tiredwithtwins

lol!!
that sounds like us last august bank holiday weekend in the tent at skeggy!!!!
it was sooooooo cold, we put all our clothes on!
when i worked in london i lived with several aussies and kiwis....who were so pleased to buy a thick warm coat, a couple of them shipped them back home to their folks !! when i stayed in sydney with one of them, she proudly showed me her "london winter" coat.....and how chuffed she was to have it!

sue

MrsDagboy

Yep, it's only the poms who don't seem to think to use it .

ANA123

Erick, we dont have reverse cycle aircon, as I hate air conditioning and would rather be hot in summer so having it installed just for the few cold winter weeks didnt seem worth it.

Ceri, Will definately be investing in plenty of hot water bottles this year, we were caught by surprise last year!

glittababe

My sister has a fab picture of me taken in Jervis Bay 3 years ago during July. We'd just flown down from Northern Qld and my sister in her wisdom told me I could only take one set of clothes and no 'heavy' stuff (like jumpers and jeans). Well it was absolutely bloody freezing! All I had with me was a t-shirt, cropped linen trousers and a bikini. I spent the weekend wrapped in a blanket on the sofa with my cousin waving one of those mini electric fan heaters over me. I did try and brave the beach, but it was so windy the sand stung all exposed areas of my body! Never ever again!

MrsDagboy

I dont think its anything to do with the averages of the season, I think its the large difference between the daytime temp & the evening temp in winter that makes you feel cold. In the winter in the UK, evening temps are in the low single digits or just below freezing but the max temps are only in the mid to high single figures. So say 1 to 6 degrees or -2 to 4 degrees. You usually only get a difference of 5 degrees or so. In Brisbane, its 21 degrees almost day in day out during winter & the minimum temps get down to the single figures, often the lower end. So the difference is usually around 15 degrees, which is what makes it seem cold.

Maybe its just me, Ive yet to even get a jumper or fleece out of the cupboard this year & Im still wearing a tshirt & cutoff pants from when I get up at 7am. I dont think its been cold at all yet, not even in the mornings like now??

mlbonner

Maybe it is you then (sorry, you walked in to that one!!)

Seriously though, I'm out at 5am a lot of mornings and wear shorts and a singlet to run in, no problem. The difference I am finding now though is more that I feel the cold dressed like this, a few weeks ago I would have been warm before I started my run, now it takes the first couple of k's to heat up!
I'm finding myself grabbing a suit jacket to take with me and feeling fine in it, hot if I'm walking more than a couple of blocks - what I do find amusing was that I saw someone yesterday with a real winter wool coat, when (agreed) to me it is no where near cold enough for that yet and I wondered if as a pom I would ever aclimatise to feel 18C was cold!!

Zentack

Ahhh 7am lay ins I remember them well . These days bubs gets us up around 5am, and that's when I find it freezing.

Last winter was our first in Oz and we got by without any heating, not this year. So I'm looking for any ideas on the best heating to get for our non double glazed poorly insulated open plan barn. What are you guy opting for?

In Japan they are big on heated rugs, which I guess would be great for here but no one seems to sell them. Ideal for bub who's just started to crawl, even before you can towel him dry after his bath.

Papa Z

mlbonner

One thing that I am keen to get built in to our next house is heated bathroom lights. I know a few people with them and they all are very happy customers

Zentack

But can you really spend all winter in the bathroom? Mama Z would probably agree

Z

Ceri

Yes, well worth it - I can vouch for that. We have them in our bathrooms
You will use them in the early mornings, and nights when you have a shower - or when you are using the loo in the winter - bliss

When you are building, buy your own - go into Bunnings etc and you'll have a choice of them. You get the ones which also have an extractor fan on them too, so need to buy a separate extractor fan - the units we have contains two lights and a fan, and can be used separately - ie you don't need to have the heat and the fan on at the same time. They are not costly, I can't remember the price we paid, but it was pretty cheap to buy the units, I'm guessing here $50, $75 maybe, put it this way they were under $100 I think ( honestly can't remember the price it's well over a over a year that we built, could have been $150, but I'd remember the cost if I thought they were expensive at the time)

The electrician will put them in for you. When you have a meeting with the sparky tell him exactly what you want, and he will charge accordingly. It is hell of lot cheaper to put them in when you are building when the sparky is wiring up the house, than calling a sparky in after the house is built. Same goes with all fitted electric items - extra lights, downlights , fans etc - go shopping, and buy them yourself, and get the sparky to fit them when building.

cheers

Badge

I think Mrs D is right. The UK only really gets a bare 10 degree difference on averages *all year*.
Say 8-10 average MAX in the winter, 20 degrees average MAX in the summer.

In winter the day might be 2 - 8, in summer it might be 13-22. Small differences. Everyone talks about how cold the UK is, but it is nowhere near as cold say as Germany or Luxembourg over the water when it mihgt be -8 on the way to work - in London by the time you go to work it is often over freezing. My last winter in the UK in 2001 I recall mild 10 degree winter days.

Also, the lack of cloud cover in QLD means colder nights yet warmer days.
It's why Sydney gets colder nights than Melbourne, if 3-4 degree warmer days - the midday sun gives the ambient air temp a hike.

Badge

hevs

Or just don't actually HAVE it

hevs

Not such a silly suggestion, sure wish we had. Rads (hydronic heating) are really expensive here compared to the UK (not a whinge, just an obsevation, sigh)
Wish we'd have nipped to B and Q and bought the 9 we need for £25 each, would have saved us a fortune

MrsDagboy

Yeah, I must have missed the sign at customs that declared that no heating of any sort is to be used in Australian homes .

hevs

LOL, you see thats another cultural difference. To us poms (sorry to offend anyone who doesn't like that word) heating is something that you turn on and it goes all the way round the house, usually in water filled radiators and is pretty inexpensive to run. However to an Aussie (sorry if that offends anyone else who doesn't like that word either) "heating" is a term used for any source of warmth and usually something that is portable and can be plugged in anywhere. This form of heating (in my house) is far from efficient and expensive to run, therefore is saved for the real winter yet to come

Roll on the instalation of the central heating in a few weeks time