Coming from tropical Indonesia, I thought Goulburn was cold until I read about the Chinese city of Harbin of 10 million people with a recorded low of -40C where your breathe turns to ice.
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Then I thought Indonesia was hot until I learned that one of the hottest inhabited places on earth reaches over 60C.
Dallol in Ethiopia sits on an active volcano where standing for even a few minutes can melt your shoes.
It also rains a lot in Indonesia but not as much as the Bay of Bengal, with falls of almost 13 metres a year and as much as 1524mm of rain in a single day.
Locals in Mawsynram make bridges out of jute rope, make rain ponchos out of bamboo strands and build houses high to avoid frequent mud slides.
I, like others, am grateful that Goulburn has done a lot recently to overcome water restrictions, as I had grown up with plenty of water in Indonesia.
However, I now appreciate the need to value every litre of water when I learned that the Atacama Desert in Chile, which is said to be like the surface of Mars, has not seen any rain for more than 400 years and yet people still live there, animals roam there and plants survive.
It is interesting that locals have discovered they can harvest water using nets which trap droplets of fog.
I think it is amazing that people can live in such extremes of weather yet I guess it is what they are all used to.
For me, Goulburn is 'beautiful one day and windy the next' - and I love it.
