If common wisdom is true, and first impressions last, then Auckland has a pretty poor reputation. Or at least it should as far as our family members are concerned.
Everybody wants others to see their home town in the best light and as far as Auckland goes, that would be bright sunshine, warm air with Rangitoto framed by the glistening Hauraki Gulf whilst sailing boats and cruisers slip smoothly by. I can see it now. No literally because as I type these words it is doing exactly that. Doing what it does best and, it has to be said, what it does the majority of the time.
Except when we are expecting visitors. Think I'm exaggerating? Let me recap.....
October 2015
Technically the end of the winter and the start of spring, October is usually when the temperatures start to pick up (not that they get particularly low in Auckland anyway) and the sun shows it's face more often than not. Unless of course you are expecting visitors from the UK to arrive.
In this particular case, my Mam, Dad and sister were visiting New Zealand for the first time and were going to spend three weeks travelling around the North Island. A bit of late summer sun, from their point of view, before the darkness of a UK winter set in. Auckland, however, had other plans.
The day of their arrival had...err arrived... and rather than bright sun the weather decided to, well what can only be described as piss it down. Just as a sunny day in Auckland is something to behold, you ain't seen rain until you have witnessed a rain storm in Auckland. Rain drops the size of golf balls I tell you with a fairly brisk wind for good measure. And that was the weather that greeted my family as they stepped wearily off the plane, through NZ Immigration and Primary Industries. Not what they ordered, nor expected and certainly not what we wanted.
Fortunately, from the second day onwards, there was not drop of rain as the blue skies returned for their entire three week holiday, barring a few rain storms during the night and on days we were car bound.
I'm really pleased that New Zealand got its act together - I wouldn't' have been at all surprised if, seeing the grey skies and torrential rain, that they just turned around and got back on the next flight home.
December 2015
The local wisdom is that summer doesn't really start in New Zealand until after Boxing Day, and settled weather isn't really guaranteed until well into January. But local wisdom is exactly that. Local. To anybody brought up in the North East of England, what exactly constitutes a summer is somewhat different from that expected by most New Zealand inhabitants. In all honesty, most of us northerners were usually happy if we could don shorts on for at least one day and squeeze in a barbecue between the showers. One day like this a year would see me right, so to speak.
It's not unreasonable, therefore, for someone who has taken the trouble to travel the 12,000 miles from the UK to NZ to expect a bit of summer sunshine when arriving into Auckland in December. Alas, not for Sarah's sister.
Everybody wants others to see their home town in the best light and as far as Auckland goes, that would be bright sunshine, warm air with Rangitoto framed by the glistening Hauraki Gulf whilst sailing boats and cruisers slip smoothly by. I can see it now. No literally because as I type these words it is doing exactly that. Doing what it does best and, it has to be said, what it does the majority of the time.
Except when we are expecting visitors. Think I'm exaggerating? Let me recap.....
October 2015
Technically the end of the winter and the start of spring, October is usually when the temperatures start to pick up (not that they get particularly low in Auckland anyway) and the sun shows it's face more often than not. Unless of course you are expecting visitors from the UK to arrive.
In this particular case, my Mam, Dad and sister were visiting New Zealand for the first time and were going to spend three weeks travelling around the North Island. A bit of late summer sun, from their point of view, before the darkness of a UK winter set in. Auckland, however, had other plans.
The day of their arrival had...err arrived... and rather than bright sun the weather decided to, well what can only be described as piss it down. Just as a sunny day in Auckland is something to behold, you ain't seen rain until you have witnessed a rain storm in Auckland. Rain drops the size of golf balls I tell you with a fairly brisk wind for good measure. And that was the weather that greeted my family as they stepped wearily off the plane, through NZ Immigration and Primary Industries. Not what they ordered, nor expected and certainly not what we wanted.
Fortunately, from the second day onwards, there was not drop of rain as the blue skies returned for their entire three week holiday, barring a few rain storms during the night and on days we were car bound.
I'm really pleased that New Zealand got its act together - I wouldn't' have been at all surprised if, seeing the grey skies and torrential rain, that they just turned around and got back on the next flight home.
