Talking about the weather

Talking about the weather is what you do when you have nothing else to say. Not true, I find the weather here totally fascinating and above all: surprising and unpredictable!

In the first weeks here in Australia, I repeatedly received concerned inquiries from home about whether it was unbearably hot and if there was a heatwave in Perth, etc. I usually replied that I had frozen more often than sweated so far. Well, I can handle heat pretty well and I don't mind the cold as easily... The fact is that in the afternoons the 'Fremantle Doctor' comes, as the sea breeze is called here, and even on hot days it provides pleasant cooling. As long as the flag that the neighbor has fluttering above his house points towards the sea, you should go surfing, but when the wind changes, you better go home. Because when the 'Doctor' really turns up in the afternoon, the transition from body scrub to sandblasting treatment is seamless.

The weather here is described as Mediterranean, which is funny because the Mediterranean is quite far away and the Indian Ocean is so close... By the way, currents from the Antarctic ensure that the sea does not get too warm, it has a water temperature of around 20 to 22 degrees Celsius all year round.

It is amazing how quickly temperature fluctuations occur here. Within a week, Sofia had to move to the balcony in her room to sleep because of unbearable heat, and two days later there were bitter fights for the place in front of the heater and for the thickest blanket in the morning. The wind whistling through the uninsulated house had cooled the living room to an uncomfortable 15 degrees. That's how it goes back and forth... But the next winter will definitely come, that's why Rene imported gloves, hats, sweaters and hot water bottles from his visit to Graz last week, in addition to 8 liters of pumpkin seed oil (Styrian blood is no noodle soup). Since our house has many windows but no insulation, I bought 2 heaters on Gumtree and got a third one as a gift - now we should be prepared!

And yet, it is so pleasant and sunny all the time! Constant blue sky! But one must not forget that the sun plays in a different league here than at home. At first, we laughed at the hysterical Aussies who constantly wear caps and the so-called rashies, i.e. UV protective shirts, at the beach. Now we only surf with our extremely unsexy surf hats and have several tubs of sunscreen in a practical 1-liter pack at home, in the car, always with us... In school, there is a strict no-hat-no-sun policy: if your child doesn't have a hat, it is not allowed to play outside during break time. Period. Australia has the highest rate of skin cancer in the world, so it is understandable.

At the cozy parent meeting of Aurel's class last Sunday in the park, we asked a few true Australians (or rather: an Englishwoman, a Dutch couple, a Danish woman, a South Italian who grew up in Canada) how it is with no central heating in winter when the temperature drops below 10 degrees. 'We just ignore it! We want summer!' Well then, I will try that in July too, just pretend it's not cold... or just go to the north, where it's tropical all year round! I've already booked!