Do you New Zealand is Colder than the UK?

Question

I love living in NZ, but coming from Scotland people often say how much warmer NZ is. I reckon NZ has an "indoor winter" with the lack of central heating etc.... what do you think?

Answer 1

They built Scottish homes with central heating cause you blokes like wearing kilts. And we'll know what's under a Scotsman's kilt, don't we?

Answer 2

Depends on the part of NZ you're in, but the majority of NZ is warmer than scotland if you look at climate stats. Far north is the warmest.

Answer 3

temperature wise i would say that NZ is far milder.

However, the big difference, and it is what you are alluding to, is the fact that our houses are a lot colder. However, now for the history lesson, because this is actually something i am very interested in:

Many houses built in the postwar 1960s boom aren't insulated - or no more than the roof. This did change in the early 80s but quite frankly, the level of insulation was far less than it is today.  Adding that to the architechure of the houses of that era (big glass single glazed windows across the front, wooden) then it does add up to cold houses.

To be fair, when many of those houses were built there was an abundance of wood for fireplaces and in fact, many houses (including my parents house!) had oil central heating. This meant many houses had a wee oil tank in the back yard and got (mainly) underfloor heating. I understand that some houses in the South Island still have heating like this but many people removed them in the late 70s. Funny thing is that it is actually not that expensive to use/refill them. However, it probably was in the "carless day 1970s" (as in cars not running on certain days) though cos of oil crises!!

However, apart from the lack of insulation and notwithstanding the centrally heated places i have mentioned, the vast majority of places simply werent heated with anything other than a fireplace.

Back in years of a single income family (normally the father) and high level of wood supply it did mean that someone was actually home to keep the fire going. This of course meant that the houses were warmer as the fire had been going all day. It wasn't like today where a family could get home at 7:00pm at night and then have to heat the house. The house was warmer in 1965 because the fireplace had been going for 10 hours! as an example...

t was a cultural thing and still is i believe - New Zealanders heat rooms, Brits (and Europeans) heat houses. There is a key difference there. Also, i think NZers are more likely to put another layer on to warm up.

However, i hate cold houses. Putting an extra layer on does not warm up the air. Cold air is what triggers a lot of asthma. New Zealand has a high rate of asthma, particularly in children, and i think it is only now that people are starting to acknowledge the fact that having a room temperature of 10 degrees and no heating to get rid of condensation is adding to that health issue.

sorry. ranted on for a while there!

Answer 4

I think it depends on where in New Zealand you live. Much of the North Island - Auckland, and North Auckland, Hawkes Bay ,and Gisborne are warmer generally. But the central north island and South Island especially from Christchurch south could be just as cold or colder than some parts of Scotland. I agree that our lack of home heating makes for a more uncomfortable winter than it could or should be. We had a Czech boy live with us for a year and he couldn"t get over how cold Aucklander's homes were, as there they had a steady 17-18 degrees in winter.

Answer 5

NOT ONLY

does it depend on which part of NZ you refer to,

BUT ALSO

which part of Canada you are comparing it with.

Some parts of Canada have a climate just as bad as Antarctica.

Answer 6

Some house's are c**p. Get a house with a fireplace..you can't go wrong..or cold!.

Our weather is similar to the UK...rain & cold. But it only snows in certain parts of the country.

Answer 7

depends on wat part of NZ u r in. The south island, well it's extremely cold in winter. The north island is way warmer.

Answer 8

Yes but no one is cooler than Satan.

Answer 9

People are always asking this!! All nzers think that the UK is a freezing ,wet hole!! Ive been here for 3 years now n to be honest i think its much the same.Depending on where abouts you r.u live in Dunedin - its cold ,u live in scotland -its colder than london.When i was last home our summer ws in the 30's .I dont find the  summer here anything amazing ,i think it all works out the same.Look at the rain we had in uk last year...look at  the rain we are getting in auck now!(