Anybody want to swap places...

[Stiful]

G'day... It's 37 degrees inside our house at the moment. There is a hot humid breeze blowing in through the windows and everybody has retreated the the air conditioning. It is still Spring and I suspect we are in for a hot summer. Thunder storms are predicted for this afternoon. I only hope they are gentle. Last year they wrecked entire suburbs with high winds and hail the size of tennis balls. I hate that. Freaks me out. Keep you posted.. Cheers and enjoy the coolness. Wish we had some...

[Green1]

Our hottest day in the summer was barely over 30c... and air conditioning is rare in houses around here. But the winter will likely dip below -30c. Today though was a pleasant 14c here. You may think you envy "coolness" but trust me, at -30c you wouldn't be so happy... (for perspective, your deep freeze likely sits at about -18c and your fridge at a balmy +3c)

I really want to visit Australia some time, but I'll probably do it in your winter (our summer) which will mean the temperatures will probably be similar!

We do certainly get a couple of good hail storms a year, they wreck some roofs and some siding, though I've now invested in a metal roof which should be "hail-proof" siding I'll get to eventually...

[Mr. Flibble]

I am with Green1 on this. I visited Death Valley on PURPOSE this July. And that was hot. I will take that kind of heat over the cold any day. I have seen Winters in Edmonton and Montreal, and -40 is a temp you don't soon forget. I can remember leaving the house for school with my hair still wet - and it would freeze solid, or even freeze to my toque!

Granted, I can't sleep in the heat, hot nights are the worst. But then again, I have always wanted to see both OZ and NZ, so I would swap with you in a heartbeat!

(I can't complain too much now, living in Victoria BC, where we are around 10C and just suffering from a massive and constant downpour - to the point of flooding in some areas...) :)

[Stiful]

Defiantly don't come here in Summer. One of your members is arriving here in mid December and i am feeling a bit sorry for them because it will be mid 30s or higher every day. We occasionally get to 40+ in Summer and that is just unbearable. Some places get in to the low 50s . We have a friend who lives in Khartoum (Sudan) and she says it is cooler there . Just hit 38...and 95% humidity....Cheers

[Modsqwad]

My Brother in law recently (3years ago) abandoned Brisbane to move to Tasmania which he says has a very BC like climate. Maybe
a move to more temperate climes is in order. I just suffered through our summer (I'm in central Mexico) again so I feel your pain in
Brisbane. Is it as humid there as it is here in the monsoon season?
Andy Wilson
Sayulita Nay.Mx.

[delicabits]

getting cold outside here. might be in for some early snow.

[Jaz]

Ah, the beauty of Aus is that you can choose the right year round seasons for you, based on the location you live in - temperate and seasonal in Tassie or stupid hot most of the year in the north...

You're very right that Tasmania is like Victoria, very similar, however I think it gets a little colder in Victoria on average in the winter, plus there is more likelihood of snow then too... only two ski hills in Tassie, and they only get skiable terrain once every 5 years or so!

I love BC's climate though (ex-Taswegian here), as you get four proper seasons, none of this "hot hot hot, holy sh!t it's raining heaps, hot hot hot" you get in Northern Aus ;)

Stiful, could be worth swinging over for a ski trip

[Stiful]

Well it is now 8 pm and down to 30.. We had a storm but no hail or wind. Ipswich, about 40ks away got to 45 today so I guess I shouldn't complain. Same again tomorrow and for the next 3-4 months I guess.. Cheers

[delicabits]

Near by mountain had its first snow fall for the year.

[Green1]

Near by mountain had its first snow fall for the year.

our in town ski area opened about a month ago now... though I'm not sure how they're keeping the snow there right now (they use a lot of artificial snow anyway, but it still melts when it gets warm!)

[DeliTan]

Well it is now 8 pm and down to 30.. We had a storm but no hail or wind. Ipswich, about 40ks away got to 45 today so I guess I shouldn't complain. Same again tomorrow and for the next 3-4 months I guess.. Cheers

Enuf already!

My partner has been on the east coast of Oz for 6 weeks now and returning tomorrow. I'm gonna get an ear full of warm weather for weeks (and bitchin about the cold/rain too). To top this off, this is the first year in 15 I'm not in Mexico this time of year.

Poor me...

I'd rather sweat than freeze anyday

john

[after oil]

okay lets swap! just leave your surf board and the keys to your l400. im sure itll get me more places than my '84 ford falcon station wagon (dubbed of course "the millenium falcon") on my 1999-2000 tour of Oz

[marsgal42]

When I visited Australia in 2002 I planned to be there in the fall (April), so I would have the best view of the Milky Way in Centaurus and Carina in the evening. I still remember seeing the Pointers (Alpha and Beta Centauri) and the Southern Cross in the dusk, walking along the Newell Highway in Coonabarabran...

The weather I had was perfect, the stuff of tourist ads. Sunny, 25 to 30 during the day, 15 over night. A bit of rain and thundershowers in Sydney before I left.

I flew in to Melbourne and flew back from Sydney, and my original plan was to take a bus between the two. I made some calls and got a really good deal on a one-way car rental, so I drove. A Mitsubishi, though not a Delica. My route was slightly circuitous, along the south coast, then the grasslands up through Ballarat, Echuca/Moama, Forbes, Coonabarabran, out to the coast via Dubbo, Tamworth and Singleton to Newcastle, then the freeway in to Sydney. I took a week, drove about 2500 km, and had a ball. The only kangaroos I had seen en route were roadkill, so I went to a wildlife place in Ballarat where not only did I feed kangaroos, I petted koalas and wombats, and saw Tasmanian devils up close. No, I didn't pet them.

Coming in to Sydney from the north and delivering the car to Avis in King's Cross meant I had the perfect excuse to drive across the Harbour Bridge.

The fact that the highlights of my trip included visiting the radio telescope at Parkes, and driving across the perfectly good bridge in to Barwon Heads shows how desperately I need to get a life.

...laura

[Stiful]

Hi Laura.. We drove the Newell Highway twice last year, We flew to Melbourne to buy a WRX for my daughter

and drove it back that way. Unusual road, the Newell, dead straight from horizon to horizon for hours, and nothing on either side for as far as the eye can see, just whirly winds in the dust. We drove one stretch for 30 minutes and saw absolutely no sign of humans except the road itself. We were driving at around 160kph. The second time was to drive down to Dubbo in a friends 4x4 to pick up this

so he could do some warranty repairs on it. He imports the 5th wheelers from the USA , and decks them out and sells them. This one had a leak and the floor was rotting..
Glad you enjoyed your visit.. Cheers

[marsgal42]

Nice wheels. I gassed up the car in Dubbo.

My approach to the Newell Highway was to set the cruise control to 110 and hang on. The car's paperwork said it was from Brisbane, and it had Queensland number plates (maybe that's why people looked at me funny ). I saw how close I was to Queensland from Coonabarabran and considered continuing north.

...laura