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Hi everyone,

My name is Georgie and I live in the Whitsunday's (Airlie Beach) in Australia.  I have just discovered this site and am wanting to start making my own cheese, as I just adore eating it and love to cook.  My main concern is where I live with the weather being hot and humid - I am not sure how my cheeses will take to that ??   I have not purchased anything online yet .... any suggestions as to suppliers, etc.?

Type to you soon.

Georgie

Good morning Georgie, I live just down the road in Mackay. 
Humidity and heat are our main problems here, so you need to keep everything extra clean for mould problems, and you need a good cave.  I have just purchased a wine fridge, so I am hoping that I can now start perfecting some cheeses.
www.cheeselinks.com.au are in Victoria and a great source of all things cheese.  Thermometers, pot, ladles etc can be purchased at your local Woolies, but milk will be a little harder.  Woolies here stock a brand "Mungully", it is only pasturised and not homogenised, so it is great for cheese making, but you need to make sure it is as fresh as possible.  A local corner store near me purchases this milk, so I am able to get it the day in comes in.  Still a few day old, but better than nothing.  The milk comes from the Atherton Tablelands.  Raw milk is of course the prefered option, but here, that is next to impossible to obtain, unless you are friends with someone who owns a milking cow.
HTH.

Welcome Georgie, I also was wondering about the humidity, as I have just moved to Hervey bay from Armidale in northern nsw. You are in a very nice part of qld.

Ken

Welcome Georgie!
You have the the best place on the net with a nicest people on earth to learn the ways of making cheese. There is more knowledge here than can be bought in a book or learned in a class and the folks here are really top notch. God luck on you new adventures. Go slow, don't rush anything and read the instructions carefully and you will be fine.

Another thought just occured to me to mention. For your first few months of making cheese - use the recipes posted here by the members. They have been used and tested and the work. There are many recipes on the net and some in books that are just not quite right.  If you see a cheese posted here ou know it's been tried and tested and often will have hints and suggestions from other experienced members on how to improve the process or ways to make it even better.

Hi Georgie

Welcome to the forum - even though I only made it here about a week before you did.  You'll find so much info and experience on here - it's great.

I'm in Brissie and also trying my hand at a few cheeses.  Through this website, I've found references to a couple of books which seem really good.

Take care, and have fun!

Gouldie

Hi Georgie, high ambient temp is not a big issue as aging temp an humidity have to be controlled anyway.

Our list of supply stores is here, freeze dried starter cultures need to be stored cold and preferably shipped cold ie in cooler months of year and for shorter time from store to you.