This post is sponsored by Nuffnang
Summer in Melbourne can be punishing. I don’t really even want to think about it yet, but to survive those 40 degree + days takes some advanced planning.
The heat we have here is that kind of dry, fry you to a crisp type of heat that makes the soles of your shoes melt into puddles while you’re still standing in the shade. Staying cool and glamorous is no easy task, but that isn’t to say that it can’t be done.
I have a bit of an arsenal I use to keep the worst of the heat at bay. After all, I can’t be going all Victorian and fainting all over the place each day. I may be a vintage girl but that would simply be antique of me!
The sun safe options are my very first go-to’s for cutting out those rays and keeping my porcelain white skin just the way I like it. So first things first, a hat, an entirely fabulous hat, must be the very first thing you add to your summer survival kit. There is no point in doing hats by halves though so look to the First Ladies of drama and channel a little Joan Crawford in a huge 1940’s picture hat. Wide brims that frame the face (hence the term ‘picture’) and allow you to survey the world from behind dark glasses casting your air of mystery throughout the room.
Parasols are already your best friend and I know that most of you have versions you carry around for outings. Yes, there are loads of fancy ones out there, but I find that having something small and collapsible that I can fit into my handbag, means that I am never ever caught out. If you can’t find something appropriate, choose a small fold up umbrella in a light summery colour and add a bit of lace trim to the edges. Et’ viola!
Fan’s are something that are seldom thought about (but becoming more popular), and should definitely make it onto your summer survival list. They are small, compact and come in every colour of the rainbow; so they give us yet another great excuse to accessorise the outfit.
Feeling like you live in an Island Paradise as opposed to a fume filled, melting city, is another way to trick yourself into feeling cooler this summer. I know plenty of people that keep beach scenes as their screen savers, but why not go a little further? Keep a couple of small potted palms by your desk, wear a hibiscus in your hair, use coconut scented lotion in the mornings and fix yourself a drink with an umbrella in it each afternoon. Consider it ‘window dressing your day’ if you will, but these small gestures go a long way to brightening your mood and cooling you down.
There is one other thing I really wish I could do each summer to cool me down, but I know it isn’t going to happen in a hurry… If I could just find a couple of buff boys with palm fronds to follow me around and fan me throughout the day, I’m sure I would feel infinitely better!
Yes, these may all be great ideas to help keep you cool in summer but just why would Panasonic want you to hear all about my Island Fantasy’s? Because they have a great option to cut to the chase and keep cool all summer long with their new range of air conditioning options.
This year they introduced a new Eco Patrol Sensor in their air conditioners – a human sensing technology which detects people in the room by monitoring temperature and movement. It adjusts the power to match the activity in the room, reducing power consumption and improving comfort. This means you don’t have to bother having to turn off the unit when you leave a room. This new smart technology cuts energy by up to 10 per cent by not running the air-conditioning at full power while the room is empty. So its better for the environment and better for your hip pocket, leaving you more money to spend on Long Island Iced Teas!
I know that is a bit of a tease, but stick with me.. what is all this in aid of? Well Nuffnang and Panasonic have a chance for YOU to WIN a fully installed Panasonic Air Conditioner all for yourself!! All you have to do is leave me a comment to tell me “What is the most bizarre thing you have done to keep cool?” and you could be spending the summer in air conditioned luxury. Sorry, no pool boys included. 
Growing up in the outback meant 40 degree+ days were the norm in summer, and it was a VERY dry heat. We’d keep cool as kids by walking around with those cheap, plastic spray bottles and spraying ourselves occasionally. I also remember trying to sleep in that dry, dry heat by spraying the soles of my feet with water, and my bed sheets. Lovely and cool
Of course it didn’t take long for the sheets to dry and I’d wake up and have to spray them all over again.
Love the parasol’s and porcelain skin!
The most bizarre thing that I have done to keep cool, would be….Strapping those blue ice packs to my body and sitting in front of a fan, while sipping….well gulping sugary homemade iced tea!
A parasol is on my list of things to get this week funnily enough!
