camping in Australia in Summer (Dec-Feb)

Introduction

camping in Summer in most popular summer campgrounds in Australia will generally require many months of advanced booking to ensure a site if it coincides with the summer school holidays, particularly over Xmas and on Australia Day long weekend
- for sites that do not require booking, spaces generally start to free up after the 2nd Jan but especially after the 2nd Sunday in Jan when most people who only get 2 weeks leave such as tradies go back to work. However your best bet for a good site is when the school kids go back to school.
most areas will have hot days which means you will need a plentiful supply of drinking walking especially if hiking, and a need to also manage bushfire risk in the southern regions in particular
the heat in northern Australia is quite oppressive and in coastal areas, humid with high rainfall, storms and cyclone risk

if the forecast is for days over 35degC then camping will not be comfortable UNLESS:
- you manage to find a camp near water that is safe to wade in, preferably with ability to set up a gazebo sun shade cover, hence the beach or a river with a beach-like area, OR,
- you head to the hills - temperature falls 1degC for every 100m elevation HOWEVER BEWARE of bushfire dangers as you may not be able to escape!
on these very hot days ensure you:
- have plenty of drinking water
- have and use UV protection (broad rimmed hats, sunglasses, sunscreen, light UV protective clothing)
- have shade protection but avoid camping under a large lethal tree branch as they may fall in hot weather without warning (your tent or caravan WILL get HOT!)
- have a fan or two
- avoid drinking too much alcohol
- need to be extra nice and tolerant as campers will get stressed and angry more readily especially if they are drunk
- are ready for severe storms
- are bushfire ready - you will not be able to use an open fire
- have a suitable method of keeping your food from going off and giving everyone food poisoning
alternatively, on such hot days, stay at home in your air conditioning!

tents and caravans can become oppressively hot in the Australian summer sun on hot days
- Blockout or “Dark Room” touring tents you can stand up in will reduce the rise in temperature inside a tent but will not lower it below the ambient temperature in the shade

locale	Max Temp	Min Temp	RainDays	CloudDays	rainfall	near beach	3pm RH	3pm wind kph
Darwin	32degC	25degC	19	24	432mm	yes, crocs, stingers	70%	18
Alice Springs	36degC	22degC	3	7	40mm	no	22%	16
Broome	33degC	26degC	9	15	191mm	yes, stingers, rarely crocs	65%	20
Port Douglas	30degC	24degC	11		400mm	yes, crocs, stingers	73%
Cairns	32degC	24degC	16	17	400mm	yes, crocs, stingers	66%	16
Townsville	31degC	24degC	12	14	269mm	yes, crocs, stingers	65%	20
Hervey Bay	30degC	23degC	8		126mm	yes	61%	22
Sunshine coast	29degC	21degC	10		145mm	yes	70%	24
northern NSW beaches	28degC	21degC	11	12	165mm	yes	74%	25
Wollongong coast	26degC	18degC	11	13	130mm	yes	68%	14
Merimbula	24degC	15degC	5	10	75mm	yes	66%	21
Mallacoota Vic	24deg C	16degC	6		64mm	yes	66%	21
Lakes Entrance	24deg C	15degC	7	12	56mm	yes	66%	21
Sale	26deg C	13degC	6	12	45mm	yes	51%	23
Wilsons prom lighthouse	20degC	14degC	7	15	52mm	yes	72%	34
Wonthaggi	24degC	13degC	6	16	48mm	yes	61%	17
Echuca	31degC	15degC	3	7	28mm	no	29%	14
Mildura	33degC	17degC	3	6	22mm	no	27%	17
Flinders Ranges SA	34degC	18degC	2	5	20mm	no	24%	11
Warrnambool	22degC	13degC	5	11	33mm	yes	66%	17
Apollo Bay	22degC	14degC	6		53mm	yes