The Australian summer begins early in December–Christmas is largely a beach festival. Autumn starts around March, and winter lasts from June to September.

Australia occupies a vast land mass, and straddles several climatic zones–from tropical Darwin in monsoon territory, to cool Tasmania whose climate is similar to that of northern Europe. The desert interior is as hot as the Sahara in summer, and remains pleasantly warm in the winter. Queensland also remains pleasantly warm throughout the year, seldom becoming unbearably hot, even at the height of summer, though it often rains in summer and can get sticky.

Further down the coast, Sydney has agreeably long, hot summers and is seldom chilly in winter. Adelaide is a little warmer, and Melbourne slightly cooler. On the east coast it rains as much as in Europe, with the heaviest rain in winter. Canberra is up in the mountains: warm enough in summer, but much cooler in winter. Tasmania has slightly cooler summers, but its winters aren’t particularly cold. Perth in the west has a microclimate of its own. In summer it’s hot, and in winter it’s wet and warm. Obviously, the best time for those living in the northern hemisphere to visit Australia is during the northern winter–Australia’s summer. But a word of warning: the Australian school summer holidays run from mid-December to the end of January. This is the high season, when prices go up. The popular places tend to be packed.

If you’re planning to spend time travelling up north, you should try May, when the dry season starts and the waterfalls are still flowing. Avoid the summer, when the monsoon is on and you can’t swim in the sea because of the jellyfish.

These figures are the average maximum temperature in degrees centigrade for each month.