Under widespread sunny skies, Australians have gathered with family and friends to give presents and tuck into festive feasts this Christmas Day.
Millions will mark the day with gift giving and lunches with loves ones as most of the country basks in sun and temperatures sit above 30C in several capitals.
Few blemishes are expected elsewhere with showers in Western Australia’s southwest and storms in the Top End.
Sydney’s iconic Bondi Beach sparkled throughout the morning with beachgoers flocking to the crystal-clear waters for a pre-lunch dip.
Families and friends packed onto the sand, with many donning Santa hats and Yuletide attire despite temperatures in the high 20s.
Further inland, hundreds filled the pews in St Mary’s Catholic Cathedral as Archbishop Anthony Fisher led the annual morning mass, imparting those gathered with a message of hope.
“The celebration of Christ’s birth breaks through the challenges of climate, war and pandemic in our world,” he said in a Christmas address.
And across the city, about 800 people experiencing homelessness and social isolation celebrated alongside others doing it tough at Wayside Chapel’s annual Christmas street party.
Four times that amount were treated to a free lunch across town with Reverend Bill Crews at his charity’s headquarters complete with a whopping 120kg of turkey, 120kg of ham and 80kg of peeled prawns.
It was a welcome relief for many in the face of rising rates of homelessness across the country.
“People are doing it tougher than ever, and we are seeing people present with increasingly complex mental health needs,” Wayside Chapel Pastor and CEO Reverend Jon Owen said.
Christmas Day will also be a time of reflection for Australia’s northern capital as it marks 50 years since Cyclone Tracey tore Darwin to shreds, killing at least 66 people.
“This will be a difficult period where people will remember lost loved ones and remember as well the traumatic experience that they had,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters in Darwin.
He also thanked doctors, nurses, hospitality staff and all those working over Christmas to make the season of celebration and reflection possible.
“I do want to wish everyone the very best and a peaceful and joyful Christmas,” he said.
Bushfire risk meanwhile will keep communities in Victoria’s west and South Australia nervous as hundreds of firefighters gear up to battle blazes raging across both states.
Total fire bans have been declared in SA’s Mount Lofty Ranges and west coast for Christmas Day and across all of Victoria on Boxing Day.
With temperatures forecast to hit the mid-40s and troublesome hot, northerly winds in parts of Victoria, authorities warn conditions could be the worst the state has experienced since the Black Summer bushfires five years ago.
This post was originally published on Michael West.