Hi guys, I hope I am posting in the right place.
Next year our VISA will expire and we were considering Australia as one of the next places to live. We read on the government web site and I found that with my skills it should be relative easy to get an independent VISA.
I have a couple of windsurfing questions:
1) Is there a place in Australia, relative safe (no snake, no crocodile, no sharks)?
2) Is there in AU a place where you can windsurf almost the full year? Or is the winter too cold for windsurfing?
Sorry if I bothered you with this but I am sure I will get some honest answers in this forum.
Cheers
In answer to your questions:
1) Crocodiles are confined to northern Australia. The other two are found Australia-wide.
2) Only the very southern parts of Australia might be too cold to windsurf during winter. A good wetsuit will be needed however. If you want conditions similar to Bermuda you'll want to head for tropical or subtropical regions - Queensland most likely. You can sail year round in Queensland but it's nowhere near as windy as Western Australia (Perth) or South Australia (Adelaide) so you will need more (and bigger) sails and boards. The southern parts of Queensland are windier than the north (I think) but if you really want to windsurf a lot and have reasonably warm weather you should head to Western Australia. It's not year-round sailing, but the warm seasons are very reliable for strong South-west winds.
Thank you IKW.
We are trying to summarize this info and from there decide what would be a best suit for us.
So, I was thinking that the north of the country has summer and winter but, is it the opposite?
No offense raffaeu, but you should do a bit of googling...
Anywhere north of Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Perth (very definitely the latter three), allow 12-month sailing. Requires a bit of a wetsuit, that's all.
The wind Gods, or the Gods of wind if you will, are not consistent year-around though, it depends what you're after. Depends too where the 'skills' you mention allow you to live, are you after large cities or any small coastal place ?
Dangerous animals: bah, it's all hearsay...
If you want sailing all year round have a look at Wellington,NZ. Seriously,you'll need a wetsuit but sailing here we have waves,bump and jump conditions within a short driving distance. My quiver is 4.0,4.5 and 5.0 and I sail two-three times a week. Last October,being our best month, the average windspeed here was around 35 kts,metservice, Google it.
No snakes,sharks are too well fed to bother you and no spiders. In saying this I'm moving to Queensland next month because it is too bloody cold here in winter : ).
I live in SE Qld and usually sail at least once a week and up to 3 times a week and that's before the good wind apparently shows up in the warmer months. So long as you've got a long wetsuit you will be comfortable temperature wise all through winter. The Gold Coast is a very built up area so depending on your skills work shouldn't be an issue. As far as the dangerous animals. Crocs not an issue they are further North, Snakes well they live in all regions but you rarely see them but they are there but only active in the warmer months and the Sharks they are out there but again rarely seen which you could say is a good or bad thing. Just stay out of the river mouths at dusk and dawn and all should be OK. Realistically you are much more likely to see a dolphin around here than a shark. There has only been 3 shark attacks that i can think of in the last 5 years or so and they were either in the lakes on the Gold Coast which you should never swim in or close to dark. Where everyone goes windsurfing it's not even really an issue. In the ocean 0 attacks that i know of in something like 70 odd years
There are snakes in all parts of Australia. Australian snakes are the deadliest in the world. Much more aggressive and deadly better known snakes like rattlesnakes and cobras.
There are many sharks in Australian coastal waters now too. Great Whites are now protected. They are getting bigger and more common.
Despite this people get on with their lives and most Australians like to live here.
Just to clarify a minor point, Perth does have all year sailing, summer is much better, with steady seabreezes
Winter is mainly storm sailing, cold, gusty and less frequent.
Spring and autumn during the change over can be the doldrums.
I have heard Christmas island has great windsurfing all year round, and the best thing is you don't need a visa to stay there.
Can't agree that SEQ has more wind or better sailing than further north.
Wide BAy and CQ has consistent year round wind, and FNQ is consistently windy through winter.
It's always going to be a crap-shoot though, with all areas having seasonal variations and good and bad seasons.
Spring 2010 was sensational in SEQ, with Currumbin going off 4-5 days a week for months on end, but 2011 was tragically hopeless.
Thank you guys for all the answers.
I knew it that asking here would be much better than simply googling.
Of course I am looking with my wife for a place where we can also easily get a job. We saw that the right combination (good wind, weather, lot of jobs) may be Perth but ... **** ... real estate there is very expensive.
Anyway we are more "close to city but country side people" so probably we will start some researches now based on your feedbacks.
The only thing that worries us is that we have a wild cat and a nasty Jack Russell and moving to AU would mean for them "get out from snakes".
