Hey Nicky,
Spoke to my colleague today, who's son has lived in Dunedin for over a year. He visited him over new year and while most of us got a battering weather wise it was scorching down south.
Beautiful scenery and if you find a location near the city there is plenty to do within the area. Looking at Dunedin's weather tomorrow - min temp -3C and in Wellington +8C.
We experienced "the worst winter - ever" in NZ and from a UK perspective was autumnal with temperatures averaging around 8-10C. Doesn't sound too bad but we were freezing inside.
Our rental was built in the early 90's and built to the regulations at the time and had some insulation. We had a convection heater in the lounge and kept the room warm but the rest of the house was very cold and musty. Major problems with condensation and none of us seemed able to clear our coughs and colds until the spring.
We discussed with our landlord the dampness problem and he was persuaded to by a dehumidifier. This helped a great deal but the electricity bill did increase a bit but worth it as the condensation was almost eliminated.
Now we had moved into a new house and had a house warming party. Our friends from Palmy stayed over and the discussion around the table after lunch were "how warm the place still was even though the heating not running". They own a nice 60's house and have insulated the loft and had cavity wall insulation as well as a heat pump installed in the lounge.
His opinion was that the $10,000 spent made little difference to rest of the house. I disagree for the most as it is a lot warmer than it was but still didn't compete with a new build.
When they got back home to their cold house a mail advising of their next visit was sent.
My Point?
8C in a UK built house would be absolutely fine but given that we live (in NZ) in well spec'd wooden houses makes it feel so much colder unless it is well insulated. This is a better way to consider how cold it actually is rather than a weather report.
I suspect that the housing in SI is no worse than in NI but personally I do not like being cold (in a milder climate) and the chopping, storing and the mess of a log burner is not the best way to keep all of your home warm.
Again my personal point of view and I love the idea of the ambiance of a flame warmed lounge in the evening. However getting up in the morning, freezing cold, to light it again is not so ideal.
I can't really remember the exact quote but Billy Connolly's take on the early Scottish migrants who upon arriving in Northland then cry "follow me, I know somewhere even colder - head for the dark rain clouds"
Actually this could be complete bull? maybe he was referring to the Irish moving to Scotland.
Where did I last see my copy of the Big Yin's World Tour of NZ dvd's
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