Best time to visit New Zealand for weather?

[JBrit]

I am often asked what the best time of year in New Zealand is for weather from friends and relatives. I generally tell them to come between the end of January and April when the weather usually “settles down” (as my farmer neighbor tells me). I have lived on the southwest coast of the North Island for nearly 22 years, having previously lived in Italy, and RI, NYC, and Minneapolis in the US for the first half of my life.

The island summers here in the southern “roaring 40’s” are often cooler, cloudier and windier than the same latitudes in the northern continental temperate zones - particularly through the first part of January. But the summers here are also generally free of the stifling 30-40 C heat that exists most of these areas from time to time in summer. That said, "summer" begins and ends 3 weeks earlier in NZ than the rest of the world (with the exception of Australia and South Africa), 3 weeks before the solstice and equinox. (Does anyone know why?) But for me summer-like weather begins late January And ends late March (equal to August - September up over). It is almost always calm sunny and warm at that time. It may differ slightly from region to region of NZ - the East Coast is often hotter and drier, and the West Coast windier, wetter and cooler)? Any thoughts?