Bits and Bobs: Life in Australia

Used to the sight of street children, begging adults holding children at traffic lights, and South African debates about how to best deal with street children and beggers, I found the following article in our local newspaper interesting: Our local McDonalds (or Maccas, as it's known here) recently called the police when a mother sat down with her children (boys aged one and four) on the median strip in a busy road after buying food for the children from the fast food outlet. The McDonalds staff were concerned and called the police, who found the 32 year old woman was doped up on valium, having taken the drug just before their outing. She pleaded guilty to two counts of endangering the life of a child.


Cash toll booths have been closed on two of our nearby motorways. We have a tag inside our cars that registers as we go through the toll, and when we reach a minimum amount of credit, the next instalment is charged to our credit card. Although the tags have been available for some time, it is only in the last month that the cash toll booths have been closed. There are now various ways to pay -- either using the tags as we've got, or using a video system which enables you to have an account and the video of you going through the toll to be matched to your account and your toll fee deducted. You can also charge your credit card for a period of travel (between one and 30 days) -- included in the charge is a video matching fee. While the system is still being phased in, if you don't have any of these systems in place when you go through the toll, you'll have three days to go into a centre and pay your toll! (By the way, there was also an advert in the local paper thanking the toll collectors that had made a significant contribution to Queensland Motorways for the past 23 years. The advert states: "With less than a week to go before the toll booths close on 22 July, we encourage you to take the opportunity to farewell your favourite toll collector as you pass through the toll booths." How nice is that?


The Lord Mayor of Brisbane Campbell Newman refers to the problem of dumped shopping trolleys that I mentioned in a previous blog. Relatively speaking, of course, this is a really serious problem. Writes the Lord Mayor: "These abandoned trolleys are smashed into cars by vandals. They are pushed into creeks or left in the middle of the road to be struck by unsuspecting motorists. It will now be an offence to walk down the street with a shopping trolley without a good reason." Talking about other by-law type legislation, the Lord Mayor says that the council will also be going after people who litter the city with unauthorised billboards and posters. "These new local laws will allow us to target the people who authorise the distribution of these posters and not just the poor mugs who get paid a pittance to put them up, unaware of the legality." Newman concludes by writing: "I want each and every one of you to be fiercely proud of your local suburb but it's hard to be proud of your local suburb when it looks like a garbage dump."


Residents of Holland Park, a suburb covered by the community newspaper that we receive, are being offered free one-way screws to secure their car registration (number) plates after a recent spate of licence plate thefts. What a crime prevention initiative! The crime prevention police launched Screws on Crime enabling residents to secure their licence plates with one-way screws. The plates were being stolen by thieves wanting to commit 'petrol drive-offs' or other crimes. The police said that in the current economic climate registration plates are often stolen and fitted to another vehicle so the vehicle can be filled with fuel and driven away without paying. Of course, the stolen registration plate makes it difficult to track down the responsible person.


Footpaths are another issue that were raised in a recent magazine column written by Lord Mayor Campbell Newman. This financial year Brisbane council will spend at least $23million on footpaths -- about $9million more than last year. Newman writes: "Believe it or not, footpaths are one of those issues that split communities -- like traffic calming. Many people don't want a concrete footpath. They prefer grass, while others want sure footing as they walk down the straight. Those who do want a footpath would prefer it goes on the other stide of the street and so on and so forth. It's a real balancing act." Whew. Not being used to the general availability of footpaths, we've just been really appreciative to have them at all!

Crime

I found it really interesting (especially after writing extensively about crime in South Africa) to read a round up about the local crime in a community newspaper recently. It was for the bay area which is west of where we live. The report showed individual incidents that had occurred. This is a summary:
The main story was an appeal for witnesses to an assault that took place outside a hotel/bar recently.
Other incidents were listed per area
Alexandra Hills
1. Car broken into. Swiss army knife stolen
2. Camper trailer stolen from driveway between 8pm on May 31 and 3.30pm on June 2.
3. Attemted break and enter at a house
4. Window of a classroom at the state high school broken. A fluoro light bulb and covers stolen
5. Car parked at shopping centre damaged between 11pm on June 5 and 1am on June 6
6. Brick used to smash 13 windows at high school. Soft drinks stolen from canteen.
7. Closed circuit camera stolen from sports club. Offender was on a bicycle.

