Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm sure the Aussies who like going to Mount Kosciusko in the winter like the cold, or at least tolerate it. Also, inland NSW, Vic, and the southern Outback can get cold at night to around freezing or below. The ACT and Tas are also cold in the winter time. I think the people that live north of Brisbane and in Darwin would be like my family in Puerto Rico that find temperatures under 70°F to be chilly.
It seems like most Aussies love the heat and can't tolerate even a little bit of cold. Is that true would you say?
If you moved to Oz, you'd be just as cold intolerant after a few years, or sooner. You do acclimatise. I moved back to Perth in July 99 (winter) from Vancouver and walked around in shorts and t-shirts many winter days when they were in the low to mid 20s (high 60s, low 70s). Everyone else was rugged up in winter clothes. We went swimming a few days in July when it was 24/25C. The only others in the water were a handful of surfers in full wet suits. Fast forward a couple years later and we wouldn't dream of hitting the beach til late November at the earliest. And I dressed warmer during winter, even in the day. Gloves even sometimes!
You also wouldn't be too comfy in most Australian homes during winter even after being acclimatised. They're built different with much less insulation. Ceiling insulation is a fairly new concept. Wall insulation doesn't exist and single-paned windows let in a lot of the winter chill. No such thing as central forced air gas heating or electric baseboards. Most heating is single room: wood-burning stove or portable electric or gas heaters. Some, often newer, houses have airconditioning that heats in winter as well, from vents in the ceiling but without proper insulation, much of that heating is wasted. Wouldn't matter where you were from, you'd feel bloody cold most winter nights and mornings. I had friends from Minnesota spend a year in Perth and they found it freezing inside in winter. I went to their house one winter evening and the husband was sitting on the couch watching TV, wrapped in a sleeping bag, wearing a woolen cap on his head. You'd think they'd be used to winter! Nobody's tolerant of cold if they're not protected from it.
It seems like most Aussies love the heat and can't tolerate even a little bit of cold. Is that true would you say?
Totally UNTRUE. I lived in Australia (Brisbane) until I was 22 and I cannot stand the heat but I love the cold. I currently live in the U.S. (St. Louis to North Carolina and soon back to St. Louis again) and I love Midwestern Winters. If anything, St. Louis winters aren't cold enough for me!
St. Louis is actually godawful hot right now though- they have a major heat wave going on
Australians don't really have cold weather as we do in the USA because there is a big old ocean between them and Antarctica. Of what cold weather they do have, they don't deal with it well due to their house and building construction.
Here in the USA we insulate so well that homes retain heat and stay warm. In Australia and NZ, tons of single pane windows, no insulation or little insulation and crappy little heaters and rarely central heating. When I was in Colorado and now in PA, it can be -20C outside and I can be completely comfortable inside without the central heat making a big effort and in Australia if it's 0C outside, it's 5-10C inside and you slowly descend into hypothermia.
It seems like most Aussies love the heat and can't tolerate even a little bit of cold. Is that true would you say?
Have you spent a winter in Melbourne? Tassie? Adelaide or Sydney? I chatted with a mate in country Victoria a few weeks back and it was -4 (22). B-r-r-r. There is no land mass blocking Antarctica from Oz.
Asking if all Australias are cold intolerant is akin to asking if all Americans are heat (or cold) intolerant.
Many of us are heat sensitive, and some are sensitive to both heat and cold. I'm in that last category, but I find heat easier to endure than cold. I tend to have more pain, more fatigue and less energy in the fall and winter than in the spring and summer, and spring is my best season overall so I guess it would really depend from person to person.
Australians don't really have cold weather as we do in the USA because there is a big old ocean between them and Antarctica. Of what cold weather they do have, they don't deal with it well due to their house and building construction.
Here in the USA we insulate so well that homes retain heat and stay warm. In Australia and NZ, tons of single pane windows, no insulation or little insulation and crappy little heaters and rarely central heating. When I was in Colorado and now in PA, it can be -20C outside and I can be completely comfortable inside without the central heat making a big effort and in Australia if it's 0C outside, it's 5-10C inside and you slowly descend into hypothermia.
I spent a winter in the Darling Downs in Qld, and you are dead right - the houses are not built for, or prepared for the cold - even if the winters are relatively short.
Other than that, more people are investing in more insulation in their houses now - due to spectacularly rising electricity or power bills (thanks Julia Gillard).
Insulation in the roofs of new houses is now mandatory.
Full ducted air-conditioning, with reverse cycling for heating - is now more affordable in new houses and is becoming more commonplace.
The crappy little heaters for winters (which are also a fire hazzard), and stand up fans for summer, are gradually becoming a thing of the past.
If you moved to Oz, you'd be just as cold intolerant after a few years, or sooner. You do acclimatise. I moved back to Perth in July 99 (winter) from Vancouver and walked around in shorts and t-shirts many winter days when they were in the low to mid 20s (high 60s, low 70s). Everyone else was rugged up in winter clothes. We went swimming a few days in July when it was 24/25C. The only others in the water were a handful of surfers in full wet suits. Fast forward a couple years later and we wouldn't dream of hitting the beach til late November at the earliest. And I dressed warmer during winter, even in the day. Gloves even sometimes!
You also wouldn't be too comfy in most Australian homes during winter even after being acclimatised. They're built different with much less insulation. Ceiling insulation is a fairly new concept. Wall insulation doesn't exist and single-paned windows let in a lot of the winter chill. No such thing as central forced air gas heating or electric baseboards. Most heating is single room: wood-burning stove or portable electric or gas heaters. Some, often newer, houses have airconditioning that heats in winter as well, from vents in the ceiling but without proper insulation, much of that heating is wasted. Wouldn't matter where you were from, you'd feel bloody cold most winter nights and mornings. I had friends from Minnesota spend a year in Perth and they found it freezing inside in winter. I went to their house one winter evening and the husband was sitting on the couch watching TV, wrapped in a sleeping bag, wearing a woolen cap on his head. You'd think they'd be used to winter! Nobody's tolerant of cold if they're not protected from it.
This must be an every other state thing other than Vic.
Majority of houses (and pretty much all built since early 80's) have central heating (or ducted heating)... old style was in the floors, now they're using the ceiling... and they have ceiling insulation (no double pane glass etc though)
I actually don't remember NOT having central heating..
OP this is off topic, but I absolutely HATE that song you named yourself after. Every time I hear it, I get the urge to gouge out my eardrums with a rusty fork.
....back to the topic.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
