Staying cool
Australia is not quite known for having great winter sport facilities. That may be due to the rather high average temperatures and the lack of snow. Also, winter sport outfitters are not widely spread in the country. Although, a year ago in the middle of summer I had seen here at the Gold Coast a really well-stocked shop for snowboards, skis and related equipment. I had the pithy name “Snowbiz“. However, given the prevailing outside temperatures of permanently over 30°C, it was not surprising that there were no customers in the shop. The shop is still there, which I think is rather surprising for subtropical Queensland. Obviously, there seems to be a demand and the shop meets this demand with a good selection on offer.
Freezing Aircon
Perhaps it also has something to do with the urge of Australians for coolness (in terms of both temperature and behaviour). An essential part of this is the operation of a proper air-conditioning and not only in buildings, but also in vehicles. Three days ago on a Sunday morning at 6 o’clock I took a bus (I should rather have taken my bike). While the temperature was about 20 °C outside it was freezing inside the bus. The air conditioning of the bus was set to full power, which is standard in public buses. Usually it takes a while for me to get cold (I had only a short pair of running pants and a T-shirt on), but not in that bus.
Cold Beer
Generally I prefer cooler regions of the earth (friends wondered why of all things I moved to subtropical Queensland. Well …) But as I said, people like it cool here as well, especially regarding alcoholic drinks. In a “drinking-hall” (this is my expression for taverns in Queensland) you can see beer taps, which are covered in a centimetre thick layer of ice (in this case the air conditioning is not the cause of that). In this regard, the Australians fortunately have broken with an English tradition. The English habit of serving lukewarm beer. I can only welcome that.
BYO
In Australia, it is common to bring your own drinks to a dinner invitation or party. This is also the case at the many BYO restaurants, where BYO stands for “bring your own”. So you bring your own alcohol and pay only a “corkage fee”. However, the term is not quite correct any longer. 99% of wine bottles in Australia only have screw tops, not to mention beer.
Cooling Containers
To carry your booze to the party or BYO-restaurant, one can purchase the most unusual cooling containers. E.g. if you look for “Fridges & Coolers” at the Australian Boot & Camping chain BCF, you will have 147 items to choose from. In addition to 200l (!) ice boxes you will find the corresponding size denominations such as “Sixer Cooler”, “9 Can Soft Cooler” or for the big thirst “30 Can Soft Cooler”. Furthermore, you can buy portable WIFI Fridge Freezers, with a USB outlet for charging phones & tablets. In addition, an app allows you to monitor and control your fridge in the back of your ute whilst on the move. Or consider obtaining a “Large Ice Blanket”, which you simply wrap around food and drinks.
In other shops, there are glamorous looking handbags, which are nothing more than cooler containers for a bottle of wine or champagne. I have also seen cooler backpacks, which from the outside look like a normal hiking backpack (only the destination of your hike will be a more extensive party).
In addition, there are thousands of relatively normal cooler bags with more or less tasteful patterns on it. It certainly depends on whether you want to attract attention and/or share your more or less expensive wine … These bags are often made of a neoprene material, which usually protects divers and not their bottles. But here it is the other way around, where you rather dive into a party.
I now go to our COOL fridge and get a COOL drink … Cheers!