Winter in Oz

[Guest pitrat]

Hi all, posted a few months ago as we were not sure if visa would go through, well it has ! I now have a sub class 100 permanent residency visa. My question today (one of many to follow) is what is winter really like in Oz as we going to be coming over in March/April, have read posts on other forums saying it's worse than UK! Seem to be a bit confused on this one, temperatures dont seem to drop to -10+oC like we getting over here now and I bet it sure isn't a damp cold that get into your bones, the reason I ask this is that the wife goes into shut down mode from September to May over here and is always really cold and won't go outside the house, I know that the houses are really bad for insulation over there but is this offset by a short warmer winter than the UK so would this be a problem and is it affordable to heat a house all winter with the new carbon tax that has been implimented over there? Any views glady recieved!

 

Steve

[Guest nakigirl]

Hi Steve we arrived in Adelaide in June at the start of Winter, by all accounts it was one of the wettest and coldest but I honestly think it wouldn't compare to a UK Winter at all. We have been living in New Zealand for eight years and if want wet, cold and damp thats your place and it was definately much better here in Adelaide. The houses are very different to UK ones, we are in an old bluestone cottage which has ducted air heating. I have just had my electricity bill for the Winter quarter and it was $950 and that was using the heating for around 6-8 hours a day. I think your wife will be just fine, I had very few days where I put on a big winter coat, my hubby was wearing shorts through most of it but thats probably the kiwi influence lol

[NicF]

Winters here are definitely milder than in the UK. We arrived in July and my kids barely wore coats - just long sleved T-shirts. However it does get quite cold in the evenings and overnight and a lot of houses (okay most) don't have very good insulation. Also central heating is non existant here, although a lot of places will have either reverse cycle air conditioning that also heats or gas ducted heating. We moved in to our long term rental at the begining of August and had our heating on for about an hour in the mornings and a couple of hours in the evening and at various other times if it felt really cold. We were still freezing though and I would sit on the sofa in the evening with my big thick dressing gown over my clothes to keep warm. Our electricity bill for the first six weeks in the house was over $350.

 

If you can find a house with a living room with a gas fire in it that closes off from the rest of the house then you will be able to keep warm in the winter evenings a lot easier and cheaper.

[ian mc]

Winters are cold here not every day but most of them the evenings are cold. The longer you are here the more you feel it, the first couple of years are not too bad but your body aclimitises and then you feel it.The houses are poorly built no central heating and no double glazing are the norm here. As for Heating costs Adelaide has the worlds highest electricity costs since the carbon tax came in.

[adelaidenow]

Ian, it's because you are older that you feel them more.

[AussieRob]

I looked at a few websites before coming over and came to the conclusion that Adelaide winter day time temperatures are on average 8 degrees warmer than London but only 4 deg warmer during the night. This does mean some evenings in Winter can get cold, and certainly you can get frosts, but I only think we believe the winters are horrible here because for some reason we don't dress appropriately. I have a huge long flock coat, probably worn it 3 times in 7 years, instead I seem happy to wear a hoody and complain it's cold.... ha ha... The houses though are a problem, we had a wood heater that after 3 hours would be belting out enough heat to warm the street, but it took 3 hours to get there and the house was cold again in the morning.

[adelaidenow]

I have to disagree. a 'COLD" day in Adelaide is 13, mainly they are 14-16 in Winter.

 

UK is much colder.

[ian mc]

I have to disagree. a 'COLD" day in Adelaide is 13, mainly they are 14-16 in Winter.

 

UK is much colder.

 

Cold days in Adelaide are when it does not get above 10 which it quite often does.It was only a few weeks ago that we had SNOW at Mt Lofty which is 20 mins drive from the center of the city. It drops to 3-4 deg overnight and in some areas you do get frost.

[jtct]

We've just had our first winter in Adelaide. Yes it was colder and wetter than we expected but this was not an 'average' winter. There are occasional cold days (below 10) but not many. The nights are cool too, often in single figures up here in the Hills.

 

The main problem, as many have said, is the poor insulation of the homes and lack of double glazing so any heat built up soon cools down again.

 

However, you can experience warm days (over 20) and have cloudless blue skies too. Much nicer than endless grey, drizzly skies of the UK. Rain showers don't usually last for hours on end but they can be VERY heavy. All these pix were taken in Winter this year - judge for yourself.

[snifter]

Out of interest to those in Adelaide because I don't recall, does the city get a wind chill factor like we do in the UK? I know when its just above freezing here that with a wind chill on top it can bring it down a fair bit more to sub zero temps. That chilled to the bone wind that just goes through you, brrrrr.

