Here it is warm and humid, with rumors of a tornado watch in another part of the state! 
I hate warm humid weather. I spent a Summer in Norfolk VA once, don't care to go back.
So you have dry heat where you are? That sounds more tolerable.
Usually it is, occasionally it gets humid.
What I hate the most is humidity that follows days of dry comfortable weather. When I've become accustomed to dryness, the humidity hits me like Kryptonite! 
If I ever visit Australia it won't be in the Tropical part.
Do any parts of Australia ever get snow? And do you, in your part of California? 
California gets it in Mountainous areas like Shasta, Lassen and the Sierras. I don't know about Oz.
An Australian laughed at me once in a chatroom because I confessed that I assumed all Aussies had gum trees and koalas in their yards! 
They don't? :lol:
That's what I gathered from the laughter. Also, the Aussies I've asked are quite unimpressed with koalas...the recurring theme of their remarks is "All they do is eat, sleep, piss and shit!" :lol:
Don't know what kind of ignorant Australians you are talking to.
Gum trees usually aren't in back yards in suburbs because they are quite tall and can cause a lot of damage if they fall. I could probably drive for 5 minutes and see one however. My city has a lot of natural reserves and in fact have reclaimed land to encourage natural koala movement corridors.
For a city of it's size, it's pretty impressive how much land has been preserved.
http://www.ourbrisbane.com/see-and-do/things-to-do/bushwalkingYes, Australia does get snow, and has ski resorts. Victoria, NSW and Tasmania all get snow.