Sun and Surf

On the 12th I went on another bike ride, this time to the Travise Wetland, Bottle Lake Park and Waimairi beach, North East of the city, about 1 hour's bike ride from the Ilam apartments.


View Larger Map

My first stop was at the wetland, or as it was also signposted, swamp. There were some birds hanging out, but it was really the wrong time of day (close to noon) and, according to an infomation booth, the wrong season too (it was molting season). But I strolled around and saw some neat birds anyways. I also think I saw some Canada Geese! I saw (and heard) what looked like some flying in the distance, but thought that that couldn't be right. Then I found a list of birds that might be seen, and they were mentioned, so there you go. I wonder if they migrate from Canada or if they just move up and down New Zealand?

After that I went just up the road to the beach. I had a good time just sitting and watching the waves come in for an hour and then I splashed about in the surf for about 15 minutes. I waited to dry off abit and then went home with slightly red cheeks from the sun.

Some people have been commenting about the sun in New Zealand and why the UV index seems to be higher in NZ than Canada.

There are a few reasons for this. First, because of the very limited industry, low population and distance from other population, the air around NZ is very clean. This means that fewer UV rays are intercepted by airosols and ground ozone.
Second, the Earth is actually closer to the sun during the southern hemisphere's summer, so it gets more energy per area in summer than the Northern hemisphere.
Finally there is the hole in the ozone layer. in the Southern Hemisphere the Ozone layer is a bit thinner. This is most pronounced in their spring (as the sun is just coming up to warm up a reaction that uses a catalyst that requires the very cold temperatures of the Antarctic winter) so currently is less of an issue.