The Weather

Three days ago marked the three-month anniversary of my arriving Australia. I've survived thus far. Every single one of these three months has had perfect weather. Don't get me wrong, there has been a few rainy days, a couple dust storms, and even a few frigid, 55 degree nights. For the most part though, it has been sunny with a comfortable 70-97 degree temps, only a few days above 100. It has been all dry heat, so there has been no walls of humidity beating my soul. Every evening cools down to perfect beer and chatting temperature. In Minnesota, we get maybe two months a year of this kind of nice. This consecutive three-month stint is quite amazing. I have to say that I can see why someone would never want to leave.

There is a darker side to the Australian climates: the summer. Now, it has been technically "summer" for the past month (ok, it has been "technically" summer since yesterday, but please, all those "scientists" who want to point out the dates of the solstice and all that, just hold your guff). It just hasn't been too hot. Yesterday was 100. Today was 95. But again, with no humidity, it feels like an average day in the Minnesota summer. At some point though, usually around Christmas, it gets HOT. Like oppressive hot. Like the type of hot you only see in third world countries. I'm not exactly sure how hot it really gets, but there is a great game in Broken Hill called "Scare the Yank". To play, you kindly ask, "So, (Enter Yankee name here), how are you liking the weather so far?" No matter what your answer is, be it "Perfect!", "A bit hot", "Damn, I'm freezing." You follow up with such lines:

"I remember in 1973, it was so hot, my dog caught on fire. He was so well charred, we couldn't even eat him...back then, we didn't have meat, we had to eat dogs!...MATE!"

"Last year mate, the temperature went up to 65 degrees (Celsius) for 17 days straight! "

"It gets so hot, you can get heat stroke in 13 seconds. I've timed it mate. My buddy Boof walked out to pull the clothes of the line, last January, and he got third degree burns on his hands from touching his drying knickers...and he got heat stroke to boot."

"Sometimes matey, you just have to take a cold shower to cool down, but you can't cause the pipes have boiled!"

I'm not too sure about the validity of these claims, cause the newspaper storehouses mysteriously ignited last December, but I'm sure it does get hot. Some research has told me that I can expect 40-45 degree temperatures ( 104-113 Fahrenheit) for the next month or so, with some days in the high 30's (low 100's) to cool me off. Again, this is dry heat, so it isn't so bad. This is big test to see if Australia truly has the perfect weather. At this point, I'll take the 100's over the terrible winter they are having in states.