IF ENGLAND WERE IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE……..

Shift Britain down under! WHERE WOULD IT BE?

You may be surprised!

Have you heard of Heard Island? The southern hemisphere, latitude 53 degrees South.       North Wales in Britain is on the same degree of latitude in the northern hemisphere, along with the cities of Derby and Nottingham. 53 degrees North.

SO?

Well, Heard Island is 80% covered in ice, has an active volcano called Big Ben, with a two kilometre lava flow. It’s in the middle of the Southern Ocean, the middle of nowhere, between Australia, South Africa and Antarctica.

If you shifted England to its same latitude down south, say near New Zealand, Where would it be?

Ok, say you are setting-out from the southernmost tip of the South Island of New Zealand, traveling South, you would have to cover over THREE HUNDRED KILOMETRES of ocean to reach Lizard Point in Cornwall. The South Island also has glaciers……..no skinny-dipping advised in the vicinity!

The Lizard, being the southernmost point of Britain, would become its northernmost point in the southern hemisphere. So you’d have to go MUCH further south to reach Scotland!

The North and South hemispheres of our planet are very different places, with very different climates. Tasmania, shifted north, would be in the middle of Spain, but does not have Spain’s climate; there’s very little sunbathing in Tassie, and not much swimming, though I did get into a mountain creek just for the experience……….30 seconds!           Mount Wellington can have snow in the middle of summer……

So; did you know that? I was unsure, and surprised!