Brisbane Gets Ready For Christmas

The city of Brisbane prepares for Christmas, though there are many areas of Queensland where thoughts of the holiday are displaced as bushfires demand full attention. Unprecedented hot temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds have fanned fires are so fierce and on such a scale that it is a mammoth task to gain control over them. One such fire has destroyed 17,000 hectares, its front spanning 66km and causing hundreds to be evacuated.

It's hotter than usual for late November in the city, nudging 35 degrees. Note the bike-riding police in shorts.