The short version
- Flying home? Book as early as you can, keep the whole trip on one ticket, and check the latest on Middle East airspace before you pay.
- Posting presents? Australia Post’s last dates for Ireland in 2026 are 4 December (Economy), 11 December (Standard), 14 December (Express) and 15 December (Courier).
- Insurance: buy it when you book your flights, not the night before you leave.
- Staying put? Christmas Day is a Friday and Boxing Day a Saturday, so NSW, Victoria, Queensland and WA get Monday 28 December off too: a four-day weekend.
- Calling home: in December, Sydney and Melbourne are 11 hours ahead of Ireland, Brisbane 10 and Perth 8.
Your first Christmas away is a strange one. The sun is splitting the stones, there are prawns where the turkey should be, and the Mammy is on FaceTime asking if you’ve eaten. Flying home or staying put, here’s how to make it easy.
Going home for Christmas
When to book
As early as you can. Christmas is peak season between Australia and Europe, and the seats everyone wants (out the weekend before Christmas, back after New Year) go first. Compare prices for flying mid-week, a few days earlier or on Christmas Day itself, and set a price alert on Google Flights or Skyscanner before checking the airline’s own site.
The routes home
- Via the Middle East: Emirates (Dubai), Qatar Airways (Doha) and Etihad (Abu Dhabi) all fly from their hubs straight into Dublin, so it’s usually one change.
- Via Asia: Qantas flies Sydney to London via Singapore, and Asian airlines connect through hubs like Singapore and Hong Kong, usually with another change in Europe.
- From Perth: Qantas’s Perth to London flight normally goes non-stop, but it stops in Singapore from 25 October 2026 to 31 January 2027. The flight back to Perth stays non-stop.
What to watch for
- The Middle East. Conflict in the region has disrupted flights at times, so check Smartraveller and your airline before you book and again before you fly.
- Separate tickets. Keep the whole journey on one ticket. With a cheap flight to Asia and a separate one onwards, a delay on the first leg is your problem, not the airline’s.
- Bridging visas. Waiting on a new visa? You need a Bridging visa B granted before you fly. It lets you leave and return within a set travel period, and if you’re still overseas when that ends, you can’t come back on it.
- Your passport. Check the expiry date now. Adults can renew on Passport Online, but allow for the post to Australia.
- Presents in your case. Flying into Ireland from outside the EU, presents count towards your €430 duty-free allowance (€215 for under-15s), and a single item over the limit is taxed on its full value.
Getting presents and money home
If the presents won’t fit in your case, Send My Bag ships boxes and suitcases from Australia to Ireland, picked up from your door, and you get 5% off your first order through our link. Our shipping guide compares the options for bigger loads.
Posting them? These are Australia Post’s last sending dates for Ireland:
| Service | Send by |
|---|---|
| Economy (Economy Air parcels and registered letters) | Friday 4 December 2026 |
| Standard (parcels) | Friday 11 December 2026 |
| Express (parcels and letters) | Monday 14 December 2026 |
| Courier (parcels and letters) | Tuesday 15 December 2026 |
These are guide dates between metro areas, and they can change. From SA, Tasmania or the NT, Australia Post says to add 2 business days for Express and 5 for Standard and Economy. Check the Australia Post Christmas page before you post.
For a few hundred euro towards the dinner or the nieces and nephews, Wise uses the mid-market exchange rate, shows the fee upfront and pays straight into an Irish bank account, with no Wise account needed at the other end. More in our money transfer guide.
Travel insurance for the trip home
Medicare won’t help with a cancelled flight, a lost bag or a hospital bill on a stopover. Buy insurance when you book your flights, because policies cover new problems, not ones already known about. Which insurer suits you depends on where you count as resident.
- You live in Australia now. Go Insurance is an Australian insurer, available to permanent residents and to people who have lived here for at least the past three months. Non-residents who’ve been here that long can get one-way or return cover, handy if this Christmas is the end of your working holiday. Its optional War & Armed Conflict Disruption upgrade helps with extra accommodation and rerouting, but must be added before you leave and only covers events that weren’t known, ongoing or foreseeable when you set off.
- You’re still an Irish resident. On a working holiday with your home address still in Ireland? True Traveller insures residents of the UK, Ireland and Europe, and its “Already Travelling” option lets you buy a Single Trip policy after you’ve left home. Cover starts 48 hours after you buy. If you’re coming back to Australia after Christmas, ask them how a trip home fits the policy.
Our travel insurance guide has more detail.
Sorted for the trip home?
Living in Australia? Irish Around Oz readers get 10% off Go Insurance. Still an Irish resident on a working holiday? True Traveller can cover you after you’ve left home.
