While we deal with ice and snow in February, in Australia it’s the height of summer. The town of Chinchilla, Queensland, cooled off this past weekend with their annual Melon Festival. Oh, yes, every place has a harvest festival, but Chinchilla takes it to the next level with sports, activities, and competitions that require the use of 20 tonnes of watermelons. My favorite is shown above: melon skiing, in which you place your feet inside nice juicy watermelons and try to stay upright as you are pulled down a melon juice-covered ski run. Don’t forget your melon helmet! There’s also melon bunjy (sic), a melon tug-of-war, seed-spitting, the melon carving contest, the melon growing competition, the melon eating contest, and the Iron Man, in which you carry a watermelon through a course of obstacles and try to keep it intact. That’s the way to cool off on a hot summer day! See more pictures of the melon events at Buzzfeed.
(Image creditL Tourism and Events Queensland)
I'm accustomed to seeing the opposite extreme. People move here from somewhere cold, and spend $150/month in electricity trying to air condition their houses down to 68F degrees in the middle of 100F+ summer temperatures. Light, short, breathable clothing & cold drinks work just as well, and are much cheaper.
Strange to think that California is even in the same country as the rest of the USA. I think we got 2-3 weeks this year where the high temps were below 60F and below freezing at night, and that was it. With all the trees blooming, it feels like Spring already. I'm not even anywhere near the coast... plenty of places where it NEVER gets below freezing, and some areas where it almost never drops below 50F.