Australia Weather News

The festive season in Australia coincides with the longest days of the year, but imagine living somewhere where you don't see sunlight at all and it lasts for four months.

The only reprieve from the darkness, also known as polar night, comes from the moon, stars or artificial lights.

Luckily in Svalbard — a remote Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean that's as close to the North Pole as most people can get — festive twinkling lights are a constant this time of year.

Reindeer graze on snow and a giant Christmas tree is lit up all the time.

"It basically feels like you're inside a snow globe or a Christmas card," explained Ruth Stewart, a British woman who moved to the town of Longyearbyn in Svalbard only months ago.

"There's just so much snow and there's loads and loads of light, like little twinkly fairy lights everywhere."

She estimates that almost half of the 2,600 people that live in the settlement of Longyearbyn are foreigners.

Many are lured to the world's northernmost permanent settlement — which sits well above the Arctic Circle — because of its wildness, proximity to nature and friendly community.

Ms Stewart said it's also "breathtakingly beautiful".

"It's the most beautiful place I've ever been," she said.

This is particularly so during the holidays, despite the 24-hour darkness.

"I feel more festive this year than I have in a really long time, like everyone, because it's dark all the time," Ms Stewart explained.

Santa's home

Legend has it, it's also the home of Santa Claus.

Australian woman, Storme Pettit, who moved to Longyearbyn about 8 months ago, said an annual Christmas march in early December takes the town's residents to a decommissioned mine on the outskirts.

"There is a myth that that is where Santa lives up in the mountainside there," she said.

"And there's a post box where you can send your letters to Santa at the bottom of the mountain."

Ms Pettit moved to the remote outpost to experience "what it was like to live at the end of the world" and all the extremes that go with it — such as not seeing the sun again until March 8, when it will finally sneak just above the horizon.

The average daytime temperature is also between minus 10 to 20 degrees Celsius, so just getting dressed can take up to half an hour.

So Ms Pettit is learning how to keep herself healthy, including using things like a humidifier because it's so dry outside, and then inside with the heating.

"A sun lamp can be really vital, and taking vitamin D," she said.

"I think it's incredibly important to make sure you get good sleep and you have a good routine and exercise."

Coping without sunlight

Ruth Stewart agrees that exercise as well as consistent bed and wake up times are essential.

"I find it affects my energy level quite a lot because your brain is just constantly thinking it's bedtime," she said.

"It can be a bit depressing, but I think once you're here for a while, you sort of acclimatise to it."

But Ms Stewart said polar nights were actually easier than polar days, when the sun never sets for almost four months of the year.

"So your brain is just constantly awake," she explained.

"It's like your brain knows that it's daylight outside, even if you have blackout curtains.

"During the summer I was maybe averaging 5 hours sleep a day, but I never really felt tired because there's always daylight and your brain and body just feels energised and active."

Where time doesn't matter

What about the locals? How do they cope with the polar nights and polar days?

Maria Philippa Rossi is as local as you can get in Svalbard — a Norwegian who moved there in 2018.

She also has two young boys and partly moved there for a simpler lifestyle and to get outdoors more.

"When we moved to Svalbard, we suddenly had the mountains just around us and could put them to bed at 7pm and still go out skiing or hiking," she said.

"Time doesn't matter as much."

Ms Rossi said her children managed the extremes well because they did not know any different.

The key is being outside as much as possible.

"You'd be surprised by how much light there is despite it being pitch black," she said.

"If you let your eyes adjust to scenery, you can have beautiful journeys with the moonlight and stars as your light source.

"Then you come home from a trip like that, just so high."

But Ms Rossi admits Svalbard is a weird place.

"If I walk 500m in one direction from my home, I should bring my rifle with me for polar bear protection," she said.

"To have that in your daily life, it sort of adds to the quirkiness of the place.

"Life just calms down up here."