Moments in Australia: beach weather? Think again!

Beaches are among the many amazing things Australia is widely known for. There are more than 10, 000 beaches  Down Under, some of them are world famous. Beach lovers would hardly get bored with such an impressive collection – they can visit a different beach every day until they grow old and beyond. As long as the weather is nice, of course!

Due to my gargantuan interest in and passion for Australia, I knew prior to our trip that mornings and evenings at Uluru in the continent’s Red Center, can be freezing and that Sydney and Melbourne get lower temperatures in winter. Even snow covers the mountain regions of New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania. I pack my leather gloves and a puffer jacket for these special Aussie meteorological conditions. After all, it’s always warm Down Under, isn’t it?! We travel in September and this is a promise for a nice Spring weather in the Southern Hemisphere. Hooray!

Sydney, the first stop of our tour Down Under, welcomes us with an ice cold embrace. Freezing wind and cold pouring rain join forces. The talkative girl at the hotel reception greets us with an upbeat  ”Happy Spring!”. ”Happy Sprrrrring”, we reply with cracked smiles and dive deeper into our garments. Bad weather can’t scare us, we  travel from Norway, after all. What we don’t know yet is that sunny and hot Australia can be as cold and covered in clouds as the Norwegian capital Oslo. Better to freeze on the continent-country than anywhere else, I think to myself as a consolation.

Sydneysiders are so envy-worthy! They walk around in their thick winter coats and warm winter shoes, wrapped in scarves and gloves. Stores scream ”winter sale”. I miss my winter coat and boots and soon I give into the temptation and buy a wool scarf.

The next few days in Sydney kill our hopes and dreams to see the city sparkling with sunshine. I accept it and don’t allow my mood to be influenced by such a boring thing as the weather.

It must be sunny and warm in the Whitsunday Islands next to the Great Barrier Reef, methinks en route to our tropical getaway. Soon I realize that paradise is imperfect – it’s foggy, gray, and a drizzling rain spoils my hair. True to the proverb about life, lemons, and lemonade, I quickly discover that unfavorable weather has its perks: it’s more beneficial to hike the island in a colder and humid weather than to hike it under the hot sun.

Not all weather in Australia is cold and windy. After freezing and rainy Sydney, we are privileged with a sweltering air in tropical Queensland, with clear skies and hot sun in the middle of nowhere – Australia’s Red Center. Eventually, we both catch a brief cold. I am not sure whether this has anything to do with the several people coughing around us on the bus or the sudden switch between hot air and the cold blow of the air condition.

In Melbourne, I completely stop caring about how I look and ignore all fashion rules. Color match and style combination have no meaning when you try to cover every single part of your skin. Several layers of bizarre clothing combination and a few pieces hanging from unexpected places turn me into a prêt-à-porter Frankenstein.

The last two days of our Australian journey bring us back to Sydney. The charmer has another surprise for us – the sun shines and highlights the beauty of the city. Vibrant urban colors explode in our eyes. At last, we see sunny Sydney.