Weather Watch: Crossing the Tasman in search of super summers

Is the grass greener on the other side of the Tasman - weatherwise, that is? New Zealanders are flocking to Australia in record numbers and I wanted to know if the weather was playing a part in why Kiwis love Australia.

I spoke to three New Zealanders - one who recently returned from living in Sydney, another still in Sydney and another who has recently moved to Melbourne.

Adam Jobbins loves weather as much as I do. Though the wild weather in Melbourne may be popular with many weather buffs, that's not quite the case with him.

"Having lived in Wellington, Auckland and Melbourne, all within the past few years, I have to say I prefer Auckland weather to Melbourne. It doesn't seem to be as extremely variable as Melbourne, and is much more temperate than Wellington."

Adam grew up in Hawke's Bay and says Hawke's Bay has the "best weather". But he says that "Auckland comes the next closest".

New Zealand 1, Australia 0.

Georgia, a mother of one from Rotorua, has travelled the world, and recently returned home.

"It's so cold here," she says. "You don't realise how quickly you climatise to the warmer winters and hot summers in Aussie. You don't have to run from the shower in the mornings, even in winter."

She believes Sydney has better weather than New Zealand. "Honestly, the weather is awesome in Sydney."

New Zealand 1, Australia 1.

Claire Murphy, originally from Wanganui, has been in Sydney for several years. I asked why she loves Sydney. "The warmth! A bad day in winter can still be better than a summer day in New Zealand." Ouch. So what about the negatives? Well, oddly, it's the same thing. The extremes. "When it's hot, it's hot. Forty degrees plus. When it's stormy, it seems more severe than New Zealand. Summer can be brutal."

New Zealand 1, Australia 1.5?

New Zealand's secret to great weather is our temperate climate. Summers aren't too hot to enjoy. Winters aren't so extreme they kill.

I guess Australia's weather is a bit like its economy - it looks appealing from the other side of the fence, but perhaps not quite as green once there.