Perth - Hell it's hot, it's hell.

[Fish]

What you tend to find is that Australia generally is very flat! ....

? Quite a few of the cities are hilly though.

[AAAZR]

Most houses look a lot better and newer here in Perth than the average house anywhere else we have been in Oz. Brissie was not bad and not far behind. But there were more slightly older and not well maintained homes. Sydney housing... Danville looks like the upper class in comparison. Again, perhaps the areas we moved through was just crappy but most homes looks like they were built in 1905 and rarely maintained. There were the occasional home that looked good, but those were few and far between.

Oh my word Jacques, waar die hel was jy in Sydney? Shame, klink omtrent of jy gemartel is tydens jou LSD trippie

Seriously, it all depends on the area! We live in the Hills District and its the furthest thing from Danville imaginable..

We've been here for 8 months now and I can not think of anywhere else in the world I'd rather be than Sydney and to think it was never even on our short list . The weather never really played a role in our decision so I can't relate with you on that, our MAIN criteria was the availability of work. No use living somewhere with perfect weather but you can't afford to buy groceries because you can't find a job.

In your line of work...I would definitely say Sydney!!! Yay for Sydney!!!

Edited December 28, 2012 by AAAZR

[Sibella]

Melbourne is lovely and hilly in many areas, the weather gets hot for a maximum of two days after which it cools down with much needed rain and the flies are few and far between (although we had a few when we went for a picnic in the forest yesterday but none in the suburbs!).

In the beginning it reminded me of some of the very average suburbs of Joburg but then you get used to it and discover hidden gems with beautiful houses and gardens. Also the housing close to the city again is quite old and samey while the suburbs further out (about 30 mins) are more modern and what South Africans are used to.

Someone once said that every day in summer is the same in Perth - this is nice for planning a outdoor party or something as you know what it will be like, but definitely not for everyone. I enjoy Melbourne weather a lot, one day hot, next day hot and windy, next day cloudy and rainy... you never know what you're gonna get! And it's great because then you really enjoy those hot days and make the most of it because you know the next day it will be different.

[elliemellie]

With little kids, you can't go wrong in WA - it's the land of milk and honey and play parks.

We did a couple of week's road trip with the little ones, WA is very child friendly. Just arrived in Geraldton where we'll be staying. Extremely hot, but the foreshore water play park beats everything hands down.

Good luck with the job hunting and settling in

[Jacques Voogt]

Still hot, but today's clouds sure helped a lot.

To me climate does matter. It does not make sense to live in a place where you go to work and go home. You might as well live at the north pole. I need to be able to enjoy the outdoors. I do not enjoy heat waves.

I also figured out where the name comes from. When the first settlers arrived and claimed the land, the one bloke asked the other: "what should we call it?" The second responded with a "perrrffft" to get the fly off his lip and said new England. Seams the first bloke had a fly in the ear and he only got the "perrrffft" part.

:-)

[maxi]

Been in Perth nearly 3 years. You get used to the heat, how ever it is only bad for about 3 months . It was hot today , and I felt it as I was doing repairs to my roof. Nearly died of heat stroke .As for the flies ,they are not that bad , you can get a fly repellant which works quite well. We south Africans complain to much about these trivial things, the locals don't . I think it was Pieter Dirk Uys who said " adapt or die " My son works on Captain Cook cruisers , and he came home half dead today . He said the boat he worked on today had aircon break down 38* on the boat , as a result all non alcoholic where on the house . Only in Perth , got to love it

[maxi]

Still hot, but today's clouds sure helped a lot.

To me climate does matter. It does not make sense to live in a place where you go to work and go home. You might as well live at the north pole. I need to be able to enjoy the outdoors. I do not enjoy heat waves.

I also figured out where the name comes from. When the first settlers arrived and claimed the land, the one bloke asked the other: "what should we call it?" The second responded with a "perrrffft" to get the fly off his lip and said new England. Seams the first bloke had a fly in the ear and he only got the "perrrffft" part.

:-)

It's not that bad Jacques

[Gizmo]

@ Johnno and Oubas

I asked our neighbours about the fly thing (they grew up in our area, then lived in the sticks, then down south, now live back here). They said that the fly issue was an issue even here a few years ago (before we arrived). Apparently they introduction of the dung beetle in Perth is the reason for the huge depletion in flies.

They concurred that you totally do not want to be down south (Busso, Marge river, Dunsb) in fly season - the hats with nets are a necessity then! Fortunately our trips down south have never been in fly season (spring time) - we have been there in winter, Easter and early summer, so have not had the pleasure of the beasties!

