Hanging in The Ozone Hole

The view from the middle of Wanaka looking north into the mid-winter sun.

There’s a hole in the ozone layer. Setting aside my views on global warming (duh!) and those who believe that it’s a liberal conspiracy to deprive the energy business of their deserving profits (huh?), there is literally a hole in the ozone layer above New Zealand. No joke, solid science.

On a gloriously sunny day-off like today, where I get to roll around beautiful Wanaka and get some errands done, that little nugget of climatology has a direct impact on me and shines the light of day on a couple of funny tidbits about life here on the South Island. The immediate and most obvious result of the ozone hole here is that the sun is strong. Very strong. Couple that with the largely Northern European and Celtic lineage of the mostly pale folks that live here, and the residents of the towns in the Southern Alps have to be particularly vigilant about wearing sun block and sunglasses. This is true up at the ski fields, where the absence of tree-borne shade and the snow renders the effect like that of standing on a mirror. We’d all fry and go blind without protection, even on slightly overcast days at Cardrona. George Hamilton might have loved it but we need to be more careful. This is true even in town, particularly so along the lakeside, which is everywhere.

There are, however, some benefits. In winter, when so many of the storms that drop snow on the mountains drop rain in town and so many of the houses are not insulated, none have central heat, and most are damp, the very sunny days warm things up and dry them out. Imagine throwing open the windows and doors in the middle of winter! It's a definite refresher, like a sunlight transfusion.

One of my favorite things, oddly, about the ozone-free power of the sun is the opportunity to do laundry (“washing”) and have it dry before the end of the day. Electricity is outrageously expensive down here despite the fact that the majority of it comes from hydro-electric plants. That means that even in those homes that have drying machines, we all tend to place our wet washing on drying racks and leave them alternately near the wood stove or next to a window in the sun. As such, drying out our clean clothes can take days. So, when the weather and my work schedule cooperate, I luxuriate in the act of hanging my washing to dry outside in the warm sunshine on one of the permanent outdoor drying racks that are so ubiquitous here. Yes, it means that I can strip my bed, clean the bathroom, wash just about everything I own and have all of it back in time for use that evening and for wearing the very next day. It may sound like a small thing but it’s a big deal down here when we've all been so busy over the past few weeks of holidays and the days are shortest.

There are many things about New Zealand that are very different from Vermont. Pies are savory, the faucets are reversed, the light switches are reversed, the driving is reversed, the water drains in reverse, and Kiwis reverse their vowels and dispense with some of them altogether ("sex" is a half dozen, "yiss" is an affirmative answer, and “chups” are fried potatoes). Those differences are what make it fun and always interesting to spend time on the other side of the planet. More importantly, the wonderfully warm and sunny nature of both the people who live here and those who come here for the winter are what make it so joyful and make it feel like home for me. And, every so often, even the houses themselves are warm and sunny.

Excuse me while I open the windows so I can let the sunshine in and listen to the birds chirping in the middle of winter. There may be a nap on the porch involved.

The location of my upcoming nap.