Sunglasses

I'm a bit late with this topic but we were very busy the first few days and really didn't have time to update our blog. We bought new sunglasses the second day we came here, and it's worth it's own topic. Sunglasses in Queensland are a major part of your outfit, they are just as essential to your everyday life as underwear or thongs ( not the underwear but the footwear : The European word for thongs would be slippers ). It's therefor important that they fit well, look well and are comfortable. In The Netherlands when you buy sunglasses you just go to a shop, pick out a pair and walk out with em, after all you only use them once in a while. Here, you will wear your sunglasses 80% of the time during the day, so if they are scratchy or too heavy or bulky then you will start feeling them and this can be very unpleasant. So, make sure you take at least a few hours to get the right pair of sunglasses. Sunglasses in Queensland are very cheap compared to Europe, you can buy "the best" ( there are not really any "best" but there are better ones and less good ones around ) sunglasses for about 250 dollars which is about 135 euro's.

There's a few things you need to know about sunglasses. First of all , you *NEED* UV protection. The good thing is that Queensland has a law that enforces all sunglasses sold in official sunglass shops ( Like for instance the popular and good shop "Sunglass Hut" ) to have a minimum of UV protection. However, it's always good to inform about the amount of UV protection on the sunglasses, the higher is obviously better and not always more expensive. The second thing that you absolutely *NEED* is polarized sunglasses. They will remove reflections from the sea and other kinds of reflective materials. Without ( I think they are called de-polarized ) polarized sunglasses you'll see glares everywhere, and you will keep squinting despite the fact that you are wearing sunglasses, and this can be very , very irritating after a few hours : You'll get headaches and feel tired, trust me : It's not worth it , get the polarized glasses. They are more expensive but more than worth the price. Another benefit of polarized glasses we only found out a bit later, at the sea. With our glasses on we could see right to the bottom of the sea ! Without them , you'll just see normal sea levels. The polarized glasses really make a world of difference, they certainly make the sea more beautiful, an unexpected but welcome surprise.

Now something that we didn't know : The shading (color) of the sunglasses is very important too. Luckily, most glasses come in all shades, so you just have to know "your shade". If you pick the wrong shade, you will start to feel nauseous over time, or "drunk" or sick. I found out that my shade is green ( I have blue eyes ) but Kim's shade is brown ( she has green eyes ). When either of us wear eachother's sunglasses, we start feeling nauseous after a while. So make sure you pick the right shade. The good thing is that most official shops like the Sunglass Hut will exchange your sunglasses for free within two weeks as long as they aren't scratched or damaged, so don't worry if you accidentally get the wrong one, just bring them back and exchange them for a different shade.

Another thing we didn't know is that the surface of sunglasses is not always perfectly "ocular". What this means is basically that when you have your sunglasses on and you look at different objects in the distance at different angles through your sunglasses, they will slightly deform because the angle at which you look through your sunglasses goes through a thicker part or a thinner part of glass. ( actually, very few sunglasses here are made of glass , it's usually polycarbonate or "plastic" ). This effect is barely noticeable at first but make sure you ask the lady where you buy the glasses to have a "test run" outside in the open air and walk around a little bit, turning your head as if you were sight-seeing. If you start to notice the deformations, or you start feeling a bit ill, then dump the glasses.
The only brand of glasses that never deform ( and they are marketing this to the fullest around here ) are the Oakley's because they are molded instead of "whatever process other glass makers use". Oakley's are very popular here and a good choice if you don't want deforms.

Lastly, the materials. You can buy either glass glasses or polycarbonate glasses. 99% of the sunglasses around here will be polycarbonate, they are lighter and cheaper than the glass ones. The only reason you'd want glass is because they scratch less easily. However it comes at a price and that is that they weigh a lot more, noticeably, and this weight will be resting on your head the whole day, so not a lot of people around here wear em. If you take good care of your glasses they won't scratch anyway, you get a nice protective container ( which you can clip on your pants ) if you buy the brand Maui Jim. The frame itself can be made of a few different materials, the most common ones being simple plastic and titanium. The titanium ones will be more expensive but they will be stonger. Weight is about the same. Most brands do offer lifetime guarantee on the plastic, so if it breaks then you can just get new ones ( obviously, read the fine-print here coz the warranty options can be quite different between brands )

I think that covers most of the sunglass stuff you need to know. So.. now you ask yourself : Which sunglasses did Kim and Lex buy ?

We bought ourselves 1 pair each of Maui Jim's type MJ-407-02 sunglasses ! Kim got the brown tint ( shade ) and I got the green tint. We paid 150 AUD dollars for each pair ( we had a 50 AUD dollar rebate on each pair , special offer ). We're very happy with our sunglasses, and this is after 7 days of wearing and tearing them. No scratches, they weigh a few grams ( literally, they are so light you don't notice you have them on ) and they don't hurt anywhere behind the ears or on top of your nose : They really are perfect ! ( you can google them up on the web ). They don't deform either, which really makes these glasses incredible value for money.