TruBrit

yep i know those grey days one after the other can be daunting but then can the hot hot days when it's too hot and humid to go outside and i mean over 100% day after day and one lives 24/7 in a/c....

Hayley

PMSL!!

Elvira

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS BAD WEATHER… ONLY BAD CLOTHING.

Norwegian Proverb.

HiddenPaw

Are you sure it's not "you", rather than the toddler, who is making you all housebound? My toddler (aged 2) loves going out in the rain, cold, snow (the slide in the park is great in the wet!). The baby is fine in a pushchair too, with a raincover on . Bit messy when we get back, but a warm drink and washing machine are all you need!!

I do know how awful it is to go out in the bitter cold with a toddler who walks at 0.5mph but so far this winter, we've not had to endure anything near-freezing temps. I guess you have to make the best of the weather - I know if I stayed in every time it rained, I'd never leave the house, and she'd never get any fresh air. My daughter has never, ever refused to go out because of the weather - most of the time, she's reluctant to go back home, even in the pouring rain.

ShozInOz

We went out last weekend. The wind actually blew her over, the little mite.
So we put her in the pram and took the coastal path, until the wheels got stuck in mud. Then we gave up. Don't get me wrong, the summer is great, but I'm not going to pretend that this country has good weather for most of the year. It doesn't. That's why we are obsessed with weather forecasts.

ShozInOz

That would be awful too. Queensland was like that as far as I remembered. A mediteranean climate is pretty much ideal

MrsB

Well said chance - I emigrated "because of the weather" - and I'm afraid it isn't a good enough reason for me - it doesn't make up for not seeing your family - and not having the chance to get a break in all those fabulous countries listed above.

MrsB

You were the last person I would have expected to be doing a U-turn! What about the work situation for you in Oz? I didn't the career paths were interesting?

I had both my kids in the UK as toddlers/small children and the weather was never a problem for them - more for me. Why don't you join a health club with a creche facility and an indoor swimming pool - then take her swimming on grey days - worked a treat for us!

Englishmum

I live in New Jersey and my best friend here is an Aussie. She's just been home for Christmas (Sydney and the Gold Coast) and said the weather was awful.....the coldest Summer she can ever recall having. She'd told her boyfriend to just take shorts and T shirts and he had to go out and buy warm clothes!

I'd be more concerned with the dangerous snakes moving into the suburban areas in Oz because of the severe ongoing drought (especially with small children):


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...553982,00.html

Lord Pom Percy

If l was in the Uk l would also be worried and bees and wasps because they kill as many people in the UK as are killed by snakes in OZ .

ShozInOz

I'm surprised you're so surprised...in a way. Australia was a confusing and sometimes emotional time, and we were 50/50 for so long. I was and am not not one who hated Australia, or the UK. Both have pros and cons that rack up differently depending on our focus in life. I neither have the Daily Mail mentality nor the Godzone mentality. We made the right decision to return as we would have remained in that state for too long otherwise. The difference is that we are now in the UK with a child for the first time. In my opinion, the UK is far less child friendly (and has less friendly children ), than Aus - in my view. When we returned, people's reactions to our baby breastfeeding were telling - we had no such reaction in Aus, ever. We also noticed the youth culture had somehow deteriorated, as I mentioned in my post 6 weeks in. I still think the UK is a more interesting country than Australia, but it is a much harder country to live in. But the weekends away to interesting places here, there and everywhere just do not happen as planned with young children. Last one had to be aborted at 0500 (a.m.). What seems to matter is the day to day quality of life. My OH always insisted that was better in Aus, but we gambled on the occasional life being sufficiently better to compensate. So far, it doesn't. Everything else is as we predicted, except we forgot about how much the weather here affects us. I looked at some old posts recently and found one from when I returned from a UK trip during the winter, and said "never again" after the weather (and a near fight with a local chav as soon as we entered my home town in the north-west). Amazing how we forgot.

HerbieDog

We used to live in Hereford as well, wish I was back there now. Even though it was a small town/city, we always found something to do, whereas here I've just been sitting around for most of the summer.

sandrainaus

I read this in a Woolworths mag.

and I am sure most know this anyway.

Quote:Australia is known as the skin cancer capital of the world, with about half of all people who spend their life here developing some form of the disease.Quote.
and with the hole in the ozone.
Scary

So having lot's of sun really is not a good thing, not for me or my kids.

at least at home we could all wrap up warm, and go for walks.

sandrainaus

They do have bees and wasps here too, and Redbacks, whitetail, snakes, and some bad drivers that can all do damage

davo453

We lived in Perth for over 10 years and the heat eventually wore us down. The first year or two phoning home bragging about temperatures of 38deg C+ were ok but until you have worked in it you have no idea what 38-46 deg is really like. Winter in Perth is glorious though.

We have always had acreages and found that hot weather was at least as debilitating as cold weather, in that you huddle around a fire in the cold and around an air conditioner in the heat. I maintain that it is easier to get warm than cool.

Eventually we moved south to Albany and the climate there is much nicer, you do get the odd 35 deg day but it never lasts for more than 2 days. The winters are colder but bearable.

Albany after time has proven to be a step too far for us, amonghst othere reasons it’s too far from the international airport (a 5 hour drive, you can fly though) and we are now moving again, this time back to the UK and new or is it renewed horizons.

Dave