Terry,
>>it can get pretty cold in the winter, esp. S Island.
Yes, it snows sometimes in the South Island! ;-)
More northern parts are defined as "sub-tropical" which makes you think of balmy beaches, which I presume is why so many houses were built by settlers without any insulation. But it can get uncomfortably cool.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
