It's Definately Hotter Than 24

I know all of us Tasmanians are going on about the hot weather, but it really isn't something that we experience a lot of, and something we definitely aren't prepared for.

Our friend Marlo moved from Victoria in about March or April this year. She had visited Tasmania before, but had never experienced much of the Tasmanian weather till she moved here. All winter she would ask us 'is this the coldest it will get?' every time we would see her. She would come and visit all rugged up and would say how she was over the winter (only half way through). We told her to be prepared for a long winter and short summer.

A few weeks ago she asked me 'does it ever get hotter than 24 degrees?'. I couldn't help but laugh as she really believed it would never get over 24 degrees. It had been a very mild summer all of December, and if it started to get into the low 20s (celcius) we would get very excited. A few days in early January hit 24 degrees and Marlo would text me all excited saying 'it's going to be 24 degrees today!' (she has become obsessed with checking the weather report 3 times a day supposedly!). We have told her that it is always when the tennis starts (Australian Open) and when school goes back that it gets really hot, and told her that sometimes we would even get into the low 30s!

Oh boy what a shock the past few days have been! Yesterday was almost 37 degrees and it broke previous records, and we thought that it surely couldn't get any hotter but today it did - it was 39!! Yeah, yeah - I know what you mainlanders are all saying - you get that all the time :) but I swear the heat down here is a lot more intense - the sun just burns so much more. Thank goodness we don't live on the mainland! During winter we always joke that we should move to the mainland as we quickly get over the long winter, but seriously - I couldn't stand it!! Most people here don't have air conditioners, so we are doing all that we can to stay as cool as possible.

Jay, Harri and I went to the pool again today. It was just too hot to even consider taking Noah and Kobe out in the van (which is so old it also doesn't have any a/c). I attempted the slide with Harri - I was actually scared and screaming all the way down! (thanks Kylie for the pic!)

The boys have been going around with very little on - whenever we are home they often just wear shorts, undies, or nappies!

We have been making good use out of the new pool in the backyard. The boys will run out there numerous times a day and just jump in. Aaron and I even jump in when we are desperate! :)

Kobe loves it when we are all out in the pool,


but not so much when we are inside where it is so hot, despite closing all the blinds, opening all the windows and having four fans going at once.

Noah is finding it harder than any of us. Yesterday he wasn't too bad - he slept most of the day, but today he has really struggled. After just seeing Dr B (his paediatrician) two days ago and telling him his seizures have been so good and he's hardly having any, he is now having so many more because of the heat. We have been trying desperately to keep him cool by putting fans on him, laying cold face washers on him, spraying him with water and when he's really hot, putting him into a cool bath.

Because he's having so many seizures again he is getting a lot of cerebral irritation. This afternoon he started yelling and has only just settled down now - 7 hours later. It's a horrible yell where there is nothing you can do to stop it. He hasn't been like that for a while now, so it's been horrible listening to it all afternoon. Something funny though - some idiot stole our petrol cap (and probably some petrol) and also tampered with the drivers side lock on our van. I rang the police to report it (I knew there is nothing they can do, but thought I should report it anyway) and he could obviously hear Noah yelling in the background and goes 'sounds like you have a hungry cat there!'. I just laughed and said 'yeah!'. Didn't want to tell him that was my son yelling - he might have arrested me for neglecting my children or something! ;) It is exactly what he sounds like - a very agro cat!

We're all a bit agro with this heat at the moment, and hope that it starts to cool down soon - although the forecast tomorrow isn't saying its going to just yet :(