Antipodean Adventures

The wind whipped through me and wailed in my ear, heralding the oncoming winter. As I walked through the city, cowed by the wind I noticed an odd sight. Lots of people, mostly students were walking around in t-shirts, shorts and flip flops, seemingly oblivious to the bitter cold. I walked past them baffled and wondered why on earth they would punish their bodies this way?
I moved to New Zealand in 2005 and had settled in a picturesque university city called Dunedin. It seduced me with its golden sandy beaches, vibrant student atmosphere and prolific wildlife (it is the seabird capital of the world).
Dunedin's feathered friends are particularly impressive. The albatrosses are huge, 10 feet from wing tip to tip. At Taiaroa Head on a windy eve you can watch these enormous avians eclipse the sun as they wheel around in glorious synchronicity.
And then there are the yellow eyed penguins. They are extremely rare, anti-social (they have only eyes for their mate), as well as forest dwelling. New Zealand has lost so much forest and this has been a predicament for these birds as they need forests for protection and nesting. Nowadays many of these penguins live in paddocks with grazing sheep. When the penguins leave the water in the evening and are walking up the hill back to their nests, they pass by their sheep neighbors. It never ceases to make me laugh seeing an awkward tuxedo clad penguin jumping up a hill while a sheep watches nervously for the stab of a sharp beak.
A great misconception is that New Zealand has decent weather and summer clothes are the norm. Dunedin has a harsh climate at times due to the Sub Antarctic influence and the bracing winds that scream through the city. More confusing is when you see the students walking around in this bone chilling weather in their summer attire.
This supposedly crazy behavior has a touch of pragmatism to it. Dunedin was settled by puritanical, tough Scots in the mid 1800’s. They clear felled large tracts of forest, converting much of it into pasture land. They built basic houses from the wood they felled. Over 100 years later and most student dwellings have no insulation, double glazing or central heating. Houses get so cold in winter that it is typical to wake with a layer of ice on the inner window frame and an ice cream headache to boot. Thus the students acclimate their bodies with skimpy attire.
These vanishing forests: a loss that transcends the species divide, weathered by penguin and party person alike.