"Temperate" southwest Australia's winter is so mild, it's ridiculous, unfair... and I'm loving it! (temperature, days)

[ColdCanadian]

Originally Posted by kanhawk

Glad you are enjoying the mild climate. How are other aspects of living there?
Do you feel safe? Is crime a problem?
How about shopping. Are the variety and choices of products and stores comparable to North America?
What about cost of living? Expensive or not?

Safe? Crime? Not much different than being in Canada. It's not perfect but I'm seldom nervous.

Shopping? Mostly ranges from the same, slightly expensive or quite expensive (33+% higher)
But it's hard to tell... You have GST included into your price.
In Ontario, we usually pay 13% ABOVE the sticker price. (GST + PST)
Sometimes I forget that and your sticker price gives me a shock.

Range of choices? Similar to Canada, some items at the supermarket aren't there,
while others are just from Australia, Oceania or England that we don't have.
The USA has far better selection though than Canada or Australia,
so sometimes Canadians will wait until they go on vacation to shop.

Cost of living?
Consumer goods, a bit high.
Petrol, very high.
Rent, high.
Car insurance... I can't understand why it's so low in Oz!
Comprehensive car insurance in Canada is like $1500+/year for ANY kind of vehicle.
Mine was $1600 every 6 months!
Overall, I think I'm losing a little by being in Australia, but I'm happier here.

[ColdCanadian]

Originally Posted by Rialta

Places like Albany AU would be a tad cool for me. Perth and SW AU have some of AU's nicest climates, but it's still not as nice as Southern CA! Perth and SW AU can be compared to Southern CA generally, but your area gets a lot more rain..fine if you like rain though I don't think anyplace in AU can compare to San Diego's 18.3 High Temp./9.4 Low Celsius and 65/49 Fahrenheit in the winter and 25 High/19.4 Low Celsius 77/67 Fahrenheit in the summer!

Albany is beautiful, but sunshine is too scarce there (annually) for my tastes.

Yes, nothing here is like San Diego, but they do have climates that are almost like it.

[recycled]

CC, thanks for the info you have shared in this thread. It is interesting to read the comments and impressions of someone from Canada who is also familiar with many places in the US, who has moved to a far away corner of Australia and is just getting settled into a new life. Good luck with your new adventure.

[Desertstorm]

Originally Posted by ColdCanadian

Safe? Crime? Not much different than being in Canada. It's not perfect but I'm seldom nervous.

Shopping? Mostly ranges from the same, slightly expensive or quite expensive (33+% higher)
But it's hard to tell... You have GST included into your price.
In Ontario, we usually pay 13% ABOVE the sticker price. (GST + PST)
Sometimes I forget that and your sticker price gives me a shock.

Range of choices? Similar to Canada, some items at the supermarket aren't there,
while others are just from Australia, Oceania or England that we don't have.
The USA has far better selection though than Canada or Australia,
so sometimes Canadians will wait until they go on vacation to shop.

Cost of living?
Consumer goods, a bit high.
Petrol, very high.
Rent, high.
Car insurance... I can't understand why it's so low in Oz!
Comprehensive car insurance in Canada is like $1500+/year for ANY kind of vehicle.
Mine was $1600 every 6 months!
Overall, I think I'm losing a little by being in Australia, but I'm happier here.

My comprehensive car insurance is just above $1000 per year! That is for a full-size station wagon. $1600 every 6 months, bloody hell!!!! No way! While Petrol is high here, it doesn't compare to the $2 litre + prices across most of Europe. If you have LPG like me, then you'll be paying only 60c per litre, you'll get a full tank for around $30 that'll last you atleast a week if you commute about 60-70km per day over a 5 day week.

Groceery prices though in this country, don't get me started mcdonalds is the biggest ripoff here, $6.50 for a double quarter pounder with beef patties and buns the size of a cheese burger..... you'll be much better off getting a McDouble, essentially identical to a double cheeseburger and the size of the new downsized double quarter pounder for $1.95! Hungry Jacks is the best value, they actually have proper man sized burgers for less than the cost of Mcdonalds for an equivalent item... A Whopper costs less than a so-called Quarter Pounder that is literally half the size. A double Whopper, essentially a heart attack to go, costs only a few cents more than the new tiny cheeseburger-sized Double quarter pounder.

that being said though, Australian minimum wages are much higher than those in the US, so that kind of offsets it I guess.

[ColdCanadian]

Originally Posted by Desertstorm

My comprehensive car insurance is just above $1000 per year! That is for a full-size station wagon. $1600 every 6 months, bloody hell!!!! No way! While Petrol is high here, it doesn't compare to the $2 litre + prices across most of Europe. If you have LPG like me, then you'll be paying only 60c per litre, you'll get a full tank for around $30 that'll last you atleast a week if you commute about 60-70km per day over a 5 day week.

^^ One of the many reasons I wanted to get out of Canada;
paying HIGH premiums for the "...privilege of seeing snow every winter..." ( )
It used to surprise me how many people would consider Canadians lucky for seeing snow every winter.

