Although Australia is the smallest continent, mainland Australia is unofficially the world’s largest island.* To give you some idea of how big it is: England could fit into Australia over 150 times.
This means that our weather varies a great deal throughout the country, ranging from a Tropical climate in the north to Temperate in the south. The very far north of Queensland is equatorial and desert covers 18% of the country. We have alpine heaths, mangrove swamps, barrier reef islands and tropical rainforests.
December in Australia can bring extreme heat and even cyclones. Snow is sometimes to be seen on Mt Wellington in Hobart, Tasmania. I was on the mountain in January once when to my great surprise it snowed. I was not dressed for such an event! Brrr.
Hottest Christmas Days in Australian capital cities:
- Sydney – 1868 – 39c
- Adelaide – 1888 – 42c
- Melbourne’s –1907 – 41c
- Canberra’s – 1957 – 37c
- Perth’s– 1968 – 42c
- Brisbane – 1972 -39c
Information courtesy of the weather zone
A Montage of Australian Christmas Images
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAvcbUObDRQ[/youtube]
Bondi Beach Christmas Day
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1bUxsir2jw[/youtube]
While Britain is experiencing some of its worst snow conditions, some british experience the more clement weather of Australia for Christmas
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSJTmnn-ABc[/youtube]25th December,2007