Best Time To Travel To: Australia
Australia lies between 11° and 39° south. In addition, there is the offshore island of Tasmania, which lies between 41° and 44° south. Australia is not much smaller in area than the USA but is much more sparsely populated.
The north of Australia is mainly tropical, while the south has a more temperate climate. The summer half-year in Australia is from November to April. During this time it rains heavily in the north, but the south has almost no rainfall. Winter half-year is from May to October. Now the north is rather dry, whereas the south and southwest now have comparatively much precipitation.
Climatically, Australia is definitely a country full of extremes. But you can actually describe the country quite well. Central Australia is a very dry and in places desert-like region. Hardly any rain falls here all year round. The further you get away from the region towards the coast, the more pleasant (because not so extremely hot and dry) the climate becomes. Therefore, the population in the country is distributed relatively well. Most people live in the climatically more pleasant regions in the east, south and southwest at the coasts.
Basically, Australia (except Tasmania) can be described as relatively flat. The country lies on average on 150 to approx. 600 meters. Behind the east coast some of the highest regions rise. The highest point are the Snowy Mountains with a peak height of about 2,225 meters. Here also snow falls sometimes, which is otherwise rather unusual in the country. The east coast is subject to year-round southeast winds coming from the Pacific Ocean. The winds bring relatively much precipitation, which is why the east coast is called the wettest region in Australia. Towards the west and of course basically towards central Australia the precipitation then decreases strongly. In the outback it is desert-like and very dry.
The east and southeast coasts of Australia, for example, receive rain throughout the year. The frequency of rainfall increases somewhat in summer. The coastal regions in the southwest, south and west, on the other hand, have the main rainfall rather in the cool winter season.
Basically, one can rarely speak of a really cold climate in Australia. In the main part of the country it is warm to hot all year round. Winters are usually mild. An exception is Tasmania, which has a climate comparable to Great Britain. Of course, it gets relatively cool at higher altitudes. Canberra, for example, is located in a part of the Snowy Mountains at 550 to 700 meters and basically experiences temperatures just above freezing point in winter.
Australia is exposed to a lot of heat especially whenever the winds blow from the hot interior to other regions. Then it can become very hot. Australia also knows tropical cyclones, which can occur several times a year, especially in the northeast and northwest. In the northwest one speaks here of the so-called willy-willies. The storms from the dry regions can often carry considerable amounts of sand over the land and some cities are then shrouded in red fog. During this time it is hard to stay in the cities.
It is difficult to name the best time for Australia. Actually, Australia is a good destination all year round, but it depends on where you want to go. As a rule of thumb, however, one can say that the best time to travel to Australia is around the time of winter in Europe, i.e. from December to April. For trips to the outback or the north, the period from April to October has proven to be a good travel time. Also the following might be interesting:
- the south: March, April and September to November
- northern Northern Territory: June to September
- southern Northern Territory: April to September
- Queensland: June to October
- Tasmania: October to March
- Victoria: March, April, September to November
- Western Australia: March, April, September to November
- New South Wales: April, September to November
Below is some information about specific regions in Australia.
North and Northeast of Australia
To the north and northeast one could count the following regions of Australia: Great Barrier Reef, Northern Territory with Darwin, Queensland with Cairns and Townsville and in principle also the northern foothills of Western Australia. Basically, one speaks of a tropical climate in these regions. Brisbane, which can be counted to the southeast of Australia, differs climatically a bit from more northern places like Townsville or Darwin. The latter two places have tropical characteristics, especially the dry season is much more pronounced there. From November to March you also have the typical mix of heat and rain with high humidity. Then it can also be very oppressive and unpleasantly humid. The further inland you go, the less humid it is. In the north and northeast, the climate is basically quite sunny, the sun shines on average up to seven hours in the dry months. This is quite similar to the conditions in the European Mediterranean region.