So far we haven't been to the "bush", so our experience over the past four years has been pretty fly-free.

If I had to comment on something that I do find a problem here - its the mozzies! OK - we live near Lake Joondalup, so that probably factors into it, but the amount of mozzies is way more than Cape Town. And, the mozzies here are different to SA mozzies. In SA, you get a 5c piece size bite, but OMW, there is something in those buggers that totally reacts specifically to me here. I get itchy bites the size of an oreo cookie (and bigger)!!! Fortunately there are a lot of mozzie repellant sprays you can slather yourself in here - a must in my case!

Beyond that, I love Perth! We were at the beach yesterday in the "40 degree heat", and it was lovely - because it wasn't 40 degrees. There was a soft cool sea breeze.

I think that has to be said about the highs and lows - if you look at the Perth forecasts it says 25-40 for example. The high is 40 - this doesn't mean that it is 40 the whole day! The temperature will actually range from 25 up to 40 and then down again. One big difference Ihave found to Cape Town though is that when the sun goes down, the temperature doesn't drop as quickly as it does in the Cape. It is quite normal for it to be 9pm at night and the temperature is still around 30 degrees. This is fantastic if you are sitting outside, enjoying the evening with friends and a cold beer (slathered in mozzie repellant), but, if you don't have air-con, its not so great when its time to go to bed. We spent our first summer in a rental without air-con.... not something I would recommend. The days are fine, but the nights were awful - we used to go to bed with wet towels draped over us to keep cool enough to sleep!

Edited December 28, 2012 by Gizmo

[Fish]

...In SA, you get a 5c piece size bite, but OMW, there is something in those buggers that totally reacts specifically to me here. I get itchy bites the size of an oreo cookie (and bigger)!!! ...

Gizmo this happened to my English wife when we first moved to Australia. The mozzie bite would react and spread and she would get a very large raised lump bigger than an oreo. To give you some hope (maybe?) this stopped after a number of years and now she gets a little bite almost as small as the rest of us. She does love to scratch when first bitten though so that doesn't help. It really is a test of will power

Edited December 28, 2012 by Fish

[Johnno]

@ Johnno and Oubas

I asked our neighbours about the fly thing (they grew up in our area, then lived in the sticks, then down south, now live back here). They said that the fly issue was an issue even here a few years ago (before we arrived). Apparently they introduction of the dung beetle in Perth is the reason for the huge depletion in flies.

They concurred that you totally do not want to be down south (Busso, Marge river, Dunsb) in fly season - the hats with nets are a necessity then! Fortunately our trips down south have never been in fly season (spring time) - we have been there in winter, Easter and early summer, so have not had the pleasure of the beasties!

So far we haven't been to the "bush", so our experience over the past four years has been pretty fly-free.

If I had to comment on something that I do find a problem here - its the mozzies! OK - we live near Lake Joondalup, so that probably factors into it, but the amount of mozzies is way more than Cape Town. And, the mozzies here are different to SA mozzies. In SA, you get a 5c piece size bite, but OMW, there is something in those buggers that totally reacts specifically to me here. I get itchy bites the size of an oreo cookie (and bigger)!!! Fortunately there are a lot of mozzie repellant sprays you can slather yourself in here - a must in my case!

Beyond that, I love Perth! We were at the beach yesterday in the "40 degree heat", and it was lovely - because it wasn't 40 degrees. There was a soft cool sea breeze.

I think that has to be said about the highs and lows - if you look at the Perth forecasts it says 25-40 for example. The high is 40 - this doesn't mean that it is 40 the whole day! The temperature will actually range from 25 up to 40 and then down again. One big difference Ihave found to Cape Town though is that when the sun goes down, the temperature doesn't drop as quickly as it does in the Cape. It is quite normal for it to be 9pm at night and the temperature is still around 30 degrees. This is fantastic if you are sitting outside, enjoying the evening with friends and a cold beer (slathered in mozzie repellant), but, if you don't have air-con, its not so great when its time to go to bed. We spent our first summer in a rental without air-con.... not something I would recommend. The days are fine, but the nights were awful - we used to go to bed with wet towels draped over us to keep cool enough to sleep!

