Australia is such a large country, so its weather varies significantly in different parts of the continent. Living in Australia can involve everything from sunbathing on the beach in scorching summers to knocking snow off your boots after a day of skiing and from sweating out the humidity during the build-up at the beginning of the wet season, to wrapping up snug and waiting at the bus stop in the pouring rain.

• Australia is the driest inhabited continent. As a consequence, water is a very precious resource to Australians. As well as having an unpredictable and varied rainfall pattern.

• Australia often experiences serious droughts. The Australian summer is characterised by low humidity, high winds and low rainfall. Sunshine and high temperatures make trees and grass very dry and very easy to burn. Australia's weather also contributes to bushfires. Bushfires are large, out of control fires that occur in Australia's Bushland.

• Cyclones are a tropical weather phenomenon. They are usually encountered in Australia between November and April, and they mostly take place in the north of the country.

• The wet season lasts about six months in summer and spring, between December and March. It is hotter than the dry season, with temperatures between 30 and 50 degrees Celsius. This is because of the high humidity during the wet, which is caused by large amounts of water in the air.

• The dry season lasts about six months in autumn and winter, usually between May and October. Temperatures are lower and the skies are generally clearer during the dry. The average temperature is around 20 degrees Celsius.

The weather & climatic conditions are reversed to the northern hemisphere, and dress is mostly informal and casual, with lightweight clothing suitable for most of the year, although southern states, highlands and desert regions can get below zero at night and during the cooler months. Australia's seasons follow the sequence:

• Summer : December to February

• Autumn (Fall) : March to May

• Winter : June to August

• Spring : September to November

It occupies the cool temperate to tropical climates from 10° south to 43° south latitude and from 112° east to 153° east longitude, to the south of the countries of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, and west of New Zealand.

Even though the four 'official' calendar seasons have the same names as the northern hemisphere seasons, the weather during these seasons is very different to northern hemisphere weather patterns. Australia is generally a very dry place, so summers can get much hotter. The pattern of rainfall is also distinct - some places have abundant rain at one time of the year and almost none at other times.

The temperate areas of Australia are found on the south-eastern coast, reaching south from Tasmania through most of Victoria and New South Wales into the southern parts of Queensland. Temperate regions are also found in the southern most parts of South Australia and the south-western tip of Western Australia.