Fireplace & Jazz with a Live Sydney Clock

Christmas in July done properly — a Blue-Mountains fire for the southern winter, on Sydney's own clock.

Sydney's fireplace season is the world's best-kept calendar secret: July. When the southern winter bites, the city drives up to Blue Mountains lodges for 'Christmas in July' — roaring fires, roast dinners and fog outside, five months from any reindeer.

The station keeps that lodge burning year-round: eucalyptus logs with their particular sweet snap, a deep stone hearth, warm jazz brushed underneath, valley fog pressing the windows. Sydney's clock runs AEST or AEDT, faithfully upside-down to the north.

For July hibernations, transplants explaining the seasons to relatives, and northern listeners who want a second winter on demand.