Every year, around Xmas, the monsoon brings rain, and relief to the parched towns and people of northern Australia.
The tropical north has a dry season and a wet season. There;s not much in between.
By October, it’s getting hot and humid. Sweltering days breed epic thunderstorms, and rain returns to the Kimberley, Cape York and the Top End, after an absence of many months. At first, it’d just storms, but then the monsoon kicks in and it rains like it did in the Old Testament.
People really do go out and dance in the first rain, celebrating the breaking of the build-up, and an end to high temperatures and humidity that combine to create awful conditions.
Then there’s the magical scent – petrichor – when long-dry soil gets wet for the first time. Rain renews country, creeks, and billabongs are full, and life is abundant once more.
It’s a time worth celebrating, with songs about rain.