I have done many bizarre things to keep cool but probably the strangest, and 100% inspired by Marilyn Monroe, is that I often put my under garments in the freezer for 5 mins before popping them on!! Only a temporary relief but it certainly helps me! x
To keep cool I will often slide myself into the front of my refrigerator and close the door as much as possible (they aren’t dangerous anymore after all).
Suzi: But what do you do with all the food?!?
Ha! Reminds me of that episode of the simpsons where Homer and Bart set up a tent in front of their fridge!
It was scorching 42 degrees outside in Perth last year. Our house had blackout and with newborn bub in house, we just had to get out of the house. We went and check in in hotel, in a suite because that was the only room available. I couldn’t believe myself paying for a suite because of this. As long as my bub sleeps well, doesn’t matter.
Farah: Wow you really need one of these don’t you? The things we have to do, and I know only too well how bad it is to have children over heating, what a disaster!
Nice survival arsenal! I definitely need to get myself some more fans (The buff boys to wave them would be nice, too)
The most bizarre thing I’ve ever done to keep cool? Well, my biggest problem with the heat is getting to sleep, and I guess my method for combatting this could be considered pretty… odd. I like to put my pillowcase in the freezer and then go have a lukewarm shower (I can’t handle a cold one!). Once I’m out of the shower I leave my hair wet, go grab my chilled pillowcase, and fall asleep in no time!
Srednivashtar: You know I reckon I could even skip the fans and just have the boys bring me drinks.
…in fact, forget the drinks!
The most bizarre thing I’ve done to keep cool? Well, My boyfriend and I tried putting ice cubes in our pants once.. but then it melted and looked like we’d peed ourselves!
Mel: Ha haha! You didn’t think that one through now did you?
Funny that this was posted today – it is currently 32 degrees here in Perth. I think something has died in my aircon too so I can’t turn it on :-/
The oddest thing I have done to cool down is try and shut my head in the freezer… because it doesnt shut completely you get a really nice cool ‘breeze’ blowing down the front of you. I have also stuck a hot water bottle in the freezer until it was nice and cold (not frozen) and slept with it.
I love the heat, but not when there are no means to cool down.
This is a strange story but the day after my father passed away i found myself in Broken Hill in a heatwave (47-50) and the aircon had broken down.
To keep cool my mum, sister and brother in law took turns in dangling our feet in the esky that the day before had held the ice from the funeral drinks and now held cool water.
I fill a hot water bottle with ice cold water and carry it with me around the house. I haven’t yet tried it in public but it does the trick behind closed doors.
fickleredridinghood@gmail.com
Putting my nightgown and undergarments (clean of course) in the freezer until bedtime!
I used to keep a Face Shop spray in the fridge and use it. Also a fan, and keep your eye cream/gel in the fridge.
We actually used to do the fridge/tent thing with our spare fridge & used a damp sheet over some chairs like a kid’s cubby parking in front of the low window-mounted aircon unit
Canberra can get into the early 40s easily in the height of summer. We went down to the river for a dip but it was packed and didn’t look that much fun.
Soooo, we bought one of those inflatable kiddy wading pools and filled it with ice water (and a few cold ones). We managed to clean out out three closest service stations of their ice supplies to fill it!
[...] Carry a parasole. As Candice DeVille shows, it’s super-dooper [...]
Candice, I mentioned this post in my own latest blog post!
If you have the time, take a look!
http://cardiganmagazine.wordpress.com/2010/10/19/my-favourite-ways-to-not-get-skin-cancer/
I guess it’s not that bizarre, but I love to put icy cold water in my hot water bottle before I go to bed. That and cold night showers.
And I always, always carry a fan in my bag. Essential in summer, especially on packed and sweaty public transport. Even a tiny bit of relief helps!
I have also popped ice cubes into my underwear – I agree that its not something I actually recommend!
Sleeping with a wet face washer worked – until it got warm and clammy!
Ok, I’ve got to enter this one because I HAVE to get an ac unit in my studio this year as I almost died last year…
The most bizarre thing I’ve ever done was to literally work butt naked with a glass of cold ice water to sip and press against my wrists (it cools the blood). As we always must close every window and pull every shade here during 40 degree days I thought why not? I’d taken lots of cold showers and just got tired of putting clothes back on. So I worked all day nude with a fan on my bare skin, bitterly giggling at myself and the ridiculousness of the situation, of course.
