By: Blonde Two
Four Seasons in One Day
There is a Crowded House song entitled ‘Four Seasons in One Day’. Crowded House are a Kiwi band and they knew what they were talking about with this one. May is an interesting time to visit the North Island of New Zealand, you will indeed see, in one day, winter mists, autumn leaves, spring flowers and summer sunshine. See my previous advice on what to wear in New Zealand.
New Zealand Weather Forecasts
For New Zealand weather, Mr B2 and I used MetService.
New Zealand weather forecasts are complicated affairs. During our visit last month (May 2018) there were road closures for snow on the South Island mountain passes at the same time as we were sunbathing at 07:30 in Northland (top of the North Island). We had some amazing weather (considering the fact that everyone kept telling us it was winter and far too cold for either swimming or camping) but the most notable weather phenomenon was the sudden and very heavy showers.
We learnt to recognise the signs, a change in the wind and a light chill to the air, but what took us a while to grasp was the fact that an ‘upside down bucket’ amount of rain would follow these signs in less than minutes, drench everything and then disappear again almost immediately to reveal bright blue skies (very big skies) and piecing sunshine. Never before have I seen a tent wetted and dried so often on a single camping trip.
