Right now the hoons are taking over the city after that stupid car race last weekend. Next we'll have Schoolies' Week, then the hordes of tourists will arrive in December, and it's perpetually 34 degrees C, even during the evening summer storms.

I hate this time of year.

Serves you right for living in Qld

Move to Tassie!

I'm planning on doing just that in a couple of years.

whinge whinge whinge blah blah blah.....
Why don't you move to Canberra..
Then you'd complain about how BORING it is...
How long you been living in QLD for anyway?

Start looking now, 'coz I reckon property prices are going to skyrocket down there (a lot of people from the mainland are moving to Tassie)

Sorry where? I fell asleep there for a tick.

Try a Summer in Melbourne. Stinking hot and not a decent beach in sight.

HEY! As a Canberran representitive I resemble that!

Nah, Canberra is a great place to go cycling. Lots of on road cycling lanes and the motorists around here are pretty considerate of cyclists. The night life is the same as anywhere, maybe just more compact.

Regards, Anthony

Probably too long. Actually, it isn't so bad for much of the year -- we don't really get a winter to speak of, and the Gold coast hinterland has a surprising variety of riding experiences. It's just this time of year that traditionally bugs me.

As far as I can see, they already have in Hobart and Launceston. I spoke to someone when I was down there back in December, he told me that the place he bought a couple of years earlier for $90,000 was now valued at $425,000. That said, it isn't exactly cheap up here either.

Yep seen it before... all the cashed-up mainlanders come down, inflate the prices, spend a couple of nasty winters there, miss the "culture", get frustrated when the locals don't "do it the way we do it in Sydney/Melbourne/wherever" (the very reason why they moved south).... then decide it's not for them, try to sell up, and find they can't at their original prices. A property glut occurs and it takes about five years for the State to get back to the same real estate activity as the rest of the country. I think I've seen five cycles now...

I think you'll find the motivations are a little different now and whilst I don't disagree that a proportion will regret their decision and head back, there are a large number who will remain. Especially those who are looking at the ramifications of climate change.

What do you mean by this?

According to the boffins, Tasmania's weather will be least affected in terms of rainfall and temperature.

Hmmm... so the moves are more an escape from the ramifications of so-called climate change, rather than making a contribution to the solution to the problem created in their own environment. My way of looking at it is... they simply want to transfer their lifestyles from the big city to a little city or State, with the inherent difficulties those lifestyles bring.

Environment has always been at the top of the agenda of most people who move to Tasmania from the mainland, and particularly big cities. Clean air and water, lots of bush, great place to bring up kids, etc etc etc. And yes, Hobart has been the only Australian capital city regarded as not having to worry about long-term water issues. Toss in the perceived opportunity to make a real estate killing by buying up cheap and selling rich (as per Chris L's observations) and the temptations are irresistable.

But environment wears thin pretty quickly for most people, and the "small-mindedness" of Tasmanians (and the few who successfully make the transition), usually sends the nouveau-riche mainlanders rushing back after two or three winters. That lack of culture -- whether it be music venues, pubs, museums, casinos or even tourist facilities -- becomes almost unbearable. Some set up business and fail dismally because their markets are unsustainable. The three-monthly trips to the mainland to "revitalise" with family and friends also become tiresome -- quite literally, you cannot drive to another State or capital city like you can on the mainland for a change of scenery, and the airlines don't run like they do between Melbourne and Sydney.

The trouble is... the investment capital is rarely recovered when the decision is made to return to the mainland, and in addition, as property buyers, those individuals or families have been left behind and cannot buy their way back in even to their original suburbs. What they do leave behind in Tasmania is a depressed property market, and a bad taste in the mouths of locals who have been lampooned and pilloried in the meantime.

Good post Rowan.

I think a lot of people don't make the connection between population growth and environmental issues, but that's what's really at the heart of it. The water problems in Brisbane are a prime example -- recent rainfall has 'topped' the supply up to around 20% of capacity (it was 16 back in July). Yes, it's been dry for a while, and selling off a chunk to top up the Gold coast supply some years ago didn't help, but the real problem here is that the population of South East Queensland has literally doubled in around 15 years. The infrastructure simply cannot keep up with that sort of population growth, nor can the natural systems that provide resources and a whole multitude of other issues.

A total lack of net population increase over the last 20 years or so is the only thing that's really preserved Hobart's environment. I hear people telling me that "everyone's going to move there" in a few years as if that's supposed to be a good thing. All that does is make me wonder whether there would really be any point going down there if everyone else is just going to bring their problems along.

See you there

G'day

You should try Perth then ... wind and more wind .... always seems to be head winds.

Andrew

It depends on where you live. I lived in Warwick so it was mostly tailwinds for me. Hooray!


For my colleague in Cannington it was the opposite.

Or more precisely your direction of travel :-) If you ride south in the morning and north in the avro you are more likely to be okay, that is true. However that assumes that there is no easterly which are common over the summer. Side winds impact on nearly everyone, whether going north or south, unless of course you are only riding towards the west but that might mean a bit of swimming

Andrew

Usually the wind only got up in the afternoon (from the SW) so I had a nice breeze at my back. It was rare that there was too much wind in the mornings.

I am not so sure. Easterlies are pretty common here in the summer, reflective of the land heating up. Take a look at https://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averag...d/wrsum9.shtml which shows the prevailing morning winds.

Of course, you are correct about the afternoons, that dreaded (for some of us anyway Fremantle Doctor) comes in from the southwest as evident at https://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averag...d/wrsum3.shtml.

Regards
Andrew

This wind business always amused me... when I was planning my Perth-Adelaide trip I was told on more than one occasion that I would always have tailwinds and I was choosing the best direction. Well, things didn't transpire that way, and as I moved closer to the Bight, southerly and south-easterly seabreezes became the norm. I remember one day when I put in only about 40km into a strong headwind. Needless to say, the people who were the experts on wind never rode bicycles.

Oddly, I cannot really remember many major problems with wind while I lived in Perth. The Doctor is very similar, however, to the summer seabreezes that come up the Derwent Estuary in Hobart, getting to 25 knots on occasions, and funnelling on up through the valleys to the north. That can be "fun", battling through those headwinds heading home. Good for sailing though!!

What time of the year are you referring to?

Andrew

Easterlies weren't usually much of an issue as I was riding more or less due south and mostly sheltered from the wind. IIRC the wind was usually ok first thing in the morning.