There’s no denying that Australia’s weather is whacked, thanks to its vast land area. One area region can bescorching hot while the other can be refreshingly cold. That’s where this country’s beauty resides too. The Land Down Under just has that pull on everyone.
Here’s a couple of reasons why you should visit the Australia during winter.
Bearable winter wonderland. As said above, the cold here is refreshingly cold – not hell cold. For the most part, Australia is a warm place, even during the coldest times only bottoming out in Sydney are around 10 degrees Celsius or 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Northern areas are even warmer, where it mostly gets less humid and rain becomes scarcer. Manly Beach starts pulling in swimmers and surfers, catching waves throughout the chilly day.
Awesome festivals.The greatest festival here is VIVID Sydney, where you’ll see some of the largest party lights, rave music, and ideas in the South Hemisphere. The festival takes place in late May or early June every year. It features nightly light shows and fascinating art installations, live music, LED-installed boats cruising the harbour, conferences, plus the legendary Opera House is lighted with awesome 3D projections! The catch? None! All of these are free.
Other great festivals include Film and Winter Festivals in June and July. The August Amhem Land’s Garma Festivals provide the Aboriginal culture with its due. The ridiculous Beer Can Regatta is hosted by the Ever-interesting Darwin in early July. Katoomba also celebrates Christmas in July during the Yulefest.
Sports activities. Winter is still warm enough to try winter activities that Australia is known for, including swimming, surfing, and snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef. Australia also has fantastic winter activities for winter fans out there. Simply go to top resorts like Mt. Perisher and Buller for your dose of pure white snow and exhilaration.
Go whale watching. Southern Hemisphere whales, unlike Northern Hemisphere whales,startmigrating north for the winter, passing different many parts of Australia during the breeding season. The whale watching time of the year kicks off in May in both Tasmania and New South Wales, and in June in Queensland
Affordable winter spree.Still looking for another great reason to head to Australia during the winter? It’s good even if you’re on a shoestring budget since “off” season usually leads to better deals from June to August, add this to less crowded roads and beaches and you have a cool adventure ahead of you.
If you’re having a road trip, then Australia’s Outback centreis also fantastic to see during the winter months. Rent a camper van with your travel buddies and take a major league road trip from tropical Darwin to Uluru (Ayer’s Rock), which is the closest you can get to driving on the moon’s surface here on Earth.
Australia’s winter is awesome because of more things than we can list here, but you get the idea. Still looking for breath-taking locations and winter travel tips? You can learn more about winter adventure in Australia here.
Cyclone Debbie has hit the north-east Australian coast, causing major damage, torrential rain and power cuts to tens of thousands of homes.
The powerful cyclone made landfall between Bowen and Airlie Beach in Queensland as a Category 4 storm, whipping gusts of up to 163 mph.
Debbie is moving inland as a Category 3 storm but could cause damage for hours yet. One serious injury has been reported.
Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull told parliament he had activated a disaster response plan.
The extent of Cyclone Debbie’s devastation, which has a 30 mile-diameter eye wall, may not be known for some time, authorities said.
Queensland Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said the storm’s slow speed had created a “battering ram effect”, adding: “We are going to get lots of reports of damage, and sadly I think we will also receive reports of injuries, if not death.”
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said assessing damage was difficult because communities had been cut off from power and phone reception.
Electricity providers said it was not known when power would be restored to houses.
Australian authorities warned people to stay indoors until it was safe to go outside.
South-east Australia is facing some of its coldest weather in decades, thanks to an icy cold snap.
A series of chilly Arctic fronts have swept over much of Australia this weekend, causing temperatures to plummet to their lowest for 15 years, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Strong winds and snowfall hit Victoria, New South Wales (NSW), and even the “Sunshine state” Queensland saw snow.
Ipswich councilor Paul Tully drove three hours across the border so his son could see snow for the first time.
He said hundreds of cars made their way up Mount Mackenzie in northern NSW over the weekend, including one family who drove for more than seven hours through the night from Bundaberg.
“Everyone was actually excited it was a joyous occasion, people just felt really good.”
The cold snap has been dubbed the “Antarctic vortex” by Australian media, but the Bureau of Meteorology said the name was not actually accurate.
More unusually cold conditions are expected this week.
Barry Hanstrum, regional director at the Bureau of Meteorology NSW, said the conditions were associated with a series of cold fronts that moved through the states.
The low pressure system that caused the cold fronts is expected to last for much of the week ahead.
Severe weather warnings are in place for Victoria and NSW, and icy conditions have closed some major roads, including parts of the Great Western Highway.
Alpine regions and ski resorts saw good snow fall at the weekend with a light dusting also experienced in the Central Tablelands region of NSW.
A female kangaroo has survived for four days with an arrow stuck in her head after being shot in Queensland, Australia.
The mother kangaroo was finally captured north of Brisbane on June16. She was also carrying a baby kangaroo, Australia Zoo said in a statement.
Doctors performed surgery to remove the arrow, which came very close to her skull and brain.
The kangaroo and her joey (baby) were released back into the wild after the operation.
Photo Australia Zoo Wildlife
She was captured by Australia Zoo and the RSPCA near Toorbul and taken to the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital for treatment.
The arrow “actually grazed the skull and came millimeters from her eye socket and optical nerves”, the Australia Zoo statement said.
According to the statement, the kangaroo was sedated from when she arrived until when she was released back into the wild.
“She wouldn’t have even known she was there, but she will be waking up in the wild much more comfortably without the arrow,” the statement said.
