We used to have a dark brick letterbox. I was too scared to just put my hand in to get the mail, so used a pair of tongs to safety extract letters.

Medicine Hat? *kidding* I've been through there...it's not too bad. It also has snakes...rattlesnakes though, out in the country. No equivalent to redbacks there though...some of my friends in southern Alberta found brown recluses, which was enough for them.

Yes I kind of worked out early that the Brits in the Hat all work out of the Suffield base. Would have been an easy run in from the town to work each day though, 10 minutes each way. Often wonder how it would have been living in a town that size compared to Adelaide. Still have a burning desire to spend some time in Canada. Daughter into opera singing and thinking of heading over at some point for proximity to the States without having to live in the US. If that happened I'd certainly be up for the fun, have experienced 46 degrees above zero now want to try a fair number below for comparison! Maybe one day?

Found one under the wardrobe and on the towel rack in the downstiars loo.

Brownsnake in the toilet that takes some beating. Could be a right pain in the ass that.

Sure, why not? You might like it. And southern Alberta is certainly beautiful...I've been to Cypress Hills a couple of times (south of Medicine Hat), Waterton, all that area.

The "I've tried 46 above now for 46 below" reminds me of the conversation we had with our friends at New Year's dinner. One was saying he could take -40C no problem, it couldn't be that tough to live in etc. But he's never experienced anything below -10C. We were explaining to him what life was like for us when it was, say -30C...running out in the biting cold and wind to start the car, running back to the house. Letting it run for 10 minutes to warm it up (and that was with the block heater plugged in, otherwise many cars as old as ours was don't tend to start at all when it gets that cold). Bundle kids up in winter coats, snow boots, hats and mitts. Buckle everyone in and while they're in the toasty car, I stay outside to scrape the ice off the car windscreen. Drive on roads covered in snow and ice (most cities can only afford to remove snow off residential streets once a winter, if that).

When it's -30C plus windchill, there's no playing in the playground. Recess at school is cancelled. People get to where ever they're going and back home as quickly as they can. Yes, there will always be the ones who bike ride, snowshoe, jog all through winter no matter the temperature (I have friends who did this), but that was never our thing and was part of the reason we moved. The last winter we lived in Edmonton, it got to -43 (without windchill) one night and it froze our water pipes. That was the first time in 11 years they had frozen solid. I thought, "Well, that's a sign. Time to get to Australia already."

I've had family at home say, "Wow, we could never live through 40C summers" but from our experience, it's not so bad. The kids still play in the parks in the mornings and evenings. Back in Edmonton, when we had -30C cold snaps, there was no point in the day where the temps warmed up enough for the kids to play for two hours outside. We tended to hibernate all winter. We're more active, throughout the seasons, since we moved here, so it looks like Perth suits us better in that regard.

They eat redback eggs as well. Always keep one in your garden shed for that purpose

I recfkon being out in minus 30 is painful at least 40 C is unpleasant. Nonetheless both extremes result in fatalities. People freeze on Canadian highways if they break down and don't get assistance whereas people die in the Outback under similar circumstancvces where they dehydrate. We rush from the aircon house to the aircon car to the aircon School, shops or office. Funnily winter in Adelaide is colder than the UK cos the houses aren't designed well here and central heating by way of ducted heating and cooling is a luxury.

Don't like the sound of frozen pipes. When it gets hot here the water out the cold tap is hot too which seems really odd.

Good luck with P,erth.

We decided to hose down the patio area last weekend and clean under the furniture that hasn't been moved for maybe 12 months...when we turned it over several large redbacks came running out, a couple had egg sacks hanging from them too!! There was also a really big black spider under there that could've been Shelob's big sister

Think we need to look under there more often from now on

sick.......lol

Not convinced I'm going to be a total happy bunny with all of these creatures around! Used to live in South Africa as a child and remember the initial trauma of creepy crawlies...... The worst thing we have to deal with here in the Highlands is our beloved Midges!

I have a phobia of cockroaches, they make me feel sick. As for spiders, i am scared of them as well.

We didn't find it any where near as bad as we were expecting. I think when you're planning to move to a new place you watch & read everything you can & there are way to many 'Most Deadly' programs to be viewed

Alison x

You're right Alison.......far too many! lol If it were that bad really then nobody would live there.......surely.......

Either way, it will take a lot more than spiders, snakes and whatever else to stop us now! Bring it......

you are not exempt in UK...
our container arrived from Aus with a large healthy happy family of redbacks. The packers and the environmental health people had a field day panicking as they rampaged over suburban London/Surrey.

That's why they have them in NZ now, Japan, and apparently, Lancashire...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redback_spider