Have been toying with the idea of moving to Australia or New Zealand, but have been very put off by the apparently very high levels of skin cancer in both places (especially as all the family are pretty fair skinned).
Some of the UV levels and advice provided by the respective government websites, seem to portray an almost radioactive wasteland, where you almost have to wait until dark before venturing out, or do so in a full body suit.
I'm sure it really can't be that bad (although those cancer statistics are pretty bad), so I'm just wondering what the realities are, and I though I would take this opportunity to ask as I see that NickinNZ is around - no doubt cowering in a basement somewhere :)
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This is the kind of information I was talking about:
tinyurl.com/2bao4f6
Now, the level seems very low at the moment, although I suppose they are about to move into Winter over there.
When I looked a few months back, it was up into Very High by 9am and not back down until 5pm and in the Extreme range for perhaps 4 hours.
These are what the figures mean:
tinyurl.com/2ej59bc
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Well.... Yes the ozone or whatever is pretty thin down here, so the sun's rays are indeed stronger. There's also less air pollution, so you get cleaner air, sharper colours, starrier skies,... and probably fewer respiratory illnesses as a trade-off!
But seriously, they do sell sunscreen and hats etc aplenty, and I haven't had any real issues. 25 deg C does feel like 30 deg C in summer, but NZ rarely gets much hotter than the high-20s anyway. NZ is a breezy country and I think the sea breeze can make things worse, i.e. it doesn't feel quite as hot as it really is, and you can get a bit of wind burn too.
The problem seems to be worse in Oz than in NZ; it seems the folks in Oz are happy to lie on Gold Coast beaches all day and fry themselves (ex-pat Brits?!) whereas the average Kiwi is a bit more savvy.
I've lived in Dubai (an oven!) and southern France, and there's no way the climate down here would put me off! And in NZ there are plenty of rainy days when you're not gonna get burned at all ;-)
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Got family in Perth WA. Been there a lot
Its the kids you need to worry about. Sun hats, waterproof sun block and all in one bathers are the order of the day for them, but they get quickly get used to it and its only during the main parts of the day. Some of the all - in ones (kinda like a thin stretchy wet suit) are quite kewl, and with coloured sun blocks its quite trendy
Of course if you are dark skinned, its less of a problem
As for adults, its no issue. A good sun hat (the old leather bush hat comes in handy there) short sleve shirt is fine. Its the back, shoulders, neck that carry the greatest risk of melanomas, so watch them and you are fine. Regular check by your partner to see if anything is changing on those areas and a trip to the doc if it is. Hospitals are very adept at whipping them out if caught eraly, and its almost common place now. Less than it was tho because if you prtoect the kids, then you save agro later in life.
Last edited by: Zero on Tue 18 May 10 at 10:02
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New Zealand - SteelSpark
