A question from the wife. She has a friend that vacationed on the South Island who indicated that sunburn (UV radiation) is really a problem (she burned real bad in one afternoon) because of your lack of air pollution (sounds like the good life actually has a downside). A question from the wife. She has a friend that vacationed on the South Island who indicated that sunburn (UV radiation) is really a problem (she burned real bad in one afternoon) because of your lack of air pollution (sounds like the good life actually has a downside)

It’s true we have a high UV index here. The highest in the world in fact. I’m a true Anglo Saxon myself and have sensitive skin, so I burn easily, but I don’t have problems with sunburn down here. In fact I can’t remember when I last did, so it’s not something that’s hard to handle or dangerous as long as you know the rules. On a sunny Summer’s day, it takes only 15-20 minutes of uninterrupted exposure for unprotected sensitive skin to get red and burnt. Actually, the worst situation for getting sunburnt is on one of those high hazy cloud days – the UV comes thru but the IR doesn’t, so you burn more easily. All the radio stations regularly give “Burn Time” warnings each morning, so there’s plenty of reminders. The Rules are: a.. Wear a hat/cap to protect head/scalp/forehead
b.. Wear a good pair of sunglasses when outside
c.. Use SPF 24 or higher sunblock on face, neck, ears, and shoulders especially. This greatly extends the burn time.
d.. Don’t wander around in the sun exposing new unprotected “pink” skin for a couple of hours. You’ve just come from the Northern Hemisphere Winter into a fierce Southern Hemisphere Summer. Common sense goes a long way.
e.. Wear cool colours (like white Tees etc) rather than black – the black clothing will get hot and you’ll be tempted to take it off.
That’s it.