December 2015
The local wisdom is that summer doesn't really start in New Zealand until after Boxing Day, and settled weather isn't really guaranteed until well into January. But local wisdom is exactly that. Local. To anybody brought up in the North East of England, what exactly constitutes a summer is somewhat different from that expected by most New Zealand inhabitants. In all honesty, most of us northerners were usually happy if we could don shorts on for at least one day and squeeze in a barbecue between the showers. One day like this a year would see me right, so to speak.
It's not unreasonable, therefore, for someone who has taken the trouble to travel the 12,000 miles from the UK to NZ to expect a bit of summer sunshine when arriving into Auckland in December. Alas, not for Sarah's sister.
Instead what greeted her, when the arrival departure doors swished open, was leaden skies and gale force wind. Yes, right on cue, a tropical weather front had decided to park itself off the coast and it was playing havoc with the weather system. It wasn't destined to be around for long but that was of little consequence to our visitor who had what has to be one of the worst air travel experiences I've heard about. I won't go into details, but an unscheduled 16 hours layover in Shanghai Airport was definitely not part of the deal. If she'd been there any longer then I wouldn't have been surprised if she'd been offered a job to pass the time whilst she waited. "Don't worry", we texted, "there's a beautiful Auckland summer waiting for you".
To this day, I'm not sure if the tears that streamed down her face when she saw us waiting in the arrival lounge were of relief, happiness or the realisation that she'd spent the last two days suffering only to find that NZ had exactly the same weather she'd left behind in the UK.
Again, thankfully, the weather system left just after Christmas Day and the rest of the time a more seasonal festive weather pattern arrived.
If first impressions are those that count, then on these two occasions visitors to these islands would not have left with the best of opinions. I guess you're thinking that I'm maybe overstating this somewhat and that Auckland can't possibly know when we are expecting guests. No? Well read on....
June 2017
In just a few days were are expecting our nephew to arrive on these shores for his first visit to the Southern Hemisphere. Although the weather in winter can be a little unpredictable, and we have suggested that he brings an entire four season's worth of clothing, he will be leaving behind a pretty decent UK summer by all accounts. It would be nice, therefore, if Auckland could behave itself for once and greet our visitors with a sunny smile. It has been, the last few weeks been really sunny and warm with temperatures hovering around 16 degrees most days. Very pleasant and just about as good as anyone could expect for what is approaching mid-winter.
But with almost military precision, this is all due to end the day he arrives, if the forecasts are to be believed anyway.
To this day, I'm not sure if the tears that streamed down her face when she saw us waiting in the arrival lounge were of relief, happiness or the realisation that she'd spent the last two days suffering only to find that NZ had exactly the same weather she'd left behind in the UK.
Again, thankfully, the weather system left just after Christmas Day and the rest of the time a more seasonal festive weather pattern arrived.
If first impressions are those that count, then on these two occasions visitors to these islands would not have left with the best of opinions. I guess you're thinking that I'm maybe overstating this somewhat and that Auckland can't possibly know when we are expecting guests. No? Well read on....
June 2017
In just a few days were are expecting our nephew to arrive on these shores for his first visit to the Southern Hemisphere. Although the weather in winter can be a little unpredictable, and we have suggested that he brings an entire four season's worth of clothing, he will be leaving behind a pretty decent UK summer by all accounts. It would be nice, therefore, if Auckland could behave itself for once and greet our visitors with a sunny smile. It has been, the last few weeks been really sunny and warm with temperatures hovering around 16 degrees most days. Very pleasant and just about as good as anyone could expect for what is approaching mid-winter.
But with almost military precision, this is all due to end the day he arrives, if the forecasts are to be believed anyway.
The forecast for this coming Thursday is not looking great and there is a high chance that, once again, Auckland is going to do its best to get rid of our visitor before he has even had the chance to put his bags down. Another potentially cold damp squib of an arrival....
Ah, well it's only a forecast and not the weather so things might change before then. We really do appreciate and understand the effort it takes to get here so it it too much to ask for the weather to behave itself? Well in case it doesn't, we'll have umbrellas at the ready and warm embraces for the latest family member to venture this far south. Well we will providing he has remembered to bring the tea bags we've asked for!
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