We’re deep in the heart of winter here in Sydney at the moment but it doesn’t ever really get proper cold here. Very occasionally, out further west (pretty much where I work) it can be one or two degrees Celsius in the mornings before warming up to sixteen or seventeen degrees during the day. But that’s pretty rare. Most days the overnight low is probably between seven and ten degrees.

But here’s the rub. When I walk outside in the morning and it’s thirteen degrees, I feel cold. As a Canadian I tell myself, “Thirteen degrees is not cold you idiot,” but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s bloody cold out!

And don’t even get me started on the indoor situation. Most Australian buildings retain absolutely zero heat in the winter (they retain all the heat in the summer though!) which means it feels cold inside too. I remember during my first winter here I’d be crowded around the gas heater in the staffroom at work with a British woman. We’d comment how pathetic we felt, the ones from cool climates huddling around a heater in Australia, land of the sun.

So while I’ve coped with the indoor heating situation, being cold outdoors in thirteen degrees is worrisome. Amanda and I are planning on moving back to Vancouver later this year (more on that later) and I’m very concerned how the Vancouver winter is going to treat me. If I can’t even cope with an Australian winter, Canada’s next winter may do some serious damage.

And Amanda…well she’s got a big shock coming to her.

Been ages since I wrote anything here. No idea why, really. Maybe a sign of a quiet blog here means I’ve become more Australian? I don’t know.

Since I last wrote their has been another shark attack or two….it never stops.

It’s raining in Sydney today which is nice. Reminds me of home….but warmer.

More soon? Hopefully.

This continent is pretty messed up and I don’t think anything illustrates that better than Australia’s recent natural disasters. While the devastating wildfires in Victoria have garnered all the international headlines, the poor people of Queensland have had to put up with floods on a biblical scale. The area affected by the flooding in Queensland is approximately the size of South Australia (which is a little bigger than Montana, North Americans…that is HUGE).

Since fire is more dramatic television than slowly rising water, Queenslanders are having to work harder to make their voices heard. Hopefully all the money that has been donated to the bushfire appeal indicates that the Australian public is ready to help out their drowning neighbours as well.

Of course, Australia being Australia, flooding brings its own set of uniquely terrifying dangers, especially in tropical Queensland: crocodiles. A five year old boy in Cape Tribulation (what a name) was walking with his brother and dog near floodwaters when he disappeared . His brother reported a large crocodile in the vicinity but it took ten days before the offending crocodile was captured. The boys remains were found in the crocodile.

Meanwhile, crocodiles are also popping up in Queensland CBDs and capital cities. And, of course, the ocean remains dangerous with another shark attack off Australian shores.

Happy swimming!

…really, really reminds me of home. I love it.

According to the news this morning, you know where the hottest spot on the planet is going to be this weekend?

New South Wales.

This is going to suuuuuuuuuuck.

It’s been kind of quiet on the shark attack front of late but now that summer is in full swing here in Australia, the sharks are back to work. Over the weekend, a man in Perth was killed by a shark while he was just six metres from shore. SIX. Since his body was not found, authorities have spent the past couple days searching for the man, but he is presumed dead as his torn wetsuit was located. Other beaches around Perth were closed after the attack as other sightings of sharks were reported.

Meanwhile, here on the east coast the great white sharks are beginning to toy with us as kayakers were “menaced” off Long Reef (not that far from here!). This incident has the added Terror Factor of being caught on video. Just what you want to be watching the night before you head to a beach in the same direction!

As these stories have made international news, I see that people here are trying to urge calm: Please don’t be so scared that you won’t come here and spend your tourist dollars.

Wish us luck in the ocean!

As a kid growing up in Vancouver, you always, ALWAYS looked forward to snow. Despite Canada’s (well-deserved) wintery reputation, the southwest corner of B.C. doesn’t receive all that much snow. Sure it falls up on the mountains, but down where all us cityfolk live, a couple snowfalls a year is all we could look forward to as kids.

A white Christmas, therefore, was pretty rare. I can remember a couple but they were years and years ago. So last year, when I missed out on a white Vancouver Christmas, I was kind of choked. Of course Vancouver would wait until I was gone before finally putting on a Christmas show. What hurts even more, is that it looks like it’s going to happen for the second year in a row.

Here was the forecast a few days ago. When I saw this, I died a little inside:

Now it has changed a bit…and it currently looks like this:

Screw you, Vancouver.

The only “white” Christmas around here is the unrelenting, blazing glare of a sun that feels as though it is just a few metres over your head. So while many members of my family (in both Vancouver and Boston) might be lamenting the snow at Christmas time, they should know that I would trade some sun for some snow in a heartbeat at the moment.

This is my fifth Christmas in Australia (more or less) but I still can’t get used to the whole summer Christmas thing. The other day we were watching TV and a Coles ad came on advertising all their Christmas food specials. The ad featured a family gathered around a table.

But it was a picnic table.

And it was outdoors.

And I’m pretty sure I saw someone standing at a barbecue.

Safeway Christmas ads back in Canada are a tad different.

Last week I claimed that summer had arrived in Sydney.

I lied.

It is currently 14.1 degrees Celsius outside and it’s overcast and drizzly. Last night we discussed “wind chill” on our pub crawl and further away in the Blue Mountains it snowed.

No one here likes it but I am certainly not complaining about a little bit of Vancouver weather here in November.

1. We are currently having an electrical storm.

2. There is cricket on the television.

3. I can hear cicadas endlessly buzzing outside.

4. I am sweating just sitting on the couch.