Well.... Yes the ozone or whatever is pretty thin down here, so the sun's rays are indeed stronger. There's also less air pollution, so you get cleaner air, sharper colours, starrier skies,... and probably fewer respiratory illnesses as a trade-off!
But seriously, they do sell sunscreen and hats etc aplenty, and I haven't had any real issues. 25 deg C does feel like 30 deg C in summer, but NZ rarely gets much hotter than the high-20s anyway. NZ is a breezy country and I think the sea breeze can make things worse, i.e. it doesn't feel quite as hot as it really is, and you can get a bit of wind burn too.
The problem seems to be worse in Oz than in NZ; it seems the folks in Oz are happy to lie on Gold Coast beaches all day and fry themselves (ex-pat Brits?!) whereas the average Kiwi is a bit more savvy.
I've lived in Dubai (an oven!) and southern France, and there's no way the climate down here would put me off! And in NZ there are plenty of rainy days when you're not gonna get burned at all ;-)
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