About sharks, I am in the middle of the Atlantic ocean and I never saw one here, and thanks god I hope I won't ever see one! But I know that AU has Bull and White sharks so I hope they are away from the common Windsurfing spots. Have you ever heard about a windsurfer hit by a shark in AU?
Anyway, thanks again for all the feedback. I am just surprised AU is still one of the few places where the government "gives you a chance" to go to there and live honesty; while other countries like US do not even want you if you are not one of the best Phd in the world.
PS: I had a friend in NZ for a year and a half and the winter is too cold for my style. Also, they have ****ty orcas in the water ... Do you know how big is an orcas??
I don't know if you could bring your pets here. There are pretty strict quarantee laws here about bringing in animals.
Yeah real estate is expensive everywhere in Australia. We are so rich here. Yes killer whales are quite big.
There was a South Australian windsurfer who was taken by a shark. Other than that people are increasingly being attacked by sharks. Of course this could be due to more people in the water. Statistically they say you are more likely to be run over by a bus than be taken by a shark. Of course you can prove anything statiscally, depending how you frame the question/statement.
Pets have already passed twice the quarantine process so ... my wife will complain but that's it.
Dude I work with statistics, it's my job, and they do not mean anything !
Feed the cat to the sharks as a peace offering and they will leave you alone.
Raff, in Australia many cats are used each year in cray pots so they are certainly on the menu for sea animals.
Keep the dog.
Here on the east coast we lose about one windsurfer a week to sharks, but that's not to bad as I think about 15 surfers and 12 kite surfers are taken each week.
The snakes are less of a Problem we normally on lose one or two locals to snake bite, they prefer immigrants and tourists, I think so far this year the amount of fatal snake bites is only about 9.
The major problem is the spiders. Can't confirm it but the total number of fatal spider bites this year is about 236, more than half of which were children, and about 75 tourist and new arrivals.
The snakes won't bother your pets but in Australia we have ticks the size of mice and two or three of them can suck a small dog dry in less than an hour!
Snakes do bother pets. Its a fairly normal event out in the country to have a dog die a painful death from snake bite.
If you are involved with statistics then Canberra is probably the go. The government have a big building there full of smart people earning heaps of money looking at statistics. Apparently the windsurfing up there is pretty good but it gets quite cold in winter. I used to live fairly close to Canberra but in a town that is a bit higher up and a bit colder. No way would I have windsurfed there in winter.
The real question is, if this big building and all the work done in it disappeared, would it affect how Australians live their lives?
If sailing north of perth watch out rigging in the dunes between scrub...
In cervantes i found a 2 ft tiger slither out from under my sail when i picked it up
To walk to the water..watch out for these ones they can sting a bit......
There are a couple of other critters that are very capable of stopping your heart and removing limbs and torsos and the like that you should be aware of.
In the swan river and other estuarys you wil find bull sharks..but these are not that scary as you wont see them...but their there..
Watch out for white pointers anywhere off the coast up to shark bay (and beyond)
When you get there your main concern would probably be tiger sharks and hammer heads.
Keep going north you will find other critters that look like giant lizards and make great wallets and hand bags and the like if you can catch one and skin it..
You will prob also come across a little jelly fish called irukandji..make sure you have a bottle of vinegar handy and perhaps a chopper to ferry you to hospital would also be good to have as well in case one swims into you...
These are a choice selection of creatures that are available for viewing here on the west coast.
I wouldnt worry too much as there are far more dangerous creatures to encounetr while sailing..
I am not sure of the proper species name for them but i prefer to call them ....teabaggers..
These are to be avoided at all costs..they have been responcible for more injurys and grief to sailboarders than any other critter that i can think of!
Unlike the other creatures that i have listed above tnese are not a native species!
The dunes can be quite hazardous between the water and foreshore road in sydney(North of airport) as well! As a precaution, don't remove you Boardies in the dunes, and never ever bend over with out looking behind you first! You never know what (who!) will jump up and 'bite' you in the ass!?!
We went on vacation, in April, to a city in south Europe in the country side and we found 4 scorpions in the house; 2 of them in the bedroom. When I saw them I have advised the landlady but she told me "no worries, if you don't touch them they won't bother you ..."
About the austrlian Teddy bear, I was thinking they eat only eucalyptus
we are serious about the reddies tho, i walked passed a young male and it booted me pretty hard, the big ones will rip you open
DONT WORRY its all good here you just get used to living here, just keep a can of fly spray handy