Here comes the summer

Summer has hit us with full force this week - blue skies and blazing sunshine for the last few days. It's hard to believe, since two weeks ago we had to put frost cloths over our veggies for several nights to keep the frost and snow off them, but the weather changes fast in this little country.

Here is today's weather summary - note the time that the temperature reading was recorded at:


I have just been to the Warehouse for some essential supplies.

You just can't be too careful in the sun here in New Zealand. It's much less forgiving than Irish sunshine even in the same temperatures (not that Ireland reaches these temperatures very often), and I consider SPF30 to be the minimum that I should be wearing if I'm outside for more than a couple of minutes. I got burnt twice last summer, and I don't plan on doing that again.

However, as you can see from the array of products in the photo, I'm not quite sure which of the various creams and lotions are best! We found Nivea body cream to be quite greasy and hard to apply, so I'm looking for something less messy. One of the girls we work with had an aerosol spray that went on beautifully, so I'm hoping the Cancer Society spray on the right in the photo will be similar.

The chickens don't seem at all put out by this heat. Their coop is well shaded under what we are told are crab apple and oak trees, and they seem very happy scratching around and dustbathing in the sun. It's just me and Skry who are struggling to adjust!