yet to see a black sand beach, so that will be very exciting. I've heard it's real dangerous to swim there though, because the currents are very strong, but it's winter anyways so I don't think I'd be doing much swimming.

A little later today I will be headed to check out Rotorua with my buddy Ben from Canada, Markus from Austria, and Clemins from Germany. Rotorua is a city about 2 hours away from Auckland. I've heard that there are a ton of thermal pools and volcanic kind of stuff in Rotorua, and that that the city smells like sulfur. A lot of Maori people also live there I've heard. I'm very excited though, because this will be the first time I've really left the Auckland area. I'll be sure to bring back a lot of good pictures.

cheers,
Shawn