jenny cares 

Often very hot...it's not unusual for Christmas Day in Australia to be 40 degrees Celsius, or over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The traditional Christmas meal includes a turkey and ham dinner followed by plum pudding with brandy custard. Nowadays this heavy meal is left to "Christmas in July" celebrations, when a hot meal can be enjoyed properly. (I was going to describe it as a 'hot and heavy meal' but thought better of it)
Most Australians have their Christmas dinner at midday. Some like to be outdoors, e.g. beach, a bend in the river, or a park. Their Christmas meal might include a big feed of oysters and prawns, a turkey salad, prosciutto with rockmelon, black cherries, watermelon, and (too much) beer and wine. 
Due to fire hazard threats, open fires are often banned. This means the planned barbecue might be called off and Plan B goes into effect. The following video shows more about Christmas Aussie-Style
video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH0vMpp3ma4 
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Santa Claus has been know to arrive on a surfboard, in the back of a ute, by helicopter or in a surf lifesaving boat. Everyone's heard of the "Six White Boomers" hauling Santa's sleigh around Australia instead of the regular team of reindeer. If not, listen to the song in this video:
video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlSsffF2xhA 
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Christmas Tree
by Western Australian doctor Peter Terren, artist in electricity. See Tesla Down Under. Peter built a Tesla Christmas tree. This photo used a 91 second exposure to show it in action. He also details the project at the site.
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Carols by Candlelight
- a tradition which commenced in Melbourne in 1937 and is held every year. Thousands of people gather in the cities to sing Christmas carols and other inspiring songs. Australian celebrities get involved, e.g. Olivia Newton-John  hosted the carols in 2000.
Proceeds go to Vision Australia.
VIDEO: The Prayer- Anthony Callea, Carols By Candlelight 2004 Anthony Callea's debut single, The Prayer, created the record for the fastest-selling and highest-selling #1 single by an Australian artist
video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ap_KfD8PeI 
VIDEO: O Holy Night - Melbourne 2007, Carols by Candlelight - here are the lyrics so you can sing along...
  O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
  It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth.
  Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
  Till He appeared and the Soul felt its worth.
  A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
  For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
  Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angels' voices!
  O night divine, O night when Christ was born;
  O night divine!
  O night, O night divine!
video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX2ZjMwxFiI 
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NSW Christmas Bush
-an Australian native plant, Ceratopetalum gummiferum Pictured is a NSW Christmas Bush in full flower. Actually in this image the flowers are all gone (they are small and cream) and the red bracts are what creates the stunning Christmas display. This stage lasts for a number of weeks on the bush and for 10 days or so once cut and put in a vase. BUT they drink copious amounts of water daily in a vase. The bush grows into a small tree.
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Perhaps Australia's worst Christmas was in 1974, when Cyclone Tracey devastated Darwin in the Northern Territory. More than 60 people were killed. Darwin Museum's exhibition: Cyclone Tracy
VIDEO: CycloneTracy 1974 (Santa Never Made It Into Darwin) Cyclone Tracy was a devastating event that affected Darwin intensely... This is a tribute to those that died in the incident, those that survived, those that helped and those that remember the power of nature.
 video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD0DRmWQ65Y  
VIDEO: Original newsreel of the aftermath of Cyclone Tracy which hit Darwin on Christmas 1974. 34 years later, these images are still as horrifying as ever.
 video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B89wBGydSvs  

On this day: 17th April
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2009 - RAN Rescue Mission: Explosion on Asylum Seekers' Boat; ADF personnel on board at the time  17 April 2009

BARRY LEAROYD [pictured at left] steamed into Darwin yesterday in command of HMAS Albany at 1pm with 13 wounded men, two corpses and searing images in his mind. At 6.15am local time, in waters off Ashmore Reef, Lieutenant Commander Learoyd saw the explosion from the deck of the patrol boat.

"There were multiple people in the water, some ADF people and some UAs (unauthorised arrivals)," he said. "I did witness the explosion and a number of people were thrown into the water. I really can't characterise how big it was. It was certainly an explosion large enough to throw people into the water."

