Best Time To Go To Australia

When it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere, Australia is basking in the Southern Hemisphere's summer, and vice versa. Midwinter in Australia is July and August, and the hottest months are November through March. Remember, unlike in the Northern Hemisphere, the farther south you go in Australia, the colder it gets.

The Travel Seasons

Airfares to Australia offered by U.S. airlines are lowest from mid-April to late August -- the best time to visit the Red Centre, the Top End, and the Great Barrier Reef.

High Season -- The peak travel season in the most popular parts of Australia is the Aussie winter. In much of the country -- Queensland from around Townsville and northward, all of the Top End and the Red Centre, and most of Western Australia -- the most pleasant time to travel is April through September, when daytime temperatures are 66° to 88°F (19°-31°C) and it rarely rains. June, July, and August are the busiest months in these parts; you'll need to book accommodations and tours well in advance, and you will pay higher rates then, too.

On the other hand, Australia's summer is a nice time to visit the southern states -- New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia from Perth to the south, and Tasmania. Even in winter, temperatures rarely dip below freezing, and snow falls only in parts of Tasmania, in the ski fields of Victoria, and in the Snowy Mountains of southern New South Wales.

The best months to visit Australia, I think, are September and October, when it's often still warm enough to hit the beach in the southern states, it's cool enough to tour Uluru (Ayers Rock), and the humidity and rains have not come to Cairns and the Top End (although it will be very hot by Oct). And the wildflowers are in full bloom in Western Australia.

Low Season -- October through March (summer) it is just too hot, too humid, too wet -- or all three -- to tour the Red Centre, the Top End, and anywhere in Western Australia except Perth and the southwest. The Top End, the Kimberley, and North Queensland, including Cairns, suffer an intensely hot, humid wet season from November or December through March or April. In the Top End and Kimberley, this is preceded by an even stickier "build-up" in October and November. Some attractions and tour companies close, floodwaters render others off-limits, and hotels drop their rates, often dramatically. So if you decide to travel in these areas at this time -- and lots of people do -- be prepared to take the heat, the inconvenience of floods, and, in tropical coastal areas, the slight chance of encountering cyclones.

Holidays

In addition to the period from December 26 to the end of January, when Aussies take their summer vacations, the 4 days at Easter (from Good Friday to Easter Monday) and all school holidays are very busy, so book ahead. The school year in Australia is broken into four semesters, with 2-week holidays around Easter, the last week of June and the first week of July, and the last week of September and the first week of October. Some states break at slightly different dates. There's a 6-week summer (Christmas) vacation from mid-December to the end of January.

Almost everything shuts down on Good Friday, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day (Dec 26), and much is closed January 1, Easter Sunday, and Easter Monday. Most establishments close until 1pm, if not all day, on Anzac Day (Apr 25), a World War I commemorative day.

Among the major public holidays are: New Year's Day (Jan 1); Australia Day (Jan 26); Labor Day (second Mon in Mar, WA); Eight Hours Day (first Mon in Mar, TAS); Labor Day (second Mon in Mar, VIC); Canberra Day (third Mon in Mar, ACT); Good Friday; Easter Sunday; Easter Monday; Anzac Day (Apr 25); May Day (first Mon in May, NT); Labour Day (first Mon in May, QLD); Adelaide Cup (third Mon in May, SA); Foundation Day (first Mon in June, WA); Queen's Birthday (second Mon in June, except WA); Royal National Show Day (second or third Wed in Aug, QLD); Queen's Birthday (Mon in late Sept/early Oct, WA); Labour Day (first Mon in Oct, NSW and SA); Melbourne Cup Day (first Tues in Nov, Melbourne); Christmas (Dec 25); and Boxing Day (Dec 26). If December 26 falls on a weekend, the following Monday is a holiday.

Steer Clear of the Vacation Rush -- Try to avoid Australia from Boxing Day (Dec 26) to the end of January, when Aussies take their summer vacations. In popular seaside holiday spots, hotel rooms and airline seats get scarce as hen's teeth, and it's a rare airline or hotel that will discount full rates by even a dollar.