Birkdale
1. Glass panel of door at primary school broken

Cleveland
1. Four hubcaps stolen from car parked in underground car park of shopping centre between 11am and 1pm

Capalaba
1. Two number plates stolen from car
2. Car broken into and property stolen
3. Two registration plates stolen from car
4. Rocks thrown at a car parked in a school car park
5. Business broken into and unsuccessful attempt to open a safe
6. School broken into. Furniture and other items thrown out of the window
7. Welding equipment stolen from business
8. People seen throwing rocks and breaking panels of a bus shelter

Mount Cotton
1. Graffiti vandalism to a sign
2. Sledge hammer or crowbar used to open a locked wooden door of a convenience store, but nothing stolen

Thornlands
1. Car stolen from driveway. Keys were left in the ignition

Victoria Point
1. Purse and mobile phone stolen from outside a supermarket after the owner left them behind and returned to find them gone

Wellington Point
1. House broken into. Jewellery, household items, keys to car, and the car stolen
2. House broken into. Jewellery stolen

Coochiemudlo Island
1. House broken into. Alcohol stolen
2. House broken into. Money, alcohol and mobile phone stolen

Weather

Before we arrived in Australia one person said to me that Melbourne, with extreme changes in weather, had cold and somewhat miserable weather for about nine months of the year. Brisbane, on the other hand, was almost unbearably hot and humid for about three months of the year. During that time it was best to spend as much time as possible in a swimming pool or in an airconditioned shopping mall.

When I arrived here at the beginning of December it certainly was HOT. That is definitely HOT in capital letters. The sun here feels very penetrating and we spent a lot of time indoors. Unless you have a covered pool (shade cloth or sails, as they are called, are sometimes used to cover pools) you can't be in it in the middle of the day because the sun really is just too hot.

For the last three months that I was in South Africa we'd had lots of rain. There would be a couple of hottish days, and then three or four days of rain and cool temperatures. There was no such thing in Brisbane during the first three months or so that we were here. Even now I can count on one hand the number of days that I've worn a jersey (jumper in Aussie lingo).

When I walked through the shops in February (still thinking that this was a good way to get away from the heat), I was amazed to see jackets, long sleeve pyjamas, long sleeve shirts, long pants. In fact, the only things with short sleeves were on the sale racks.

Having come from Durban, I'm beginning to wonder how well prepared we are for this Brisbane winter, or whether we need to start accumulating some winter woolies. It really hit me in the shops this week when I saw lots of beanies, boot slippers, wooly scarves and gloves. I stood there looking at them wondering whether these are things we're going to need to stock up on, or whether they're just there for those who are travelling to cooler climes.

A friend who moved here over a year ago said that they used the fireplace in their home every evening during winter. However, someone I've met here who is from New Zealand scoffed at the thought of it even being slightly cold!

Well, I thought it would be fun to do some internet surfing. One site describes the winter weather as mild and very pleasant with sunny winter days that are an average of about 17C.

Another site has the following average temperatures:
Dec/Jan/Feb -- Max 29.20C; Min 20.40C
Mar/Apr/May -- Max 25.80C; Min 16.40C
Jun/Jul/Aug -- Max 21.20C; Min 10.10C
Sep/Oct/Nov -- Max 16.00C; Min 15.60C

Just for fun, I thought it was worth looking at the records for high and low temperatures. The highest max recorded is 39.6 which was recorded in December 1981. The lowest min of 0.6C was recorded in June 1971 and August 1994.

So how do the temperatures in Brisbane compare to Durban? Well, the highest recorded temperature that I could find for Durban was 40C in October, the lowest 3C, in July and August. Average temperatures range from a maximum of 28C in summer to 23C in winter and a minimum of 21C in summer to a minimum of 11C in winter. So it seems that the temperatures really are quite similar.

The ourbrisbane.com website lists the weather as one of the best things about living in Brisbane. This is what they have to say about the weather: "Winter, what winter? –well, yes there are about 8 weeks of cold nights and early mornings when we don a scarf and fluff up the doona [that is, a duvet]. But, seriously, Brisbane’s winter is nothing but divine. Compared to half of Australia that suffers arctic winds, frosts and icy roads, Brisbane’s temperatures let us thaw out in the winter sun. Plus, ask anyone from countries that see snow and they’ll scoff at our idea of ‘cold’."

So I guess, being from South Africa, we might need to get a little prepared (especially considering we don't have a heater in the house), put the electric blanket on the bed and perhaps even invest in a hat, scarf and gloves.

Facts about Brisbane

Found these facts in a recent magazine:
* Brisbane is the capital of Queensland and Australia's third largest city
* Brisbane is the largest of Australia's six capital cities by geographic area and the third largest municipality in the world
* Brisbane has averaged economic growth of more than 4.5 percent for the last 20 years
* Population: 1.8 million people
* Exports are forecast to double from $41billion in 2004 to $98billion by 2026