Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere is lovely, it's all warm, bright and shiny. Northern traditions are held, but there's no freezing weather to accompany them!
Houses are decorated with lights.
This particular inner city suburb is quite well known for people in the one street all decorating their houses with lights. People then come and stroll down looking at all the lights or drive slowly past. This picture did make me chuckle, it was bin night so the bins are out on the street as well!
I'm a traditionalist when it comes to Christmas decorations, I like garlands, greenery, trees and baubles! This is the Adelaide Arcade, the oldest shopping arcade in the city centre, restored years ago to its original state. The Christmas decorations match that traditional look.
During the Christmas season the heritage carousel is brought out and placed in the main shopping thoroughfare Rundle Mall. The carousel has been restored and it's wonderful to see children ride around on it.
Rundle Mall is where you'll find the buskers as well. There are times when I think that every child that's ever learnt to play the violin in Adelaide comes to busk in the Mall at Christmas time! This day there was an indigenous man adding to the Christmas feel.
Decorations on the gates of Government House. Australia is a constitutional monarchy, QEII lives in the UK so she has a representative in each state, who is the governor. The current South Australian governor is a former Vietnamese refugee who arrived in Australia in the early 1980s. The governor lives and works at Government House, it's open several days a year for people to visit and there are events held there are well. I've been a few times.
The decorated Town Hall. Adelaide Town Hall's main claim to fame is that it has the balcony on which the members of the Beatles stood on waving to the largest crowd that ever came to see them. Quite impressive when you consider how small Adelaide was in 1964, a huge percentage of the population stood outside and around the Town Hall trying to see them.
The geographic centre of Adelaide, Victoria Square. Adelaide was planned out by a surveyor so it has a geographic centre. The city itself was named for the wife of King William IV, Queen Adelaide, but by the time it was actually settled William had died and his niece Victoria was queen. So many things were named for her, including the tower on the left, the post office tower. I read the plaque as I walked past and learnt it's called the Victoria Tower! Foundation stone laid by Victoria's son Alfred when he visited in 1867, the first British royal to come to Australia. (There are also quite a few things named after Alfred in Australia too! Hospitals, schools)
With the warm weather it's quite common to see children playing in water features like they are here.
Just next to Victoria Square is the catholic cathedral St. Francis Xavier's, the Advent purple is out preparing for Christmas.
The Nativity inside the cathedral. The manger is empty as the tradition is the baby Jesus is placed there on Christmas day.
Merry Christmas!
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