While it may be winter here in our northern hemisphere it is summer down south. Not that the sun shining guarantees a hot day for the beach,
but today the sun’s rays will be most vertical around 1:35PM, cooking the Earth’s soil in destinations one in frigid
South Dakota could only dream to be. Though many will experience the solstice in several different ways, it is the
locations that sit comfortably on or very close to the Tropic of Capricorn that will be the sunniest. After
doing a little bit of searching I found some pretty cool places to be around this time of year and some pretty
interesting travelers facts.
Starting with Australia, one gentleman spent 229 days trekking across the length of Australia along the Tropic of Capricorn to raise money for the
Royal Flying Doctor Service. Surprisingly he set a record for his travels in 1999 which hadn’t been done previously. I
would have imagined someone would have gotten hung up on seeing Australia via the tropic a long time ago, but go
figure. His website provides many details on his trip in addition to his team of camels along the way, a letter from
the Prime Minister, including some amazing journal entries.
From Australia I’ll move to Brazil. This is the
only country that the Equator and a Tropic both run through and the best cities to celebrate this day of solstice are
Sao Paulo and Rio. It is to one’s advantage that they are quite popular. Let’s Go Travel has some great
online travel info on these season changes for potential visitors.
Last, but not least is the southern town
of Tulear, Madagascar. Oliver Kuederle’s website does an
incredible job at pointing global wanderers to neat sites in the country. Along with some basic facts, he leaves you
with some tips and of course some journal entries from his own experiences.