General Chat

Morning from Melbourne...:>))

6:30 am

Just back from my early morning jog......kettle on for a cuppa...a quick read of my posts.......and then off to work.

Sandie. Sydney has a top of 25c today ( Friday ) with a little rain, but getting up to around 30c by Sunday. Melbourne 24c......Queensland 32c.....and our West coast ( Perth ) on Allan's side of the Island,and approx 3,000 kms away from me.....its about 38c today

Only place ( state ) you dont want to be in Oz is the Northern Territory ( Alice Springs )where yesterday they had 49.5c.....lol


As the the 7 dwarfs once said..... I owe....I owe...its orf ta work i go.

Av a good un.


Tony...:>))

Hello all. Weather here is uncomfortable: it's 5.00 am and already 25 degrees. Thunderstorms are not only forecast but are happening at the moment. A forecast top of 35 for Bunbury today, so hot and humid.

Meanwhile, a tropical cyclone is lurking just off the north west coast and slowly tracking south. All in all a typical West Oz summer's day!

Allan

Regarding the cyclone (Tropical Cyclone Bianca) it has now moved out to sea and has started to track back to the coast.

It is expected to cross the coast on Sunday morning, just north of Bunbury where we live. It is expected to weaken, but still have the impact of a severe winter storm.

Fingers crossed. The last cyclone to hit this far south was cyclone Alby in 1978. Heavy damage and five lives lost

Here is the website for the predicted path from the Bureau of Meterology

http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDW60281.shtml

I may not be posting for a while if power supplies are affected.

Temps hit 40c here today and extremely muggy

Allan

Not looked on here before.

I knew the weather was bad but you are having abad time of it.
I've not seen anything on the news about it.


Marion

Allan . just seen you post . come back to the mother country . dangerous living in paradise . no really, not good at all, look after yourself & OH . have sent a pm Barbra x




marion if you google Bubury, it shows area its a beautifull part of the world ,Margaret river the scenery is stunning on the coast

It's not all Summer Bay in OZ Marion.

That poor country certainly takes it brunt of bad weather. We have our ups and downs and floods, slips etc but Australia usually gets them before us and we often get the tail end of it all. A few roads get closed and the odd house floats off by itself but then we get the earthquakes and there are a lot of places I would not live in NZ.

Persie

Persey, I'm not sure which is worse; your earhquakes or our unpredictable weather!

Many years ago I was in Kalgoorlie when an earth 'tremor' struck; it was bl**dy scarey. I don't think that I could cope with a full blown earthquake

Allan

Hi Persie.

I've been twice to Australia various places..I've seen the rain,droughts,the damage the fires made,been though a sand storm too.

Would love to go back some time for a holiday.Glad its not now though :((.

Well, another fine light show this morning. Fortunately the storms were so far away that only the lightning could be seen without ant sound of thunder.

Still a hot and muggy 24c at the moment.

As soon as it becomes a bit lighter I'll be removing any loose objects from the garden so that if the cyclone does hit they wont be blown away

Allan

G'day to all.

Such a diverse Country we live in...lol
All in all Australia is a beautiful country on the whole, regardless of mother natures vengeance on the odd occasion. Unfortunately, this year it has extreme unsettled weather and its been coming for a while now. ( a build up )

Droughts, floods and fires have been happening here since European settlement, and most likely thousands of years before then. I'm sure our indigenous population could tell some stories handed down through time. Regeneration of the land here is very quick, and although two years ago ( Black Saturday bush fires ) in Victoria devastated more than half the state turning it into a cinder, in some parts now you would never have guessed it happened.

From my point of view ( being born here ) is that peeps coming to settle here from other countries need to do their homework properly, and choose wisely where they set up their roots. Moving from a generally cool climate country ( U.K ) to a sub-tropical or tropical part of a country can be not a wise move when you have to endure it for months of the year....every year.

The East Coast for example: Queensland is Tropical, and tropical is beautiful ( visually ) but it also means monsoons,cyclones, extreme wet seasons, and high humidity during the summer months.( Generally )
Many folk living or born in say.......Victoria or Tasmania ( cooler climate ) like myself, would never holiday in northern Queensland during their summer.( Dec - Mar ) Best time is June to Sept when its winter in Vic and Tas ( 10 -14c ) but still gets up to the high 20s in Queensland, and not monsoon season.

I have friends born here in Melbourne, and they once took a holiday to QLD ( Caloundra ) when first married back in the 70s..........they thought it was so beautiful with its blue tropical waters, white powdery sandy beaches and swaying coconut palms...so they sold up here and moved north.
They were only there 2 years before they moved back to Melbourne. 1. They couldn't stand the constant humidity. 2. The Mrs. missed sitting by an open fire during winter in Melbourne with a cup of hot coco. 3. Her hubby came home from work totally exhausted from working in the constant heat all day.....The main problem was they were not acclimatized lol

If you get a map of Oz and draw a straight line from West to East ( Perth to Sydney/Newcastle )...then anywhere below that line you get the best of all climates. Winter ( snow )..........Warmer spring.....to sunny/hot summers.......and wonderful scenic Autumns. The rest of the Country ( north of that line ) is Holiday and sightseeing only....LOL
Thats why the majority of the population live in the South.
After Phillip landed in Botany Bay 1788 ( Sydney ) the very next state to be established was Tasmania....waaaaaaay down South....hee hee

Although Aussie is one big Island continent, its divided by states, and each state differs in its climate and weather pattern.

Trust me....I'm an Aussie....and that's why i live in Melbourne, Vic.........;>)


Av a good un.



