Can’t stand the heat, don’t sweat it
I’M cold. And I’m loving it. Friends have just returned from far north Queensland, and they are moaning: “The weather is so wonderful there, why does anyone live here in the cold?”
This statement tells me very clearly, they have never lived there.
At the end of April, I moved home to Victoria after a year in far north Queensland.
The first month back was a shock to the system after 12 months of life without jumpers. And everyone heard about it; “How does anyone live here? It’s so cold!,” I complained.
I thought I’d hit the jackpot moving to Queensland.
Summer weather yearround, pristine beaches, clear water. I’d seen the ads. What a life.
It was, indeed, summer weather all the time.
The problem is, north Queensland summers are too hot to do much.
In February in Townsville, the average maximum temperature was 32C. The average minimum temperature was 23C.
You know that wonderful relief when the cool change comes after a run of hot days? That doesn’t happen in north Queensland. Ever. Add to that the H word. Humidity. The average humidity in February for Townsville was 70 per cent. And on two days it hit 99 per cent. If you’d like to know what that feels like, go to a sauna and stay in it all day fully clothed and try and carry out your regular tasks. People who came to visit couldn’t believe what was happening: “I’m sweating from my shins!” they said. I know what you’re thinking … it doesn’t matter if it’s hot all the time when you live by the beach.
Well it does when you can’t swim in the beach because it’s full of crocodiles and stingers. And the water isn’t blue and clear like on the tele. It’s brown and murky like a bush dam.
Not even the swimming pools bring relief, the water is too warm to be refreshing.
The crystal clear waters without crocodiles do exist, but you have to pay a small fortune to take a long boat ride to the Barrier Reef to find them.
So next time you dream about permanently ditching the cold weather for a warmer climate, think about whether you really want to live in a place where you have to go to the cinema just to wear a longsleeved top.
And how do you feel about sweating from your kneecaps?