© irene waters 2015
Parts of Australia can be cold, bitterly cold and more so when you are unprepared. It is hard to think cold when you live in the tropics. A similar problem to trying to decide what to eat for dinner when you have just had lunch and are full. So unprepared we arrive in Glen Innes on the Great Dividing Range and even inside my mother can’t get warm in the hotel room.
© irene waters 2015
A bit better rugged up but still cold we wait semi patiently for an event to begin on the edge of Lake Leman (Lake Geneva) for an event to begin. Although it is spring there is still a nip in the air.
© irene waters 2015
Now this was cold. We arrived in Greenland expecting to be transported by boat to the town from the airport however bad conditions prevented the boat transport and we had the choice of walking or waiting. I chose to walk with no idea of what to expect.
© irene waters 2014
So in thin winter pants, a jumper and parka I set out on the walk not knowing at that time that it would be across ice flows and fording streams. The wind chill factor made it in the minus temperatures despite being early summer. The most inappropriate part of my clothing was the material sneakers I was wearing. They were wet through after a very short time and my toes felt pain. Frost bite I think would be an incredibly painful condition to have.
© irene waters 2015
The Inuit fisherman however looked as though he was not suffering the cold at all. It just goes to show cold is a matter of how prepared you are.
In response to Paula’s Thursday Specia
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Reflections and Nightmares- Irene A Waters (writer and memoirist) 
I think perhaps the golfing trousers are my favourite thing about this post ! 🙂
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What do you mean golfing trousers? They’re my Bay City Roller daks.
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SILLY ME ! [grin]
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Nice post Irene 😉 one of my friends from Greenland told me few days ago about -62 degrees C, around -40 F and she complained now, I can’t imagine this kind of cold.
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They are temperatures that are hard to conceive. I guess once you’re cold you are cold. Maybe she is complaining now because the heating is only meant to cope with minus 30 degrees. We complain when it goes below 25 degrees which it probably will over the next couple of days as a cyclone heads in.
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Uh, that sounds also very cold Irene, stay warm and take care 😉
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Centigrade so it is not that cold. Thanks Irene
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We never suffered as much cold as when we moved to Australia. In countries with real winters heating is taken seriously. I also think that being uncomforatble is sometimes thought In the English speaking world as being ‘bracing’ and somehow ‘good’ for you.
My mum used to say that even during the war we did not feel as much cold as when we settled in Sydney were many houses even today do not have heating, even though in winter the temperature in mornings often reaches -4C in many suburbs. Brrr.
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Yes I think that is true. We have it in our heads we live in a warm country and we just don’t prepare for cold so it ends up being freezing. Interesting that your Mum found it colder than the Netherlands in winter in the war.
Rain and wind now building. The tanks is already overflowing. I don’t think I will sleep well tonight — feel for those further north. Really scary.
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Surprisingly we get cold weather here in California too. Of course when I correspond with people in other parts of the country and hear the temperature where they are is minus degrees, I should feel spoiled. But when our hands and feet are freezing and you need a knit cap when the sun shines brightly, you feel miserable. We bought an entire new wardrobe when we moved to Washington, then bought another when we moved back home. People do adapt when they live in different climes.
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Our neighbours in Sydney thought nothing of spending the time indoors wearing winter coats. ALL DAY. When it became too much, my mum and neighbours would catch the bus to a shopping centre and warm up through the air conditioning heat, bring knitting with them and had a cosy time.
I remember spending a winter in Finland with my Helvi, trying to get warm through togetherness and by getting married. It was the only way. It was sometimes -40c, but we liked it.
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Kayti I agree. When you are cold you are cold. It doesn’t matter what the temperature actually is. My mother takes blood thinners and she can be cold when the temperature is 30degrees centigrade.(warm+) My husband lives by a creed that if you want to keep a woman happy always take a cardigan with you.
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In Minnesota, I learned to layer. In Idaho, layers don’t help with the wet conditions, so I have to learn a new strategy. I was afraid for my daughter went she went to the arctic so we bought extreme weather “systems” which included various layer and protection from the elements especially for hands and feet. Yet with all this modern clothing technology, she found that mukluks (Inuit boots) were best and that a pair of fur lined mittens worked better than her glove system. She even slept cozily in an ingloo, but in the morning when she had to pee she kicked out the snow plug to go outside. One of the Inuit asked her why she did such a thing. When she explained, he laughed and showed her that all needed to do was roll back the caribou hides and pee cozily indoors! 🙂
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That is funny Charli. The extreme cold makes life so different just to cope with it. Friends lived in Sweden when their two children were toddlers and she tells me the layers required for an outdoor excursion and then she said as soon as they had the lot on one or the other and sometimes both had to go to the toilet. Eventually in frustration she persuaded her husband to get a transfer to Australia.
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How wonderful visiting Greenland Irene. I hope you saw one of those wonderful green skies!!
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Greenland was superb and I have just persuaded my husband that a trip to Iceland and Greenland is one he’d be prepared to do. After seeing The secret Life of Walter Mitty he thought it was worth a trip so the green sky which I missed (miserable weather the whole time and only there for a very short time).
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You took a big chance with your material sneakers. Thank God you did not suffer major consequences. These are memorable photos, Irene. I will display the last one 🙂
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Pingback: Thursday’s Special: Cold | Lost in Translation
It’s funny to think about cold in the middle of summer! The coldest I remember feeling was a Bowral in the middle of winter a few years ago. I got out of the car into an icy wind, walked into the nearest shop and bought the first jacket I saw on the shelf in my size! I was very thankful they had one! 🙂
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LOL. I did the same thing on a trip to Dorrigo. I thought I’d gone prepared and first stop was the op shop to buy a coat. 🙂
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Brrrr…and I’ve just turned off the heater in my summerhouse to wrap up and go back inside and it’s really cold…so I need to get prepared! Love the photos of you and your family during different outings 🙂
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Keep warm. We are hot today. 🙂
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I can’t imagine deciding to walk! Besides being a bit lazy, I am a cold wimp. Glad you got through it with all your toes.
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It made the experience more than memorable and I’m glad I have all my toes as well. 🙂
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I hope you survived the cyclone and your home didn’t suffer!
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We were fine thanks Barbara. We got off quiet lightly.
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