By Rachel Morton
Sydney is experiencing its coldest start to a summer in fifty years.
Normally at this time of year the beaches should be packed, but instead people are rugging up and trying to stay out of the rain.
Sydney’s Bondi Beach is usually crowded during summer but is currently almost deserted.
Holiday-goers say the weather is the reason they’re not on the beach.
“We're from the Sunshine Coast in Queensland so we're not used to this kind of weather,” say a visiting couple.
Up to forty thousand people can crowd Bondi at any one time but this summer the life guards are almost redundant.
“Yeah it's definitely quieter when it's raining, we've got the guys just back in the towers charging up the batteries,” says one of the life guards.
It's all thanks to a la nina weather pattern.
During a la nina stronger winds blow from the southeast and bring moisture to Australia, which boosts the amount of cloud cover and rainfall for cities such as Sydney, Brisbane and Darwin.
It's not just beachgoers who're disappointed. The weather is also affecting retail.
Coca-Cola says soft drink sales are weak and Vincenzo Leonetti says that in 40 years of selling gelato this is the quietest he's seen.
“Gelato is down fifty percent on this time of year, maybe more. I’ve never seen this in my memory, never,” says Mr Lianetti.
The Australian National Retailers Association says discretionary spending is down and it is fashion retailers who are hurting the most. Cold rainy weather is simply not enticing shoppers in to buy board-shorts and bikinis.
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