Something "untoward" had happened aboard the vessel, and a boarding party from HMAS Childers issued a high-threat alert to its mothership and the Albany. The nature of that alert has not yet been characterised for the benefit of the public, but it appears what Commander Learoyd had considered a calm and controlled situation aboard the illegal entry vessel changed rapidly shortly after breakfast was served there. 

When the rescue boats moved among those who had been blown off the boat, no one was screaming, Commander Learoyd said.

"The sounds that I heard - actually, it was very interesting. It was very quiet. My people, Childers people, in the sea boats, went about their job very professionally and were able to get everyone out of the water as quickly as they could. Unfortunately we weren't able to recover everyone alive. One story that sticks in my mind, though, one of the people who was injured, an ADF person, was able to get in one of my sea boats and come to my boat and provide support to the injured people. The scenes were pretty horrific and the way both boats responded to the incident was absolutely sensational. We had a number of people injured badly with burns, and certainly there were two persons that we recovered were deceased."

The Childers and Albany sent out two sea boats apiece and the Customs vessel permanently stationed at Ashmore Reef arrived to assist soon afterwards. Some of the wounded spoke English, some didn't. Commander Learoyd said the asylum seekers were from Afghanistan and Iraq.

Commodore David Gwyther, head of Northern Command, said the injured ADF personnel were all "walking", having suffered only sprains, cuts and abrasions. "Every single one of those guys and girls wanted to stay with their team and finish the job," he said.

It is unclear at this point whether the four ADF personnel were on board the vessel at the time of the explosion or departing from it. Commander Gwyther said the boatpeople's vessel, which was powered by a diesel engine, was not under tow at the time.  

HMAS Childers - like the Albany an Armidale-class patrol boat assigned to border protection - arrived in Darwin at 4pm yesterday with one body on board. Commander Gwyther said the bodies were treated according to Muslim custom as best the crew could manage. Northern Territory Assistant Police Commissioner Mark McAdie said some of the injured would be held in a detention centre once they were declared fit by Royal Darwin Hospital. The illegal vessel was resting in 250m of water and was a crime scene - even though it was not clear any act of criminality had taken place, he said. The law did not require Territory police to treat the deceased as deaths in custody, he said. The ADF personnel have begun giving statements and the asylum seekers were expected to be questioned last night. Royal Darwin Hospital's Dr Notaras said 21 of the injured people had been admitted to the hospital, but 4-7 were expected to be taken to Perth. [these numbers increased the following day]

Commander Gwyther said he considered the operation a success. "It's a pretty amazing effort to be in the middle of the Arafura Sea and less than 24 hours later the casualties are receiving some of the best medical attention in Australia."
RAN promo' video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-tH_sRXZ74
RAN -Royal Australian Navy; ADF -A? (Australian or Armed?) Defence Forces
[Article The Australian]

Cage of Death puts tourists inside crocodile's lair
Only 4cm of acrylic separates people and croc

Thanks to Annette for this newspage (click on thumbnails to view larger images) 

NEW theme park (which opened in Darwin during 2008) hopes to lure tourists into a "Cage of Death" for a close encounter with a 5.5m crocodile. Just 4cm of acrylic will separate brave punters from the jaws of Choppa - a feisty saltwater croc. Top End tourists will climb into a clear box before being lowered into Choppa's lair. They'll then spend 15 minutes inside the 2.8m high cage and watch Choppa, who lost both front feet while fighting other crocodiles...
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The owners of the $29 million Crocosaurus Cove theme park... have described the feature attraction as “a shark cage without the bars”. Another seven crocodile enclosures will feature underwater viewing windows, and one will have a swimming area next to the viewing window so visitors get a sense of swimming with the crocs. .
The most famous crocodile to be housed at the park is Burt, who starred as the beast that nearly ate Linda Koslowski’s character in Crocodile Dundee (movie)
The owners say there will be more than 100 crocodiles, 200 fish, 40 turtles and 76 snakes and lizards on display.