Queensland or South Australia?

[Nero Egernia]

Hi everyone, this is a fairly generic question but I thought I would see what fellow reptile keepers think.

I've been considering moving interstate and the two places I'm thinking of are either Queensland or South Australia. There are a few reasons why I'm considering moving and probably the number one reason is better reptile keeping licences, and there's not many things chaining me to WA anymore for a number of personal reasons so I thought maybe a change of location could work. I'd also like to go somewhere with a nice climate. I like warm weather and hate hate hate the cold. That's not to say I can't tolerate the odd cold snap every now and then, because I can, but what I hate is bone chilling cold and constant grey skies for days on end. I come from the great southern region of WA and winters are pretty cold and summers mild. The average summertime temperatures at my current location are 26°C - which isn't very hot in my opinion. I think anything less than 20°C is cold.

I don't have much experience with the greater world. I've only been outside of WA once. I remember going on a holiday in Darwin and its surrounding areas when I was a child and I remembered loving it, the heat was great and the biggest high light was seeing reptiles everywhere! At my current location reptiles aren't that common and it's kind of depressing, especially in winter when they're all but nonexistent. However when I was in Darwin it was the dry season. I'm not sure how I would tolerate high humidity. I also like arid warm climates as well. I don't like cold and wet, but I don't mind warm and wet. I also like going to the beach. I'm looking for areas with cheap rent otherwise I probably would have considered the NT but it appears to be very expensive up there.

Does anyone have any pointers or things I should be considering?

 

[Sheldoncooper]

QLD for me, friends of mine have just got a property just north of bundaberg. They also moved from WA. There intentions are to set up a small farm with all fresh chemical free produce and go too markets and hopefully supply restaurants.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[Shaggers89]

Queensland for me. I just find it a better place i also recommend going a little further out of Brisbane. Licensing is also better. My place backs onto the daintree so its a hotspot for wildlife

 

[nick_75]

QLD the whole way. I've lived in other places but always end up coming back. Do you have to be in a major city for work? If yes, Brisbane is very habitable.

 

[Yellowtail]

I grew up in WA, lived for a long time in Sydney, owned property in Qld, travelled all over Oz, finally settled in Gold Coast hinterland in a rainforest heaven. North Qld has it's attractions but the GC hinterland areas around Mt Tamborine and Springbrook and the Gondwana rainforest have an amazing variety of flora and fauna (many species unique to the area) including lots of reptiles (my property is crawling with them). You can enjoy a relaxed mountain village lifestyle with wallabies and koalas in your garden but you are only 30mins from the Gold Coast and approx 1 hr from Brisbane.
Tempted to buy your imbricatas but I have too many snakes now.

 

[Nero Egernia]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Probably my biggest worry with going to Queensland is that it's warmer. Most of my critters come from areas where they have cold winters and I'm not sure how they'll fare. That's why I'm considering selling them, but it's hard letting them go. I would prefer to keep them but I need to consider that bringing them along will make moving difficult and it may be detrimental to their health. It's going to be such a major change in my life and it's making me a little anxious.

 

[Yellowtail]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Probably my biggest worry with going to Queensland is that it's warmer. Most of my critters come from areas where they have cold winters and I'm not sure how they'll fare. That's why I'm considering selling them, but it's hard letting them go. I would prefer to keep them but I need to consider that bringing them along will make moving difficult and it may be detrimental to their health. It's going to be such a major change in my life and it's making me a little anxious.

That's easy, I felt the same way when I moved all my collection. You can pick a spot in the Mt Tamborine or Springbrook area where the high altitude gives you cold winters just like SW WA. It was 5c this morning at my place.

 

[nuttylizardguy]

If I were going to move and my choices were South Australia or Queensland , I'd choose Queensland.
SA gets very long heatwaves very regularly in summer, and their power grid is problematic (still).
Better opportunities for work and recreational pursuits in QLD.

