Silly Season

I was told in Sydney by a family friend that this time of the year in Australia is known as "silly season". It's an unforeseen consequence of Christmas being a summer holiday Down Under. It goes a little something like this. In the Northern Hemisphere, Christmas is a winter holiday so we get a few weeks off in winter. Once summer rolls around we get an extra, longer, holiday break. In Australia, and I imagine too in New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina and most of Brazil, the summer holidays and Christmas are bundled into 1 period. This means that all gift-buying and vacationing is done at one time creating a mad rush, hence the name "silly season". There has been some experimentation in Australia to have some sort of Christmasesque celebration in July (winter) but it hasn't caught on yet.

It's a bit of a silly season for me as well. Although Christmas Day was fantastic (30C and sunny), I have had a few things to get ready. I've finalized the rental for my trip around Australia. Rather than take a camper van, it turned out to be cheaper and just as effective to rent a car and camp where necessary. I bought an atlas that shows cheap places to camp near Australia's highways. This is going to be a fairly whirlwind event, the eastern half of Australia in a little under 4 weeks and some of the driving will be long but I do love to drive and can do it almost endlessly.

However, a more immediate trip is my annual attendance at a Plast scout camp. This year, in keeping with my alternating rotation, is Sydney's turn again. This year, the camp is being held near Penrose, a small town about halfway between Canberra and Sydney. I have been given certain tasks, including a trivia night, and I look forward to everything. I'll be incommunicado for a while but that's what camping is all about.