We live in the warmest part of New Zealand ... in wintertime that is, there are other areas which get higher summer temperatures. So, yes, winter is much warmer than we are used to in the UK.

Housing insulation and heating is getting better ... slowly. I do think in a lot of cases that the Kiwi attitude to this is due to the cost of it. Surely it cannot be that difficult to design a cheap Kiwi-looking house that is well insulated with a heating system that is economic?

I think what particularly helps surviving winter weather is the number of days with sunshine, which is in some cases over 1,000 hours a year more than you would get in the UK, and it is a strong warm sun. It is absolutely ridiculous more effort is not made to use the sun's energy.

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