I’ve posted at various times about hot and cold weather by southern Australian standards.

Whenever I feel cold or write about cold weather I’m conscious of my own experiences in both the Victorian Alps and Europe, also the readers of this blog from North America.

A day of 10 degrees with a brisk wind and rain is certainly cold in Mount Gambier.

It’s very cold compared with Melbourne and Adelaide, and it’s positively Antarctic as far as most Australians from Queensland, Western Australia and New South Wales are concerned.

Eskimos would think it’s a summer day while most people from about 40 degrees north would consider it typical for autumn.

It’s interesting that latitudes north and south don’t have corresponding climates.

Mount Gambier is 38 degrees south. New York is 40 degrees north, but is much colder in winter.

It’s obviously because the surrounding landmass in the north is cold, whereas in Australia it’s warm and to the south is ocean.

Anyway, back to the topic. In Brisbane’s Courier Mail newspaper today there was a headline: “Say farewell to summer, morning chill hits south”.

The “chill” was overnight temperatures of 15.6 degrees in Brisbane, sinking to 11 degrees in the outer suburbs.

They are maximum temperatures in Mount Gambier at any time of year!

Meanwhile, in Yeppoon where we are staying on holiday (north of Brisbane) the temperature in April typically ranges from 19 overnight to 30 degrees.

At 8pm while Juliet and I walked around the town it was 24 degrees with 79 percent humidity, according to the Weather Bureau.

We saw people wearing jumpers and coats, obviously not accustomed to the cool conditions.

In the department stores here now you’re hard pressed to find shorts or short-sleeve shirts because winter stock has arrived.

There is no winter in tropical Queensland compared with southern Australia.

The nights can drop below 10 degrees in June and July, an occasional frost occurs inland and the days remain above 24 degrees. That’s as cold as it gets.

Climate is relative.