delboy

would like to know if schools etc r all aircondioned in oz.eg public places shops,as i wish they were here, temp today 33 phewweee

Sandra

Sydney info follows

Nope to schools.....wishful thinking, even in the privates as I have been told!

Shops are airconditioned in malls cause they want you to stay and browse!

I am freezing at the mo, in case you needed to know ! +2

Go stand by asda freezer section!?

Cheers

rapitts

Honest.

You get used to the heat pretty well after a few weeks. You may find it hard to sleep in the nights but after awhile you soon get used to sleep when is it about 20c. You cant open the windows or else you will get bitten !!!!

A/C in cars are a must.

TimEh?

Do they not use bug screens on the doors and windows in Oz?

A simple fan in the bedroom makes a world of difference at night.

Pollyana

Bug screen and fan await me on Brisbane. Why does the heat feel worse here in the UK? It feels "hotter" here when its 28-30 degrees, than it does in Brissie in the same temperature. and why do I have no trouble sleeping in 20 degrees over there at night, when here the same temp is horrible?
Can't wait to get back to proper air con too - our office here has an old and worn-out system, which we cannot adjust. Today it was running so cold that I was wearing a jumper and a lab-tech coat, had hot soup for lunch, and was still shivering - as people walked up the road outside in shorts!!

pomijean

I come from Hitchin and my sister says it unbearable in the heat.
It is lovely weather inn Qld at present,13-23,but we have six months of hell starting in September,its unbearable until the end of April,you soon get tired of fans in the bedroom,they keep you awake and the mossies love poms.,at least in UK they get rain after a few days but not here,the heat just drains you.

Pollyana

The mossies haven't discovered me yet, they are probably all lying in wait until I am permanently in Oz and have no escape!
I can't use spray-on repellent either - my skin hates it. I end up in a worse state scratching it off than I ever would with mossie bites. But the bedroom fans are really strange - over here, on my own, I often fall sleep with the radio on, so I find it easy to adjust to having a fan on - when I come back from Oz trips I suffer from days of insomnia because I need that fan noise there. Guess I'm just weird!

TimEh?

We need the fan most nights here as our two story gets very hot in the summer. The sound doesn't bother me one bit and it masks all the other little sounds that might otherwise disturb us (like our kids who can stay up later in the summer and the street noises cos the windows are wide open).

The worst thing about wide open windows is the birds that start about 4:00 a.m. Bloody great Thrush-sized Robins, mostly.

dracupg

Arrived in Sydney in January this year, and caught the tail end of summer. Coming from Edinburgh, it is certainly and interesting experience having to try and function in 45c. Luckily, there were only a couple of days like that. Not sure how I will manage if it was like that for a week.

Most apartments and house will have fly screens on the windows that allow you to open then windows.

I have tried not to use the air conditioning too much in the house and car, not because of any eco-friendly reason, but just that the heat seems so much worse if you spend a lot of time in air-con environment.

I reckon its better to use fans and have the windows open.

dracupg

Meant to add, I have heard that some mobile phone company in Asia lets you activate a “mosquito repellent� … one of those high pitched tones that scares off female mossy like you can get in the shops that plug into the walls.

It drains your mobile phone battery a bit, but I though this sounded like a great idea … assuming it works of course.

pommie bastard

The nearer the sea front you can buy in Australia the cooler you will be , Summer heat can make you go troppo as the locals call it .
The one drawback in Winter living near the coast is winds which can damage your home and blow you off the planet plus that cool breeze in Summer is bloody cold in Winter.

Megalania

Dunno how you went troppo, sounds like you've never put a foot outside the OB, let alone been in the tropics.

pommie bastard

The OB has a Sun Terrace so a few pints and I can be as Troppo as most.

Megalania

Obviously just a milk sop nature. Troppo under the sun terrace!

dotty

Having lived through English Heatwaves (30) I can honestly say it is bloody cool calm and collected to what they call hot over here. A English 30 is a walk in the park.

Australians do not particularly like the heat. Most avoid it at all costs. Rave about winter here yeah its great. Like most things in OZ its upside down, Summer is the hell bit.

Fans do nothing in OZ except blast the hot air right at you. Air condit is the way to go. Schools are not airconditioned and no the kids do not enjoy it they bake and its very unpleasant for them and hard to study all teachers here admit that. Cars and shops are aircondit tho. Most schools have the long 6 week holiday off from mid Dec to early Jan, large wide brim hats are compulsory as are long shorts and at least half sleeves, sun education is often given, sunblock is a way of life applied every four hours if to be done properly. Kids are advised to take water bottles to school and keep under desk.

Remember what you are experiencing in UK for a couple of days is what is going to be going on here for months and months. Plus if its 30 its a cool day not hot.

Sure someone will now come on and say its not hot here in summer or they love it well each to their own. Just ask an aussie tho and they will tell you summer swelters. Nothing glam about the sun here Aussies avoid it like the plague, Government spends millions on telling us how to avoid it.