Tony....:>))

Hi all~~

Still freezing here ! .....'Warm' at -4 at 8.30.lol, -10 just before Xmas.
Still one can always wrap up to keep warm, I'm a miserly and a coldish person ( heat wise I mean... I have a warm heart tho ) so I wear a fleece indoors when it's cold.
Heating is on a thermostat and I can feel that it's just gone off, could be hubby's knocked the thermo down as he's in the living room where it is.
All our radiators have individual thermo controls also.
I love the warmth of the sun, but always like to have slight breeze with it. Humid is a no no for me , so I feel sorry for you guys.
I guess you have air conditioning, we have a ventilation system, which pumps dry cold air and cuts out condensation in the winter, we could use it in the summer, but haven't yet.lol.
May have to if it ever hit 49 Tony ! and get the ice buckets out !!!

Sandie.x

Evening Sandie.

I'm on a quest mate....lol
We need more European immigration to get this country back on its feet...:>))

http://www.theage.com.au/executive-style/melbourne-remains-no-3-for-liveability-20100211-nv4g.html


Say no more!!!


"waits for Allan to start throwing stones at me"
The West is the best....chuck out the rest...lol


Have a lovey evening, and stay warm.


A pleasant 31c here today.
:>))

Hi Tony ~~

Read your link
Europeans mentions, but not Welsh specifically :)
So unless you can pay for my and mine's fare, I'm afraid I can't push you up to No. 1 in the ratings...lol

I'm such a slow typer I must have been typing when you had posted your long last post before me.lol

Thanks for the informative details on OZ weather, really diverse, much like Wales but on a very larger scale.
BIL in the sunshine in the north whilst we have snow in the snow!!
That's mother nature as someone said on a thread today:)

Close to midnight here ,so I'll say goodnight/ good day to all ~~~~

Sandie.x

Tony, I'll accept 10th place for Perth. I'd hate to live there myself.

Many of us think that the best view of Perth is the one in the rear view mirror and who wouldn't be happy living just over an hour's drive from Margaret River?

It now appears that 'our cyclone' is moving more slowly and losing intensity but winds of 90 kph are still expected. Very humid at the moment.

I hope that Queensland is spared from the Cyclone, and potential cyclone, off the East coast

What a bl**dy country, but I love it!

Allan

I would live there tomorrow Marion... though it would have to be either Tassie or near Melbourne.
But my family would not be too happy about it. My younger SIL didn't mind not that he dislikes me in fact he is a love but he thought it would be somewhere to stay for free hols.... his mother in Guernsey is a bit far away for too many trips.
Hopefully the weather will calm down before you get any of the cyclone Allan. Several roads have been closed today including the state highway down to Coromandel where lots of Aucklanders would normally go to their beach places for the long weekend.

And Allan I must say you have really upped your game now in the latest epsiode of the thread snatcher it was so good I read it out to my OH.
You are very talented.

Persie

Arvo.

Not a happy lad at the moment...:>((

Not soon after my last post, i thought i would go chlorinate our pool as we have the grandies coming down to-morrow ( Sunday ) for a swim, as Melbourne is expecting a high of 41c.

I use liquid Chlorine as it disperses quicker and no need to mix messy powder Chlorine.

Stood on the Pool decking and started to pour the chlorine into the pool, when a splash of chlorine liquid came up and went into my left eye....OUCH!!

Thought someone had poured salt into my eye, so quickly splashed cold water around my eyes to dilute it, but needed a quick rush up to the Doc's to have my eye swabbed and cleaned.

My own stupid fault, and normally i wear safety glasses when pouring chlorine into pool. OH didn't know whether to feel sorry for me or get angry with me for being such an idiot for not wearing glasses.

Now sitting here with a patch over one eye like Pirate Pete...lol
O'h well...... the grandies will get a laugh at the very least.

Poppy the Pirate...lol

Might do a spell check before i press enter...:>))


Tony.... *The idiot*

Ya gotta look after your eyes.

I rubbed my eyes after fiddling around with an ornamental pepper plant and boy did they sting. It all happens so quickly.

Over 30 years ago my OH was drilling and a small little speck of steel went in his eye. So we headed off to A & E. It was a wet windy night and he had on this stupid mac (raincoat) he reminded me of Columbo. Theygot it out he got told off for not wearing safety glasses. They stuck a big patch over it and I had to drive him to work the next day. He said could I stop driving so fast ( I wasn't) because he would get whiplash trying to look at the pretty girls

I guess that is a lesson learnt the hard way Poppy Tony.

Persie.

lol Perse.

You think at my age i would know better,mate.
If i saw my kids doing the same thing i would have yelled at them.

OH said, if she caught me doing it again, she would have me put down...:>((

S'mae pawb~~ (Hi everyone )...save you googling .lol

Hope everyone is well..?

Just sussed out' Arvo' Tony :)

Hope the cyclone hasn't 'touched' you Allan :) even bad winds however can do a lot of damage as we often find out. Nothing compared to yours I suspect.

Time for for food
Speak later:)

Sandie.x

Hi all, the cyclone is still heaed for the South West. It has been downgradedto a category 1 cyclone but winds are still expected to reach 100 kph.

Perth copped some of it yesterday as did the country towns of York and Toodyay. Toodyay had those devasting fires just over a year ago.

My nephew has a block of land at York but doesn't live there.

Still very dark with thick grey cloud cover. My OH will be with the choir this morning at the local church.

Tony, make sure that your eye does not give you any problems.

Persey, thanks for the compiment! That is why it has taken me so long to get it going again! Having to think of new plots and sub-plots is not easy.

Sandie, how are your fingers?

Well if the cyclone does hit, bang goes our power. 55,000 homes in and around Perth were blacked out yesterday so no air con and the temp nearly 40c

Fingers crossed

Allan