Meteorologically and astronomically speaking, summer runs from December 1 to February 28. Simple, right?

Until then? Keep the sunscreen on. The barbie isn’t finished yet.

But if you actually live here—or plan to visit—you know the calendar is lying. Because in Australia, summer doesn’t end when the flipboard says so. It ends when the mangoes are gone, the bin chicken returns to the swamp, and you finally stop sleeping diagonally to avoid the sweat patch.

If you ask Google “When is summer over in Australia?”, you’ll get a very neat, tidy answer: February 28 (or 29).

Ask any Sydneysider about the "February Fake-out." The humidity finally breaks, a southerly buster rolls through, and you think, "Ah, autumn is here." You dig out a light jacket.