It’s coming up to the second week of August and all I’ve been hearing for the last few weeks is “OMG it is so cold today, I’m so freezing!” More often than not, it’s coming from Queenslanders as well. I genuinely feel for the folks south of the border because with day time highs of a balmy 8 deg C, that is pretty cold. But I find it very hard to be sympathetic towards my fellow south-east Queenslanders gadding about in shorts and t-shirts, griping about the cold. Granted, it is a bit cold for August in Brisbane but in the end, our day time temps are still above 10 deg C for the most part.
Now this photo is of a cold place. I took it in Te Anau in 2004 in mid-August. It snowed down to sea level on the South Island of New Zealand, coinciding with our departure from Dunedin to Te Anau. Having never seen or felt snow before, I thought it was pretty awesome! And to be honest, I still do because it is a novelty for me. But the next morning when we were due to go to Milford Sound and the road was completely blocked due to an avalanche, I started to feel just a little bit over it. We waited the day out and hoped to go the next day but no such luck. It wasn’t until we were almost about to leave Queenstown (3 days later) that the road was finally clear. By that time of course, our time in New Zealand was drawing to a close.
I love the snow but I’m very thankful that I don’t have to live or plan my life around it. I’m very grateful to live in Queensland where the winters are very mild and we can generally conduct business as usual. So to my fellow Queenslanders moaning about the cold – go put something warmer on and consider yourself lucky that you can still get out your door in the morning and not have to shovel a foot of snow out of the way to do so. 