 

Anyways, I can't recall that kind of cold but may be I just was lucky and missed it?

[Diane]

I was exactly the same as your wife when we lived in the UK - almost went into hibernation mode in the winter, and got ulcers on my fingers from the cold! Yes, it does feel relatively cold here in the winter, especially when you have been here a few years and acclimatized, but bear in mind that we have had one of the coolest winters here this year, and I have only worn a coat about twice. We keep a few rugs in the lounge for the evenings, and I frequently sit under one of them in the evenings when it feels really cold, but we very very rarely get those dark and dreary days where it feels like it hasn't got properly light all day, which you may find makes all the difference to your wife! I often rug up to take the dog out on winter mornings, in hat, scarf, gloves, fleece.......and sunglasses!

 

The snow mentioned above was an exception rather than an example of how cold it gets on a regular basis! It was so unusual it made the news! Even then, we didn't get any in suburban Adelaide.

[adelaidenow]

Cold days in Adelaide are when it does not get above 10 which it quite often does.It was only a few weeks ago that we had SNOW at Mt Lofty which is 20 mins drive from the center of the city. It drops to 3-4 deg overnight and in some areas you do get frost.

 

That is not adelaide its adelaide hills. Big difference. I stand by my comment. I will be shocked if adelaide has many days below 13.

 

And nothing to do with temperatures, but you see the sun almost every day, even wet ones, I reckon the sun shows itself over 350 days of the year, it may only be for a few mins some days though.

Edited October 26, 2012 by NickyT

[jtct]

This is the first winter I haven't had to suffer SADS. I had intermittent depression from November to March EVERY year back in the UK.

 

As you can tell by my posts - we live life to the full. I've taken up quilting and, as Diana said, they are very useful for snuggling under when watching TV and the draughts are whistling through the door and window frames! We also bough an electric blanket which was well used.

 

Didn't have to resort to gloves and thick socks to prevent chilblains but I did treat myself to a pair of Uggs in the sales.

[adelaidenow]

Not one day I could find where it didn't get to 12 degrees.

 

Ignore scaremongers who say Adelaide is colder than it really is.

 

http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/dwo/201210/html/IDCJDW5002.201210.shtml

[Guest AngPhil]

We arrived at the beginning of August and the days were generally nice. Even the rainy days in August had some sunshine, we did not have the endless drizzle that you get in the UK. However, the nights were freezing, mainly due to poor insulation and lack of heating in out short term let, once we got into our long term rental we were fine. We ended up sitting with a duvet on our knees on a night. I packed our down body warmers and we wore them a few times.

[Guest pitrat]

Hi all, thanks for the info, sat back here in blighty at the moment after a week of nights and its about 12 degrees outside but sun (yes sun!) poking its head in through the window and boy it feels warm, just makes me think if this is what it feels like in Oz! I don't think it can be anywhere as near as bad last year when it was -17oC and we were hacking ice off the underside of trains to try and thaw the brakes out, yet alone thaw ourselves out, this seemed to last for weeks never been so cold even felt like my bones were aching and struggled to get out of bed! Does anyone miss the real icy mornings?

[ian mc]

Its a diffrent kind of heat and cold hear, Like a lot of things taste diffrent here its not so green so the livestock eat diffrent things diffrent types of grass etc if there is any in the feilds in summer usualy just burnt grass.

[Guest moonraker1959]

I'm with Ian Mc!Initially when you move over,you will probably think "Its not even cold here in winter"But......when you become acclimatised,it will feel very cold!10c-14c in winter probably seems quite warm for winter,but its not when you live there for a while.I had a woodburner and it was on pretty much 24/7 for 5 months of the year.

[Guest Guest75]

Yep, I have to agree with Ian. The heat and cold here are "different".

Especially when you have lived here a few years.

We have just had the longest and coldest winter I have know in my 12 years here.

[adelaidenow]

It was less warmer days but far fewer very cold nights this winter. Look at the stats I provided, you are all just getting old and feel the cold more. The mean temperature was higher this year than last.

 

Put it this way, you don't see many people wearing gloves during the day.

 

Tyke,you lived in the Hills, hence being colder, a lifetsyle choice.

[Guest Guest75]

 

Tyke,you lived in the Hills, hence being colder, a lifetsyle choice.

 

The coldest of the 12 years I lived in the hills then............

[ian mc]

The coldest of the 12 years I lived in the hills then............

I felt that it was not so cold this year but the two before it were colder and longer

[sueoc]

I felt that it was not so cold this year but the two before it were colder and longer

Yup,i thought that as well!