Much nicer climate from Brisbane to about Rocky , and if I could find an affordable airconditioned home far north Queensland but far enough from the coast and rivers to avoid flooding and tidal surges during cyclones.
[doublepost=1559755708,1559755618][/doublepost]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Probably my biggest worry with going to Queensland is that it's warmer. Most of my critters come from areas where they have cold winters and I'm not sure how they'll fare. That's why I'm considering selling them, but it's hard letting them go. I would prefer to keep them but I need to consider that bringing them along will make moving difficult and it may be detrimental to their health. It's going to be such a major change in my life and it's making me a little anxious.

So invest in airconditioning to keep them and you cool , even if it's just the spare bedroom that's been converted to a reptile room , window mounted cool only aircons are pretty cheap and dead easy to install.

 

[Nero Egernia]

That's easy, I felt the same way when I moved all my collection. You can pick a spot in the Mt Tamborine or Springbrook area where the high altitude gives you cold winters just like SW WA. It was 5c this morning at my place.

Not sure if I like the sound of those temperatures. Does it warm up during the day?

So invest in airconditioning to keep them and you cool , even if it's just the spare bedroom that's been converted to a reptile room , window mounted cool only aircons are pretty cheap and dead easy to install.

I don't think having an air conditioner going all the time would be a good idea for me, my power bills are already a bit expensive for my liking. I'd also like to house most of my reptiles outdoors.

 

[Herpetology]

I heard south Australia is allowing more animals to be kept on license

 

[Yellowtail]

Not sure if I like the sound of those temperatures. Does it warm up during the day?



I don't think having an air conditioner going all the time would be a good idea for me, my power bills are already a bit expensive for my liking. I'd also like to house most of my reptiles outdoors.

Warms up during day, temps are about 3 degrees less than the coastal plain. Point I am making is you don't have to be hot all the time like nth Qld, depending on where you live you can get the type of climate you want, the top of Mt Tamborine has cold nights in winter but there are plenty of spots at lower altitude that don't get so cold, I'm about half way up.

 

[nuttylizardguy]

Not sure if I like the sound of those temperatures. Does it warm up during the day?



I don't think having an air conditioner going all the time would be a good idea for me, my power bills are already a bit expensive for my liking. I'd also like to house most of my reptiles outdoors.

If you run the aircon start stop , it'll chew through a lots of KWh. This is a very common mistake and you just can't convince people do otherwise , then they are complaining about big power bills.
Takes a lot of energy to cool a entire houses interior and walls if they are hot , and conversely warm them if they are very cold. It's thermal inertia that costs $ to overcome.

If you do it the way we do, run the aircon 24/7 in summer in cooling mode and 24/7 in winter in reverse cycle, set the temperature to 26 degC , and fan speed to AUTO during the day and quiet mode / low fan speed at night , it gets the house to the temperature you want (or within a degree or two) , and holds it there , and hardly ever has to work hard because the thermal mass of the interior is already where you want it .
So the only heat it needs to deal with is heat transfer via uncovered windows (sun in=heat in during summer, or as heatsinks in winter , and heat transfer via the exterior walls and roof and ceilings (insulation reduces that) and learning to close doors for unoccupied rooms).

We're retired and have no problem paying our power bill each quarter.

If you're working , sorry , but I can't see why you or anyone who has a job can't afford their powerbill.

We also bought a split system that's bigger than the shop said we needed , the reason being , the bigger units are more efficient and being bigger it doesn't have work hard to heat or cool the entire house.

 

[dragonlover1]

If you're worried about the power bill then consider solar, I have spent about 20K on panels and a battery recently so haven't seen the benefit yet but my goal is long term. I have multiple reptiles so my bill was getting out of hand. Maybe you could keep yours inside for a season to acclimatise then move them outdoors.If you move to Qld it will be warmer most of the year, but SA has frigid winters so no good for outdoor reptile pits, just some things to consider?