I read/heard somewhere that the dung beetles made a difference but what the scientists did not foresee was that the dung beetle became tucker (food) for certain bird species so they are not as affective as originally hoped. What has made a difference is urban sprawl. Perth is pretty built up and there's no really close farming activities unless you start heading east. In the 12 years I've been in Perth I'd say that the flies are 100 times worse out bush, down south or up north. However I thought of you yesterday evening when walking my dogs at 6pm. I had one hand on the lead and the other waving the flies away. Next time you drive along West Coast drive (the road running along the coast from Hillary's Harbour to Trigg) check out how many people carry small branches to swat flies from their faces. Funny that you mention mozzies. We've never had a mozzie problem in Perth and if it were not for visiting friends in Hocking who have a huge pond, I'd swear that Perth did not have mozzies!

The sea breeze makes a huge difference. We live a 10 min walk from Whitfords beach and on any summers day the temp at our house is about 5 degree less than friends in Hocking and more than other friends who live in Swan Valley (Ellenbrook). When the afternoon breeze kicks in, the diffs is much greater.

I love Perth as well, the weather suites me just fine.

[Emille]

all bugs seem to on steroids in australia

[OubaasDik]

Hi Gizmo,

Thanks for your answer.

I spend as much time as I can out in the bush - specifically the Wannerro Shooting Complex, and some days the flies can be maddening. You're trying to aim and they're crawling over the sights, and in your eyes and up your nose ... it's impossible.

One club used to hang up fly traps in "the season" and these would have a capacity of about a litre each - so they'd hang maybe 20 of these, and every week they'd empty about half a litre of dead flies out of each trap ....... UUUURGGGH!!! And the buggers would still be crawling in where ever they could. Usually settled after a month or six weeks - but beware the unseasonable shower and "they're back" anew.

Having said that, I haven't had many mozzie complaints - I don't live near any lakes.

That said, when we reach the "40 deg for the next 5 days" stages in Perth I detest it ..... after 3 days the interior walls of the house are already more than blood warm - it feels like the whole house glows at night ....... I hate it.

For the rest of the year I love Perth, but those days - usually in Feb are beyond me.

[Jordy]

I really dont know what everyone is complaining about. It be 40C at present but it only feels like 39C.

[OubaasDik]

That sounds refreshing, Jordy ......

[Johnno]

I really dont know what everyone is complaining about. It be 40C at present but it only feels like 39C.

haha, Jordy, LMAO!! BTW, what website/app is that pic from. The standard iPhone weather app seems way off!!

[Jordy]

haha, Jordy, LMAO!! BTW, what website/app is that pic from. The standard iPhone weather app seems way off!!

Its from Windows 8 Weather App on a desktop PC. I guess it is powered by Bing.

[Jacques Voogt]

Today is another scorcher with almost no clouds in sight and a hot burning wind.

[AndreaL]

I lived in Perth between 2005 and 2007 and despite some scorching hot summer days in December/January, found the climate to be much milder than Queensland. I don't think we have had a temp under 33 in the last two months and more often than not closer to and above 40. This year is probably the hottest in around 5 or 6 years and we have only had probably one days rain in the past 4 months (here in Moranbah anyway). As a whinging Pom, I never thought the words would escape my lips but.....I would love some rain, I even think I would go out and play in it if it rained.

[OubaasDik]

OTOH, here I am in Canberra - it's 27 deg and it feels - oh, maybe 27.

[AndreaL]

OTOH, here I am in Canberra - it's 27 deg and it feels - oh, maybe 27.

I would need my balaclava and gloves if it dropped below 28.

[OubaasDik]

I've seen the people on the trains in the Perth winter mornings when it's 15 deg, all balaclavad and scarved and gloved. Seemed like the only time they had to wear winter clothes so they had to take it.

[AndreaL]

I've seen the people on the trains in the Perth winter mornings when it's 15 deg, all balaclavad and scarved and gloved. Seemed like the only time they had to wear winter clothes so they had to take it.

Yep, probably sitting with a cupboard full of winter clothes and itching to wear them. If it hits 24 degrees I get my long boots out

[OubaasDik]

Yep, probably sitting with a cupboard full of winter clothes and itching to wear them. If it hits 24 degrees I get my long boots out

Any minute you're going to tell us you have Uggs - say it ain't so, Andrea .....

[Jacques Voogt]

I'd wear my shorts and a t-shirt @ 15 degrees.

Ideal for a 20k run. Or just being active outside.

[AndreaL]

Any minute you're going to tell us you have Uggs - say it ain't so, Andrea .....

Nooooo, I have a shoe or rather boot fetish....as does almost every woman in Australia, these are knee high black leather boots, or my cowboy boots, or my stiletto Victorian boots or......you get the picture

@ Jacques .....I'd be huddled under the doona or have the heater on if it was 15 degrees......My time living in Namibia prepared me for 40 degree plus temps, but that was a lovely dry heat and not the humid kind.