The Southeast of Australia
Southeast ist for example Queensland with Brisbane, Victoria with Melbourne as well as parts of New South Wales with Sydney, Bourke and Canberra. The southeast is one of the most densely populated regions in Australia. This is probably due to the quite favorable climate. Here you actually have a warm climate all year round. The summers are sometimes hot with longer periods of heat, but there is practically no real cold season. Normally, rain falls all year round, but it is pleasantly distributed throughout the year. Here too, however, the tendency to rain decreases more and more towards the inland. Basically, the weather can change again and again. But colder periods are very rare, especially on the coast. Here the climate tables of Sydney and Melbourne could be representative. Towards the inland, however, it can come to somewhat lower temperatures. Here the climate tables of Canberra and Bourke could be representative. The example of Canberra also shows the influence of the higher altitudes on the temperatures. The table of Bourke makes clear how strongly the rainfall decreases towards the inland. In the southeast, one can also see a seasonally clear distribution of sunshine hours. In summer, one can always expect eight to nine hours per day; in winter, only five to six hours per day. However, the sunshine hours are somewhat lower in Melbourne, for example, where you have to expect cloudy periods every now and then - especially in winter.
The South and Southwest of Australia
The region can include the Gulf region in the south around Adelaide, the southwestern part of Western Australia with Perth, and the western parts of Victoria. This region in the south and southwest is relatively small in relation to the size of the country. It is divided in two by the arid Great Australian Bight. The Bight has very dry conditions with less than 250mm of rain a year, and winters are usually very stormy there. The south and southwest otherwise has a more Mediterranean climate. That means: it rains moderately and mainly in winter. In winter, therefore, one must always expect changeable weather. Summers are usually very warm and with little precipitation. One can also notice longer dry phases here, most recently one could speak of heat waves (January 2013 and 2014). For the more humid areas in the south and southwest, one can consider the climate tables of Perth and Adelaide as typical. Here one can see also nicely the mild winters. But you can also see that most of the rain falls in winter. Here Perth is more affected than Adelaide. In winter, the south and southwest still get an average of five to six hours of sunshine a day. In summer, on the other hand, it goes well up to 10 hours per day with maximum temperatures that can easily go above 40°C and, depending on the region, degenerate into unpleasant hot spells (as mentioned above, for example, in January 2013 and 2014).
The Interior and Desert Areas with the Outback
To the very dry desert- to desert-like region of Australia one can count the Northern Territory with Alice Springs and Ayers Rock, a larger part of Western Australia around Kalgoorlie and parts of South Australia. Basically, it is anyway the case that, except for Victoria, every area of Australia borders on central Australia. This central part is perhaps the most climatically extreme part of Australia. Basically, every region has a connection to this region except Victoria, which is somewhat cut off from it. In the northern part of central Australia it is a maximum of 500mm of rainfall per year and in the south relatively drier with a maximum of 300mm per year. The Interior is extremely dry, rain is extremely rare here. At least the precipitation in the cool season in the south is somewhat more abundant than the rainfall in the warm season in the north. Typical for the Interior is the climate table of Alice Springs, which is located quite centrally in Australia. Kalgoorlie shows typical conditions for the border region in the west. Although temperatures can get very extreme here, one must always be prepared for large temperature fluctuations in the Interior. This is normal for desert-like regions. Both Alice Springs and Kalgoorlie know temperatures below freezing. Regardless, the desert areas are of course the sunniest parts of Australia. A certain problem can be the sandstorms.
Tasmania
Tasmania is a special feature for Australia. This beautiful island is relatively mountainous and rugged. There are considerable climatic differences between the coastal regions and the interior of the island. The highest elevations reach over 1,500 meters. Towards the west, they are exposed to the westerly winds, which bring strong rainfall there. The region has been known to receive up to 2,500mm of rainfall per year. It is much drier in the plains to the east. There, annual precipitation reaches a maximum of 750mm per year. The weather there is very changeable and often a bit turbulent. Typical for the climate is the climate table of Hobart. However, the climate of Tasmania is primarily influenced by the warm marine climate. On the coast it is mild in winter and the summers are moderately warm, but never extremely hot. One could compare the weather with that in the northwest of Spain, in places comparisons with the climate in Great Britain are quite appropriate. In winter, Tasmania gets a maximum of five hours of sunshine a day on average, in summer a maximum of eight hours a day. Peak values in summer, however, can rise to just under 40° C. This is especially the case when Tasmania is still under the influence of warm winds from central Australia. Tasmania is also one of the few regions in Australia where snow is known. Especially in the higher regions it can always snow in winter. In summer, however, there is practically no snow anywhere - not even on the mountains.
Due to the fact that Australia belongs to the so-called Roaring Forties, it is often windy to stormy, rainy and unstable. One can experience an all seasons a day here. Winters are mostly mild with average temperatures of 0.5 °C - 10.5 °C, as mentioned before, summers are rather cool with 9 °C - 19 °C.
