Spare a thought for chilly workers
Daylight has yet to break, the thermometer sits in single digits and most West Australians are cocooned in a warm doona.
Overnight temperatures in Perth are forecast to plummet this week as the southern hemisphere has its shortest day of the year, the winter solstice, today.
But, for Capel dairy farmer Casey Norton, the sliver of sunshine on the horizon each winter morning signals his equivalent of lunchtime. Wrapped in three layers of clothes, the 35-year-old leaves home about 4am and feels the biting wind against his face as he rides his motorcycle in the mist to his 250 cows.
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Mr Norton, whose milking routine spans back generations, is part of a thick-skinned WA workforce including road workers, swimming instructors and zoo keepers who know what “rain or shine” means.
“On a cold morning you can feel your toes burning through the concrete, your toes go numb. But it’s every day, even in a hail storm, and you still get up and go out,” Mr Norton said.
Weather Bureau duty forecaster Neil Bennett said morning shift workers would bear the brunt of the cold this winter, with the mercury usually at its lowest about 7am.
July is traditionally WA’s coldest month, with an average overnight temperature of 7.7C. But the temperature hit a record low of 0.7C in Perth in June 2006.
That doesn’t put off Swim Smooth coach Paul Newsome, who yells encouragement as the first swimmers take the “leap of faith” into Claremont pool for his 5.30am session.
True to his northern English roots, Mr Newsome cradles a flask of tea and appreciates the perks of an early start, which he says extend far beyond a clear run on the roads.
“In winter, it’s well worth getting up at that time in the morning. With the steam on the pool, it’s a really special time,” he said.
In summer, he is the envy of friends who are still stuck in the office while he’s standing poolside and finishing early to pick up his children from school.
Perth zookeeper Kristy Eriksen is also envied by her peers but she is not sure they are aware she is picking up dingo faeces well before many of their alarms sound.
Resident zoo canines Daku and Mirri don’t care if they can see their keepers’ breath when they excitedly go for their one-hour walk around the park to sniff at picnic spots and roll in elephant dung from the pachyderms’ park walks.
Even though most visitors would be tucked up in bed, the greeting she got every morning, she said, was worth the early start.
“They’re usually pretty excited in mornings,” Ms Eriksen said. “Mirri, our female dingo, is quite vocal, so she talks quite a lot when we first enter the enclosure to say good morning. They absolutely love it.”
