It's been mostly brilliant weather in Canterbury. Hot dry afternoons with occasional rainy nights and showery mornings. It's perfect for spending time in the great New Zealand outdoors which we've been doing at the rivers and beaches.

The water has been invitingly warm and so we've dipped in our toes, built dams and even got wet from top to toe. But the southern summer sun is harsh and our UV index is extreme. It doesn't take long to burn out here and so the mantra is slip, slop, slap and wrap.

And for the purpose of covering up, but keeping cool, I have a number of light, chiffon pieces like this H&M kimono top. I love the colour: it's unlike anything else I have in my wardrobe. This one has a little sentimental value given I thrifted it in Hawaii. I'd purposefully taken almost empty cases on holiday and hadn't taken any tops appropriate for covering shoulders in the sun. I was therefore very pleased to find this in an afternoon fossick through the Salvation Army shop in Kailua.

I'm also enamoured with the unbranded monokini I recently purchased from LostAdam82. It has a little detailing with the gold on the straps but is otherwise a classic black that creates a nice base to go with just about any coverup. I'm a lot more body confident now I'm back to my normal weight range but a year or so ago I would have been grateful for that extra strip of fabric covering my tum.