Oh thanks everyone - I thought I was posting on an Au only area of the forum.
As OldMech found out ( the hard way) our hives are at Phillip Island on the south coast of Victoria in Australia. We are close to the beach and average temps of 9c May, June and July around 7c and then warming back up to around 8c.
At the moment it's still quite warm with gems from 18-23c and the hive is busy. I have noticed quite a lot of nectar in the super and a lot of pollen going in - it's a strong hive.
We can get wind and quite a bit of rain as we are near the coast but the one hive we have is quite sheltered.
Thanks too prestonpaul- I've been looking into the syrup feeding - God Google can be confusing! There are so many variables and that's what confuses me. What's this I read about the sugar syrup 'ripening' properly? How long should we feed them for? The hive is at our holiday home so we are only here on weekends.
Sorry to be a pain and ask so many questions, I just love my bees and want to be sure they are as happy and healthy as they can be.
Thanks so much for your support guys xxxxx