Ball gowns and woolly slippers are emerging from cupboards across southwest Queensland as the temperature drops and a busy events calendar heats up.
The outback conjures images of hot red sand and temperatures soaring past 40C.
But winter in southern and south west Queensland can routinely get down to freezing — not that cold weather will stop a good party.
Charleville business owner Courtney Bylett said the region's social season kicked off as the mercury fell.
"We've got races, cultural shows, football season and gymkhanas — mate anything you want, we've got it out here," Ms Bylett said.
The Charleville Show's ball is being held on Friday night for the first time in several years, bringing a crowd and heralding the start of a busy event season that will have plenty of locals booked out for weekends with no break in sight.
"You'd think we'd all start hibernating [when it gets cold] but none of that bothers us," Ms Bylett said.
Winter is coming
Southern parts of Queensland are expected to experience cool weather in coming days as a high pressure system in the Great Australian Bight directs air from the Southern Ocean across southeast Australia.
Weather bureau forecaster Shane Kennedy said the cool change would be followed by a rise in temperatures by next Tuesday.
"Those temperatures are likely to be well below 10C at night, and getting down to 5 or 6 on Saturday and Sunday morning."
He said that was fairly close to the May average in the Darling Downs but getting up 3 and 4C below average in the Maranoa and Warrego district.
Mr Kennedy said the winter was forecasted to be warmer than average.
"It's likely to be the coolest morning of the year for many parts of the Southern Inland area over the next couple of days, particularly the weekend," he said.
Snow in the sunshine state
A dusting of snow is a common sight for Queensland's coldest town, Stanthorpe.
It's not only residents who enjoy the cooler weather, but tourists who make the journey up from the southern states after two years locked out.
Granite Belt Wine Tourism president Martin Cooper said tourists loved the colder weather.
"It's frantic," Mr Cooper said.
Mr Cooper also owns and runs a winery which has cabins as accommodation amongst the vineyard.
"Between our accommodation we estimate we're going to use about 22 tonne of firewood this winter and we've been organising the supply for the last two months," he said.
"We've got heaps of piles of firewood ready to put next to our cabins every night."
Plan ahead
Mr Cooper has a few words of advice to ensure a positive holiday as smaller towns experience a huge influx of tourists and caravans.
"Make your bookings," he said.
Ms Bylett said patience was also appreciated as tourists made their way west.
"[Tourists] are very much welcome," she said.
"Sometimes it's a bit unfortunate we don't have a lot of cafes to offer to them."
She said tourist season could be a bit overwhelming in small towns.
"Be patient with us, but we're doing our best to work towards what you guys [tourists] need."
