My month long visit to New Zealand is half over.  I have been reading real estate ads and making comparisons with home, but one thing has really eluded me.  New Zealand switched to the metric system after I left to move to the US in 1960.  I didn't learn it in school as I was in 8th grade and it was something taught in high school in New Zealand, but it was taught in grade school in the US.  Funny, as the US doesn't routinely use it for every day measurements.  As I result I missed it completely, and I struggle with the conversion still.

As I read the ads for homes, I ask myself how big a 600 square meter (metre)  home is... and I have no clue!  I know a meter is roughly 3 feet, so a home that is 20 by 30 meters would be 50 by 90 feet, which would be 1800 sq ft +/-.  Close enough when I am not buying or selling it.  Lots here (known as "sections") are generally small enough to be measured in square meters too.  But if I want to buy a "lifestyle block" which is usually 5 acres or more, it will be sold in hectares.  I had to look that one up.  It is roughly 2 1/2 acres, so the 5 acre lot would be about 2 hectares.

The speed limit on most roads is 100.  Sounds pretty fast, and it is, as the roads are narrow and winding.  That is the speed limit whether you are on the motorway (highway) or a country road,  unless you are going through a town.  Converted from kilometers per hour to miles per hour, it is somewhere between 60 and 70 mph.  I bet our Canadian neighbors can help me out here....Jo, where are you? 

The temperature today was around 20' celsius.  Double it and add 32 is the easy rule, so it was about 72' farenheit.  A beautiful sunny day, and the UV rating is "extreme" (no conversion needed there).  The ozone layer over New Zealand is very thin, and as a result skin cancer rates are very high here.  All elementary kids are required to wear a broad brimmed hat as part of their school uniforms, and they have to wear them when outdoors at school. 

I went to order deli meats at the grocery store the other day and wanted a half pound of sliced ham.  Ahead  of me people were ordering 200 grams or 400 grams.  My turn, and I was still trying to figure out how much to get, so I ordered half a kilo.  I didn't know how many grams were in a kilo...duh...I should have been able to figure that one out.  I got more than half a pound, but I still haven't figured out just how much.  Gasoline (petrol) is about $1.79 a liter, and that I can figure because Coke comes in 2 liter bottles at home and I know it is roughly a half gallon.  That means we are paying over $7 a gallon for gas here.  Luckily it is a small country with small cars.  Even so, filling up that small car costs $65.   The dollar conversion helps, as it takes about 78c US to buy one New Zealand dollar, but the conversion rate is much lower than it used to be as the American dollar is taking a beating on the world markets. 

I guess before I come back again next year I had better study up on the metric system.  The easiest thing will be to just get used to how fast 100kph is, and not worry about how it compares with what I am used to.  

Tonight my husband was looking at the beams in the ceiling of the roof of the house we are staying in, trying to figure out if they were 40 centimeters on center or how far apart they are.  At home it would be 16" on center, but there is no snow load to worry about here and they are further apart.  If they are 2x10 beams, I wonder what that would be in centimeters?  Would they be a 1x4?  (one inch is roughly 2.5 cm)

More travels with Joanne coming soon...watch for the next installment.