Christmas for Shropshire expats: Andrew Owen in New Zealand

For some, it has been their first Christmas in new climes, others already knew what to expect.

Today we talk to former Shropshire folk who have been spending their Christmas across the four corners of the globe. Some say they miss aspects of their life in Shropshire, such as meeting up with old friends or nipping down their local for a pint of ale, but there are plenty of compensations – such as relaxing by the pool in 80-degree heat.

And many keep in touch with news back home through the Shropshire Star website. So happy Christmas to them from us!

Andrew Owen in New Zealand:

It is Andrew Owen's first Christmas in the withering heat, blue skies and fierce sunshine of New Zealand.

The former news editor grew up in Shropshire and left his home in Newport for the Taranaki region in November.

He said: "According to Michael Buble – who is as inescapable in New Zealand as he is in England at this time of year – it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

"I'd have to disagree with him – in fact, I can honestly say I've never felt less festive, less Christmassy, less 'Ho Ho Ho' in my entire life.

"As I look from my window over the deep blue of the Tasman Sea, with the warm sun shining down from a clear blue sky (sorry to rub it in), it's hard to think of any place where it could look any less like Christmas.

"But I suppose it's all a matter of what one is used to.

"I grew up in Shropshire, and to me Christmas conjures up memories of generally grey days where it's either too mild, or wet, or both, to snow and it gets dark by around four in the afternoon. I don't think of white Christmases because, to the best of my knowledge, I've never experienced one. Instead, I just think of grey. Grey Christmases, and the happy knowledge that summer is on its way.

"However, if you've grown up here in the Taranaki region of New Zealand, a west coast corner of the north island about halfway between Auckland and Wellington, some 12,000 miles – give or take a few – from Old Blighty, then Christmas to you will mean bright sunshine, days on the beach, barbecues and darkness not bothering to call at your door until around 9pm. Christmas to you will mean that summer is well and truly here.

"In other words, when it comes to Christmas it's all a matter of what you are used to.

"Christmas is as big here as it is in England. A few nights ago around 1,000 people gathered in Pukekura Park to sing carols and admire a display of Christmas lights. There are carol services in local churches and plenty of places are selling Christmas trees.

"Still, to an outsider, there is something truly odd about walking around Centre City, New Plymouth's solitary, rather small shopping mall, and seeing the baubles, tinsel and fake stockings on display while shoppers shuffle past in T-shirts, shorts, sunglasses and thongs (which, by the way, is the word for flip-flops in this part of the world. They're not walking past in their underwear).

"There's even a giant green bauble, decorated in fairy lights, on the ground floor next to the food court, a bauble so big you can walk through it. Outside Centre City there's the city centre – well, New Plymouth is called a city, but really it's no bigger than Shrewsbury. And while it may lack the Christmas street lights you'll be familiar with in every Shropshire high street, it does have dozens of shops decorated with festive scenes of elves and Father Christmas and snow.

"And despite the heat, there will be actual snow here this Christmas. The real stuff, too, but anyone wanting to walk through it on Christmas morning will have their work cut out.

"New Plymouth's skyline, you see, is dominated by Mount Taranaki, a dormant volcano that last erupted in 1775.

"The mountain is 8,261 feet tall (The Wrekin, by comparison, is a teeny 1,335 feet) and the summit, unusually for this time of year, is still covered in thick sheets of snow. This snow should have melted weeks ago, but thanks to the world's weird weather, it has stubbornly hung around, creating an impressively white peak that, on a clear day, can be seen from miles away.

"But the snow should not be around for much longer. It looks like this summer will be a hot one. The New Zealand Herald is forecasting temperatures of 35 degrees centigrade in parts of the country this week and Christmas Day should be a warm and sunny affair. Well, as long as it doesn't rain. It can rain quite a lot here – partly because of the mountain – and it often comes along without warning. Only a couple of days back it rained so hard I seriously considered downloading the blueprints to build my own ark.

"Christmas dinner is also different here. Instead of turkey, Kiwis appear to prefer a leg of lamb or ham. In fact, ham is everywhere. It's a real tradition, I am told, for employers to give workers a huge Christmas ham in the run-up to December 25. I don't know if every employer does it, but mine did.

"Each member of my office was given a ticket and instructions to take it to a local butcher who then presented each of us with a honey-glazed cob-half which was the size of a small child. Mine is currently taking up about three-quarters of the space within my fridge. I shall quite possibly be eating ham sandwiches for lunch until the end of the decade.

"And hopefully by then, if I'm still here, I will be nodding sagely every time Michael Buble comes on the radio.

"Yes, I'll say, withering heat, blue skies, fierce sunshine and monster hams that could feed an army: it really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas."