Aussie christmas

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Oh we definitely refer to December as "summer". If you live on the west coast the hot dry summers start around October when the temperature exceeds 30 celcius 86 F and has been known to reach as high as 48 or 120 F in January/February.

^ Interesting - thanks for that, Cyberdad.

Far north Australia, WA, Northern Territory and Queensland have a tropical climate



The areas marked in red don't have a summer, instead they have a dry season and wet season. The region gets massive rainfall during the southern summer which often sneaks to the south. A current tropical cyclone means Melbourne (far to the south) is going to get hail and flooding on Christmas day.

I'm up in Townsville (which is currently having a heatwave) and still figuring out how to do Christmas in the tropics.

Trifle still goes down a treat.
And this year I'm making a punch out of grape juice, oranges, tinned fruit and sparkling water. (Alcohol an optional addition - getting drunk in 30 degree heat is not as much fun as Aussie songs imply!)

I've got a roll of pork to roast - and in a burst of nostalgia for my UK childhood bought some parsnips and brussels sprouts to go with it (which nobody will eat and I'll end up re-frying on Boxing Day). But I'll probably have to crank up the aircon to make the roast dinner feel right!

With a bit of luck they might show Midsomer Murders or Shetland or something like that on the TV and I can pretend I'm back in the motherland

Townsivlle folks are lukcy, you have access to fresh seafood and tropical fruits like mangoes growing in your backyard.

I imagine christmas dinner of snapper and lobster finished off with mango fruit salad

One thing I know about Christmas in Australia is that there won't be any snow because Christmas is in the summer there. Then again, even in the US there's many places that never snow on Christmas. I roll my eyes whenever they show it snowing on Christmas in California or Florida - like that will ever happen!

Christmas is still Christmas with or without snow. Suck it up, Bono and Bob Geldof.

On the other hand, Christmas in Australia is perfect for barbecues!

i'm surprised to learn that there will be a thunderstorm in my end on christmas day, havent had that happen in a while

i might finally be able to enjoy some of that hot coco i've been hearing about.

on second thought, nahh, i'll have a milo

I'm THERE!

Yeah it's hailing right now in Melbourne

People come early morning to the national parks and take over public BBQ spots with Gazebos. They tend to make a day of it with the kids and family/friends.

Here's the Gold Coast forecast for Christmas Day:

Min 21 Max 31 Showers. Possible storm. Possible rainfall: 0 to 9 mm Chance of any rain: 80%

Partly cloudy. High chance of showers, most likely in the afternoon and evening. The chance of a thunderstorm, possibly severe with damaging winds and large hail in the afternoon and evening. Possible heavy falls in the afternoon and evening. Light winds becoming north to north westerly 15 to 25 km/h in the morning then becoming light in the early afternoon.

We had thunderstorms this morning that lingered until mid afternoon, it didn't get much hotter than 26.

I'd like to visit Australia at Christmas one year. What's the best part to visit if you like tourist attractions but not the heat?

Tasmania is your best bet, it has a really mild summer and lots of natural scenery for tourist attractions

I'd stay clear of northern territory and Queensland if you don't like the heat

Generally speaking, the lower on the map of aus you go the cooler it gets.

Melbourne Christmas Day
Cloudy. Very high chance of rain. The chance of a thunderstorm, possibly severe. Heavy falls possible. Winds east to southeasterly 25 to 40 km/h
Max 23C Rain at times. Possible storm.Possible rainfall: 9 to 40 mm Chance of any rain: 100%

Looking out my window 12pm and the roads are flooded - supposed to be midsummer.

This ^^^