Autumn is here!

Autumn in Australia actually starts on March 1st, so it’s been Autumn here for more than 2 weeks already. Like all our seasons, it lines up neatly with the start of the month. This is different from most countries in the Northern Hemisphere e.g. Japan and America, which have their seasons starting between the 20-23rd of the same months.

Unlike Japan, most Australian forests are made up of evergreen trees, which means their leaves don’t change colour like the leaves of deciduous trees. So, the signs of autumn arriving are not as obvious. There are some places where the change is similar though. There are many vineyards here, and the leaves of grapevines change colour and can be very beautiful.

There is a very different sign of Autumn in Australia that is perhaps more noticeable in everyday life – the approach of Easter and the change in the supermarkets. At Easter time, we eat chocolate Easter eggs and Easter bunnies (rabbits), and in preparation for this, the supermarkets all dedicate a lot of shelf space to the sale of brightly wrapped Easter chocolates.

What do you associate with the arrival of autumn? How about of spring? Does it seem strange to you to imagine Autumn in March?