“Jeez Mum, Dad it’s so hot I feel like a roast chicken!”. Joe our youngest announced on first arriving in Australia and to be fair it was 40 degrees in the shade that day! From the cold, rainy, damp country of England to the searing heat of a Queensland summer was quite a shock to our, senses when we first arrived. But we loved it! Goodbye muddy boots, the freezing damp, the cold that goes right to your bones, the constant drizzling rain and grey skies. Hello, blue skies, warmth, beaches, sandy toes, tropical plants and parrots for goodness sake!

Don’t worry this is not one of those blogs from a  pommy who has emigrated be-moaning the UK and then bigging up their new country or vice versa, constantly banging on about how great home was and how different Oz is. I can even hear ‘bloody go back then’ or ‘shut up about your new life’ on a few lips. No, I love both countries equally for their own characteristics. But by golly are they different, come on, no one can argue that and we’ve had some major acclimatising to do….

Starting  with the temperature and humidity of a Queensland summer….sweat, sweat, sweat. In the UK I would have been so embarrassed to show any sign of sweat in public except in the gym, yes armpits were firmly down. But here OMG I did not realise your body could sweat so much, even the backs of your hands! I can wake up and by the time I’ve got the kids off to school and hoovered I look like I’ve just had a shower in my clothes – I’m drenched! So I take another shower and you know it’s Oz when you don’t need the hot tap!

Make up, forget it, it just slides off! The only way to actually keep some on is to get in the car with the air con on, park in an underground car park and run into an air conditioned building! But my life’s not like that so I just give up from December to March and embrace the tanned natural look till it cools down. Frizzy hair? It’s just the norm and besides you wear a hat all day so no one see it anyway.

It took me some time to embrace this no make up life style and I can remember when I fully got it. It was a day mustering our cattle in 40 degrees heat. I was working the crush ( where we hold an individual cow to treat) and I was soaked in sweat. No worries I thought, it’s just the way but then I noticed Tom’s back. It drenched too, with a distinct wet line where his bum crack was and where ever he was wet, was covered in Buffalo fly and not just one or two – oh no hundreds! How more obvious could Mother Nature make it that you sweat, than by adding a thick black covering of flies too. And of course if Tom looked like that, I did too and I also had two distinct circles on my front! Who cares I thought we’re working hard, I’m loving my job and it’s time to embrace this. I was happy, sweaty, covered in dust and flies and I would not have swapped it for the world! Don’t get me wrong I still love dressing up but it’s just not so important anymore!

Extra note: look out for my future blog ‘From fearing the rain…. to dancing in the rain!’