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Tracking Changes in Photoperiod Around the Globe Introducing Mystery Class # 5 Wellington, New Zealand 41.300 S, 174.833 E New Zealand Mystery Class Click image to enlarge Our DOWN UNDER mystery site was .."tra,tra,tra..", fanfare etc... Muritai Primary School, Eastbourne, Wellington, NEW ZEALAND Approx. 400 students 5-12 years old. Approx. 20 staff. Teacher was Jo Manks, but parent Stan Swan did 99% of the work! with several students ( mainly his kids Emily 11 & Tom 6 ) as helpers. We're at Latitude 41 South , but are only 100 metres from the harbour. Lots of sun here (2000 hours bright sun annually-sunhats are COMPULSORY outdoors at school from October - April due to high Ultra Violet light levels). It never gets too hot or cold ... snow is unknown & even frosts are rare! Most of the houses here are wooden, & 50 -70 years old. Few have air conditioning or central heating since they're not needed. However most homes have a fireplace or wood stove in their family room. Click image to enlarge Virtually everyone at the school has access to a home PC, several places have 2 computers! Windows 95 is THE operating system, & many students use the Internet from home... one reason why using it at school is not viewed as very exciting anymore!! New Zealand used to be viewed as very isolated, but this Internet age has made us just a global village... things are only seconds away now. Phew !! Our community of 3000 is made of many folks who drive to work around the harbour each day, or take the ferry ! Lots of retired folks too, so many odd jobs weeding gardens, looking after cats, running errands are available. Not a bad place to live - we have lots of shops & cafes etc, & even a video hire shop! Skateboarding is VERY popular with older boys at present, while many 11-12 year old girls are in to the Spice Girls!! Sunset today (29th April) was 1731, & sunrise 0705. It's still nice & warm, with many folks only wearing T-shirts. However by July things get quite COOL! Ice on puddles is a real winter novelty then. It can get windy here- especially in October/November, but we have VERY clear air as a result. Smog, mist & fog are virtually unknown. Click image to enlarge New Zealand overall is similar to California or Italy in size, terrain & climate, with lots of interior mountains. For a great littlemap of New Zealand go to: Link to Map of New Zealand However, we have only 3 million people here & often bump into people around the country that we know from home! It seems at times we are virtually all related (many immigrants came from Europe in 1840s)! You guys up North would laugh at our Christmas season, since it's then mid summer & everyone goes camping & sailing ! In spite of that most of us "kiwis" eat a HUGE roast dinner in the sweltering heat to celebrate! Water play toys are very popular presents of course too. We have lots of "bush" forest just behind the school, with both native trees & introduced exotics such as pine & "gum" (eucalyptus). FEW WILD ANIMALS ... there are no snakes in NZ, with only a few deer & possums. HEAPS of birds usually. Most homes have a cat or dog. Only Australia (about 1500 miles away) has crocodiles & kangaroos ! We make lots of jokes about our Aussie mates, & reckon they "speak funny", but you'd probably say most Kiwis have quite an accent too ! ( Try to say this => "Gudday might...howya goun" means "Good day mate, how are you going". This is a NZ typical farmer's greeting & not one we have in our suburb, since most students here speak "pretty good Queen's English!" Well that's us! Glad to help. Questions welcomed of course. Parent contact is Stan. SWAN ( who teaches Electronics at a Polytech) via email: s.swan@wnp.ac.nz Back To Today's Report Copyright 1998 Journey North. All Rights Reserved.