The 50 best ways to spend an Aussie summer

By Sheriden Rhodes
Updated November 26 2017 - 2:28pm, first published 2:25pm

If winter is yearning for sojourns to warmer climes; summer is the time to hang up the out of office sign, and plunge headlong into long, lazy days revolving around the beach, mangoes, picnics and midnight swims. It's the time to head off on an extended holiday - whether close to home, across the ditch, or chasing champagne powder in Japan. Many of us, particularly those with school-aged kids, write off most of January. Seriously, is anyone in Australia thinking about work from Christmas Eve until the start of the Australian Open? Here Traveller brings you 50 ideas - from warm, hot, sizzling, steamy and oh, so cool - to celebrate our enduring love affair with the great Australian summer.

SIZZLING

1. EXPERIENCE AN EPIC BATTLE AT 'THE FURNACE'