A bush Christmas

Christmas in Australia is nothing like those we grew up watching on TV – there are no crackling fireplaces, snowball fights or knitted seasonal sweaters to keep the chill at bay. Instead, for most Aussies, Christmas evokes memories of lying in bed, listening for Santa’s sleigh over a chorus of cicadas, kicking off the covers in the stifling heat, a crack of lightning heralding a southerly buster. There’s the whack of a new cricket ball on the lawn on Christmas Day, the smell of sunscreen, the cold thrill of jumping in the pool under a hot December sun.

For me, as a child, there was an extra layer of heat in the equation as Christmas took place in outback Ivanhoe, NSW. The only reason anyone has ever heard of Ivanhoe is because it often has the hottest temperatures