Staying in Australia for Christmas
What Christmas Day is like
It’s summer, so Christmas lunch is as likely to be prawns and a barbecue as turkey and ham, followed by a swim and a snooze in the shade. This year falls nicely, too:
| Public holiday | Date |
|---|---|
| Christmas Day | Friday 25 December 2026 |
| Boxing Day | Saturday 26 December 2026 |
| Extra day for Boxing Day (NSW, VIC, QLD, WA) | Monday 28 December 2026 |
| New Year’s Day | Friday 1 January 2027 (no extra day) |
Queensland also has a part-day holiday from 6pm to midnight on Christmas Eve. Elsewhere, check your state or territory’s page.
Boxing Day is a big sporting day: the Boxing Day Test at the MCG is Australia v New Zealand, starting 26 December, and the Sydney to Hobart yacht race starts on Sydney Harbour the same day.
The orphans’ Christmas
For years, the big Irish and backpacker “orphans’ Christmas” in Sydney was at Bronte. In 2025, Waverley Council called it an unofficial gathering it strongly discourages, part of Bronte Park was closed for the new surf club build, and the plan included police checkpoints confiscating alcohol. Check the council’s news before planning anything there for 2026. In 2025 much of the crowd moved to Coogee instead. Randwick Council says all of its beaches and beachside parks are alcohol-free, and Bondi, Bronte and Tamarama are alcohol-free all year round too. The smaller versions are better craic anyway: a backyard barbecue with the housemates, a morning swim and a pub lunch, or a dinner organised through the Facebook group. On the beach, swim between the red and yellow flags and keep the sun cream going.
Finding other Irish people on the day
Looking for company on the day? Post in the Irish Around Sydney group early in December; you won’t be the only one. Lots of pubs do a Christmas Day lunch and the popular ones book out, so ring around in November. GAA and Irish clubs have their own nights out in the run-up too, like Cormac McAnallen’s GAC’s 12 Pubs of Christmas in Sydney on 5 December.
Find your people this Christmas
- Join the Irish Around Sydney Facebook group (157,000+ members) and ask who’s doing what on the day.
- Find a GAA club, county association or group in your city on our list of Irish groups in Australia.
- See what’s on in the run-up on the Irish Around Sydney events page.
Christmas Mass
Christmas Masses fill up, especially the Christmas Eve vigil and Midnight Mass, so get there early or go to a morning Mass on the day. Parishes usually post their Christmas times in December, and in Sydney St Mary’s Cathedral lists its Mass times online.
What’s open
Christmas Day is a restricted trading day in NSW and Victoria, so most shops are shut. In NSW, small shops, chemists, petrol stations, cafes, takeaways and seafood shops can still open. Takeaway alcohol generally can’t be sold in NSW on Christmas Day and most pubs can only serve drinks with a meal, so get the cans in on Christmas Eve. Boxing Day brings the sales: NSW shops can open if staff choose to work, and it isn’t a restricted day in Victoria.
Calling home
Ireland’s clocks go back on 25 October and Australia’s daylight saving started on 4 October, so in December the gap is at its widest:
| Where you are | Ahead of Ireland | 9am Christmas morning in Ireland is | 3pm Christmas dinner in Ireland is |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Hobart | 11 hours | 8pm Christmas Day | 2am on the 26th |
| Adelaide | 10.5 hours | 7.30pm Christmas Day | 1.30am on the 26th |
| Brisbane (no daylight saving) | 10 hours | 7pm Christmas Day | 1am on the 26th |
| Perth | 8 hours | 5pm Christmas Day | 11pm Christmas Day |
The easy win: Christmas morning in Sydney (7am to 9am) is Christmas Eve evening at home (8pm to 10pm), a good time to catch everyone. Then catch the present-opening on the evening of your Christmas Day. Agree times in the family WhatsApp so nobody gets a 3am video call.
Wherever you end up, have a happy Christmas and mind yourself in the sun ☘️ And if you’re planning next year’s budget, our cost of living guide will help.
Last checked October 2026
Sources
- Australia Post: Christmas sending dates 2026
- NSW Government: Public holidays
- Business Victoria: Victorian public holidays 2026
- Business Victoria: Victorian public holidays 2027
- Queensland Government: Public holidays
- WA Government: Public holidays in Western Australia
- NSW Government: Daylight saving
- timeanddate.com: Dublin time
- NSW Government: Trading on public holidays
- Revenue: Travelling from outside the EU, allowances
- Department of Home Affairs: Bridging visa B
- Waverley Council: Managing the impacts of Christmas Day at Bronte (December 2025)
- Travel Extra: Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Dublin services (October 2025)
- CAPA: Qantas European service adjustments from late October 2026 (August 2026)
- MCG: International cricket schedule 2026-27
- Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race
- Go Insurance: FAQs and War & Armed Conflict Disruption cover
- True Traveller: Travel insurance after leaving
- Wise: Send money to Ireland
- Send My Bag: Shipping to Ireland