“This type of deliberate cruelty towards animals is horrific, illegal and could have caused a certain slow, painful death for this mother kangaroo and her young joey.”
RSPCA Queensland spokesman Michael Beatty urged anyone with information on the case to contact it on 1300 852 188.
Michael Beatty said in most cases animals shot with arrows either died a slow death or lived long enough to be rescued but ultimately had to be euthanized.
Category 3 Cyclone Ita has hit northern Queensland in Australia with “very destructive” winds of more than 140 mph.
The storm is crossing the coast near Cape Flattery and will head south-south-west overnight, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said.
Residents in low-lying areas have been warned to prepare for damaging waves, strong currents and flooding.
It is the strongest storm to hit since Cyclone Yasi, which struck in 2011.
Previously classed as a category-five storm, it was downgraded by the BOM at 17:51 local time to category four, then category three when it hit the Cape York Peninsula.
Category 3 Cyclone Ita has hit northern Queensland in Australia with “very destructive” winds of more than 140 mph (photo ABC)
However, the BOM warned it was still carrying “very destructive winds” of 140 mph.
In its bulletin at 23:00 local time, BOM said the storm was estimated to be 30 miles north of Cooktown and 135 miles north-north-west of Cairns.
Residents in coastal areas were also warned to expect a “dangerous storm tide overnight” and rising sea levels that could flood low-lying areas.
“People living in areas likely to be affected by this flooding should take measures to protect their property as much as possible and be prepared to follow instructions regarding evacuation of the area,” BOM said in its advisory.
Residents in the cyclone’s path – between Cape Melville and Cooktown – should “stay calm and remain in a secure shelter”, it added.
The Cape York peninsula is sparsely populated, with residents concentrated in a number of towns.
A cyclone warning is in place in coastal areas including Cooktown, Cape Melville, Port Douglas and Cairns, and several inland areas.
Cooktown Mayor Peter Scott said in quotes carried by ABC that around 350 people were in the town’s cyclone shelter.
Cyclone Ita brought torrential rain to the Solomon Islands late last week, causing flash floods that left at least 21 people dead.
Five skydivers have been killed after their light plane crashed at an airfield in Queensland, eastern Australia.
The Cessna 206 hit the ground and burst into flames shortly after take-off on Saturday at Caboolture Airport, north of Brisbane.
The Cessna 206 hit the ground and burst into flames shortly after take-off on Saturday at Caboolture Airport (photo Channel Nine News)
The pilot, two skydiving instructors and two skydiving customers were killed, police said.
Family members witnessed the crash from the ground, they said.
The flight was operated by Adrenalin Skydivers Bribie, also known as Skydive Bribie Island, a spokesman told the Sydney Morning Herald, which carried pictures of the crash site.
“We received a call from the airfield and sent three crews to a light plane that had crashed,” a Queensland Fire and Rescue Service official told Agence France-Presse.
Caboolture is about 31 miles north of Brisbane.
The airport was closed after the crash.
The Sydney Morning Herald says the airport has only grass strips and operates gliders, helicopters and light aircraft.
A snake has defeated a crocodile in an epic five-hour battle at Lake Moondarra, in Queensland, Australia, which left onlookers shocked as the python slowly devoured its prey.
The incident near Mount Isa was captured on camera by local residents on Sunday.
The 10-ft snake, thought to be a python, coiled itself around the crocodile and the two struggled in the water.
The snake later brought the dead crocodile onto land and ate it.
The snake has defeated the crocodile in an epic five-hour battle at Lake Moondarra in Queensland
In remarkable images captured by Tiffany Corlis, a local who was watching on, the python can be seen strangling and eating the crocodile, whose outline can then be seen inside the snake.
Tiffany Corlis said it appeared to take the snake around 15 minutes to eat the crocodile.
Queensland is home to some of the world’s most dangerous snakes, as well as saltwater crocodiles.
Tens of thousands of tourists and astronomers gathered in northern Australia to glimpse a rare total solar eclipse.
The eclipse, which occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, plunged parts of Queensland into darkness for just over two minutes.
Estimates suggest the event, early on Wednesday, was viewed live by millions.
A partial eclipse was expected in other parts of the region, including New Zealand and eastern Indonesia.
The next total solar eclipse will not take place until March 2015.
Onlookers gathered at vantage points, in boats and on hot air balloons to witness the rare phenomenon.
There had been fears that cloudy weather would obscure the eclipse but the clouds parted just as it began, drawing cheers from the crowd as the full spectacle came into view.
Tens of thousands of tourists and astronomers gathered in Queensland, northern Australia, to glimpse a rare total solar eclipse
“Immediately before, I was thinking, <<Are we gonna see this?>> And we just had a fantastic display – it was just beautiful,” said Terry Cuttle, from the Astronomical Association of Queensland.
“And right after it finished, the clouds came back again. It really adds to the drama of it.”
“It’s really cool. I’ve never seen anything like this before,” one young spectator at Palm Cove said.
Temperatures dropped as the shadow of the Moon blocked the Sun, and animals reacted to the eclipse with confusion.
“Wow, insects and birds gone quiet,” one tourist, Geoff Scott, tweeted.
Scientists were set to use footage from underwater cameras at the Great Barrier Reef to investigate creatures’ reactions to the eclipse.
Australian tour operators welcomed the surge in holiday-makers, with reports of some hotels being booked up more than three years in advance.
State officials estimate that over 50,000 extra people visited Queensland to experience the phenomenon.
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