Christmas falls in the middle of summer in Australia. And it’s hot. So hot that Christmas Day usually requires a swim to cool off. But after years of watching snow-blanketed Christmas-themed movies, with people wrapped up in cosy layers sipping mulled wine, I yearn for a white Christmas, one where Santa’s cheeks are rosy from the cold – not heatstroke.

Aware of my mission to find a winter Yuletide experience that will satisfy my festive fervour, a Seattle-based friend proffers an idea rated highly by her family: ‘Head over the mountains to Leavenworth,’ she says. ‘You’ll find a town that’s transformed itself into a Bavarian mountain village – kind of hokey, but fun.’ My woolly hat and mittens are launched into a suitcase and I’m flying halfway across the world faster than you can say ‘Noel’.

Leavenworth lies at the junction of the Wenatchee River and Icicle Creek, below the towering eastern peaks of the North Cascade Mountains in Washington State. From Seattle there are two ways to drive the 200-odd kilometres to Leavenworth: one is via Interstate 90; the other – more adventurous – option is the high mountain road through Stevens Pass on US Route 2. It’s been voted one of the most scenic drives in the US, but the roads can be closed in winter due to heavy snowfall.

Preferring not to fit snow chains to our car wheels, we take the lower road, bidding our farewells to Seattle. The suburban sprawl of the city is quickly replaced by snow-laden evergreens straight out of a Hans Christian Andersen tale. Rising above the forests, snow-capped mountains emerge with forbidding names such as Cougar, Tiger and Rattlesnake, their peaks crowned in moody, dark clouds.