A Tropical Aussie Christmas Downunder Living in North Queensland

It seems like Christmas has turned into a divisive time of year. The threat of terrorism is rife and political correctness raises it’s head once again. Living in North Queensland, Christmas is a happy time of year for us. A time when we meet with friends and family, enjoy good food and company and try to keep cool.

Although Christmas is not a religious event for us, I was raised as a Christian and respect the occasion.

For many people around the world the Christmas season lends itself to fireplaces, mulled wine and snow, but the experience where we live in Townsville in the north of Australia is totally different.
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The Rainy Season is hot and humid.

December is rainy season where mushrooms pop up overnight, frangipani trees are in flower and Bird of Paradise plants bloom. The Strelitzia earned this nick-name from it’s flower’s similarity to the plumage of the Bird of Paradise.

We know it’s Christmas when our home smells of ripe mangoes. Ginger has a seasonal cult food following (you either love it or hate it) and being a lover, I make these ginger biscuits from Toni’s of 2 Aussie Traveller’s recipe. Old timers like to give a slice of home made Christmas Cake to friends for good luck – I personally think this is a ploy to check out each others cakes.

Mangoes are my favourite Christmas Food. If lucky we will still be able to source some for Christmas breakfast. The ones we buy locally are picked locally and don’t look as pretty as those scrubbed and polished ones to be found on the supermarket shelves – but the flavour is far superior.

Christmas Delicacies.

Colourful Gardens.

Hibiscus, Poinciana, ginger plants and orchids provide colour in the garden.

Keeping Cool.

Being the rainy season the humidity in the air can be 90% which makes the temperature of 35 degrees so much worse. In the north we like to keep cool at Christmas time.

Keeping cool at Mossman Gorge in Far North Queensland, icy fruit drinks at Port Douglas, happy hour at Lime Tree and keeping cool in the pool at Coral Sands Resort, Trinity Beach Cairns.

Local Christmas Scenes.

The farms at Rollingstone, north of Townsville grow the best pineapples in Australia. Photography in the sultry heat of Cape Tribulation. Early morning yoga to beat the heat and a cool reflective sunset at the Strand, Townsville.

Carols by Candlelight.

On Christmas Eve, Vision Australia hosts a massive open air Carols by Candlelight in Melbourne, which is telecast on national television, but all around the country communities hold their own Carols by Candlelight, this one at Mudjimba Beach foreshore. It looked like rain on the day of the event but a covered stage was erected for the performers, and the rain held off.

Summer storm clouds gathering at Christmas time in Australia. The further north you are the warmer the rain is! This shot was taken from the deck of the Coolum Beach SLSC.

Whether you will be freezing or sweltering this Christmas, Marty and I wish you a happy one. We enjoyed giving you a peek inside our Tropical Aussie Christmas Downunder.

Thanks for visiting for our last post for 2016 – We really appreciate it and would love you to add your travel post to the link below for Nancie’s Travel Photo Thursday which we co-host with Ruth from Tanama Tales and  Rachel from Rachel’s Ruminations.