It may seem strange to some to bother with a home weather station when the Bureau Of Meteorology (BOM) provides an excellent service with lots of information, but the BOM's information is designed to describe quite large area.
A home weather station, on the other hand, gives as much or more information about the immediate area which may have quite a different "micro-climate" that the rest of the surrounding area. In this case, the term home weather station also includes a weather station on the houseboat as well.
This site has a combination of a commercial home weather station (HP2550) plus additional home constructed sensors with provide extra environmental information.