With my 2008 Honda Civic being so fuel efficient
and North America's fuel prices more affordable,
it felt like I'd need to drive 10,000 kilometres in a month,
just to spend more on fuel than a single month's comprehensive payments.

Ex: Toronto to Texas, back to Toronto, then to Miami, back to Toronto?

I think I might have had 3-5 months out of 2 years ownership
where my expenses (including service) actually matched or exceeded the equivalent cost of insurance.

Groceery prices though in this country, don't get me started mcdonalds is the biggest ripoff here, $6.50 for a double quarter pounder with beef patties and buns the size of a cheese burger..... you'll be much better off getting a McDouble, essentially identical to a double cheeseburger and the size of the new downsized double quarter pounder for $1.95! Hungry Jacks is the best value, they actually have proper man sized burgers for less than the cost of Mcdonalds for an equivalent item... A Whopper costs less than a so-called Quarter Pounder that is literally half the size. A double Whopper, essentially a heart attack to go, costs only a few cents more than the new tiny cheeseburger-sized Double quarter pounder.

To be fair,
most produce sold in Australia tastes better than what we get in Canada.
A lot of ours is either American, or from Central/South America. (long transit time?)
Or in Australia, they tend to be reliably "fresher" than home,
but in Canada it's more hit-or-miss.

I like Hungry Jacks better than Maccas.
Too bad Maccas is far more plentiful.

I like their $4.95 medium cappocino, hash brown and sausage egg muffin; fills me up for 2-3 hrs.
The "Aussie Burger" is another fave; high in protein and lower in fat-per-calories than other beef burgers.
I haven't had a whopper here. It seems a bit sparse + fatty for my tastes.

that being said though, Australian minimum wages are much higher than those in the US, so that kind of offsets it I guess.

Australian minimum wage is also much higher than where I'm from.
I make less here per-hour in Australia than back in Canada despite this.
*Like the Floridian middle class, I'm "paid in sunshine?"

[LurkerOfFate]

We had our coldest day in Sydney for a few years. It hit 12C

[Desertstorm]

Originally Posted by Rialta

Places like Albany AU would be a tad cool for me. Perth and SW AU have some of AU's nicest climates, but it's still not as nice as Southern CA! Perth and SW AU can be compared to Southern CA generally, but your area gets a lot more rain..fine if you like rain though I don't think anyplace in AU can compare to San Diego's 18.3 High Temp./9.4 Low Celsius and 65/49 Fahrenheit in the winter and 25 High/19.4 Low Celsius 77/67 Fahrenheit in the summer!

Coastal Sydney up through to Newcastle would be very close to San Diego's averages, if a little more humid.

[tom77falcons]

Originally Posted by ColdCanadian

It's all relative, how easy to live with our "mild" areas are.
Myself, it's not hard to let my mood on a day off from work be ruined by a daytime high of 48 F. (9 C)
That is an extremely common daytime temperature in the mildest part of BC for at least 4 solid months.

But another thing it's worth noting,
even parts of California that don't typically see cold, their climates are mostly confined to "belts"
but today I could drive for 500 miles in any direction and not see a daytime high under 55 F (13 C) (except maybe Bluff Knoll at 1099m alt.)
I can basically eliminate from my mind, the issue of bad temps lasting all day long.

Wouldn't that be also the dream of someone who hates heat,
to live somewhere like England and anywhere they go, they probably won't see a high reaching 75 F?

I would think that is due to the relative flatness and low topo elevations of the area, and the warm air from the ocean penetrating far inland. The Western US has much more topography in comparison, hence the belts and microclimates.

There are many areas and cities in the Western US sitting at 4,000 to 5,000 feet in elevation. I remember reading that you lose around 5.4F for each thousand feet in elevation (absent inversions). If a city like Albuquerque (elevation 5,312) was around 1,000 feeet or less, I would estimate the Jan mean high temp around the low to mid 60's instead of 48F.

If the Western US was as low in elevation as Western Australia, I think you would find warmer winter temps being much more widespread thru New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Nevada. Take for instance Lake Havasu City, AZ. In winter the average highs/lows are 65.6F/43.6F (Dec), 67.3/44.8 (Jan) and 72.7/48.7 (Feb). Lake Havasu City is at elevation 735 feet. Phoenix avg max temp in Jan is 67F.

Bottom line is that what you lose in warmer temps in our western areas, you gain in scenery. Does anywhere in Australia have a view of mountains like these? :

[Derek40]

Originally Posted by Desertstorm

Coastal Sydney up through to Newcastle would be very close to San Diego's averages, if a little more humid.

Yes but San Diego's winter temps would be more like Coffs Harbour's.

[Asagi]

Australia has beautiful scenery too...

http://travelblog.viator.com/suggest...in-ayers-rock/

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Nullarbor cliffs [South Australia]

Not my pictures.