The most bizarre thing i have done to keep cool occured when i was at a music festival in shocking heat. I sat infront of the stage and emersed as much of myself in an esky and saturated my sarrong with water and wrapped that around the parts of myself that werent in the esky and held an umberalla to cut out the sun i looked very odd but i didnt want to miss the band!
Wonderful photos and video. What a handsome woman you are. ahhhhhhhhh such a delicious post.
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What about hat hair when you remove your hat indoors? I have several fabulous hats (if I do say so myself) but can’t figure out the hat hair problem.
Pristine: It’s all about how you do your hair to work with the hat you’re wearing. An almost totally lost art, doing your hair specifically to work around your hat is the only way to make sure it is perfect all the time. Surprisingly, this is something that people are just beginning to think about and I’ve been working with a number of people to teach them how to do this of late.
Can we get a post on this? Pleeeease?
A friend and I tried to climb into the water feature outside of the NGV on St Kilda road. We were swiftly kicked out by security before we could even get in up to our knees!
Three years ago in the peak of summer, we were sitting inside our un-airconditioned lounge room trying not to melt, when my boyfriend at the time had the inspired idea to get a kiddy pool from kmart, fill it up with water and a bag of party ice. Every summer since, when the heat just gets too much, we blow up the pool and enjoy an icy swim in our lounge room, with drinks close at hand and a feel good summer movie on the television.
As a child in the late 70s/80s, my parents bought a huge old portable air conditioner. You poured water into the side of it, and the hum could be heard through closed doors. It was moved around the house to keep us four kids cool. We’d also run through the sprinklers and along the slip and slide having a ball keeping cool in the heat.
These days, I live in a lovely old double storey house with my husband and two young girls. Our house was built in the late 50s and re-designed in the 70s complete with gorgeous ceiling to floor windows and a flat metal roof but alas no insulation!
From midday, the sun pours in relentlessly through our NW facing home! turning our darling house turns into a sauna! I’ve even thought about converting our lounge room into a drying room to make sun dried pasta and tomatoes.
This summertime, my girls (3.5yrs and 2yrs) and I will becoming very familiar with our local shopping centres to keep cool during the day and am looking forward to extending trading hours during Christmas.
We have an air conditioner installed in out house BUT it decided to die two years ago and we havent had the money to replace it. Unfortunatly it is un-fixable
. I think i have tried alot of the same… kiddies pool in the lounge room, surrounded by 3 pedestal fans (black plastic on the floor). We have done the ice cubes in front of the fan, walking through our sprinklers and then trying to get back inside before it all evaporated but the BEST and bizarrest one was to help us sleep… i froze our sheets and our pillow cases!
alison@tizzbizz.com
The most bizarre thing I’ve ever done to keep cool is this.
This is in Hong Kong where it was scorchingly hot that day. I was due to meet my friend but while I was on the air-conditioned train, she called to say that she would be half an hour late. So, instead of getting of at the designated stop, I continued to sit in the train till the final stop…and then as the train was heading back, I got off the stop I was supposed to get off at to meet my friend. Okay, I ended up being 10 minutes late…but at least, I didn’t have to wait half an hour for her in the scorching heat!
Combine an empty kiddie pool, disused fridge, every container in the house capable of holding liquid, 100 litres of water and about 50 packets of green (because that’s the best, obviously) jelly crystals, a bathing suit you don’t mind potentially never wearing again and dangerously idle minds.
You can probably figure out the (sticky {yet tasty}) cooling results.
It was such a blistering hot day at work I decided to sit in the chiller for ten minutes to cool down. Realising I would quickly heat up again, I chipped some ice from the storage freezer, poured it into several plastic bags and put these under my shirt. I killed two birds with one stone, keeping myself cool and cleaning out the chiller.
I was holidaying in Tasmania during a heat wave and was lucky enough to spend the day at the Hobart Botanical Gardens. They have a subantarctic plant house building which is a climatically-controlled environment, that has chilly fogs and mists to ensure cold conditions inside for the plants and for the visitors it was pure heaven. When the heat got to much you go in there for 5 minutes and it was pure heaven-they should have one of these in every state!
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