North Adelaide Sightseeing and Carols by Candlelight

This is a huge Bay Fig tree Justin and I came across on our way home from exploring North Adelaide. It might be one of the biggest we have seen!

This is a memorial for the soldiers of World War I and it is set up nicely because you can see the cathedral in the background.

This is St. Peter's Cathedral. It one of the most famous churches in Adelaide. It was built in something like 1869. It is gorgeous and the masonry is amazing.

This is another church we found on our travels. Justin thinks it is a Uniting Church or something. It was pretty cool too!

This is a typical house you would see in Australia. The veranda and the red iron roof are very common. I love these houses! I must add you probably would have to be rich to live here.

Here is another example of a house. Oh, and the light poles are called Stubbie Poles here and you can see one in front of the house. They don't use wood, but concrete between a steel frame.

This is a primary school. This is what a typical one looks like. Justin sees heaps of these as he does lots of jobs on schools!

I just really loved this house! It was beautiful!

This is what a corner hotel looks like, but don't be fooled, you can't stay here! Pubs are called hotels and it dates back to when if you served alcohol you had to have a place to sleep. Now, all the pubs are still called hotels. You will see these everywhere in Adelaide.

Just a giant house we saw.

Another giant house.

This is the Adelaide Convention Center. It is a major landmark for Adelaide. We ate our anniversary dinner here back in May.

This is the River Torrens. Justin and I run along this river every week!

Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas! Father Christmas on the outside of David Jones department store. He is massive!

Christmas decorations. Notice the blue sky and lush green leaves on the trees. Crazy!

This is me just outside of our apartment. We walk down this walkway pretty much everyday, so we thought we would take a picture.

Carols by Candlelight! About 30,000 people showed up for Christmas carols. We went with Bob and Anne' kids, Sarah and Andrew and their families. It was around 90 degrees and hot! It was crazy because I had just talked to people back home and it is like -2 F and here we are sweating like crazy! At the end, they had a fireworks display set to Christmas music. It threw me for a loop. It felt just like 4th of July with it being hot and fireworks, but we were celebrating Christmas! We sang an Aussie version of Jingle Bells and I thought it was great so I typed it up below. Just a bit of translation for you: A Holden Ute would be the equivalent of a Ford Truck. An esky is a cooler and the boot is the trunk. A kelpie is a type of dog. Singlet is a tank top. I think that is all. Enjoy!

Dashing through the Bush

In a rusty Holden Ute

Kicking up the dust

Esky in the boot

Kelpie by my side

Singing Christmas songs

It's summer time and I am in

My singlet, shorts, and thongs

Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells

Jingle all the way

Christmas in Australia

On a scorching summer's day

Christmas time is beaut

Oh what fun it is to ride

In a rusty Holden Ute

Engine's getting hot

Dodge the kangaroos

Swaggy climbs aboard

He is welcome too

All the family is there

Sitting by the pool

Christmas day, the Aussie way

By the barbecue!

That is about it from here. I have to work on Christmas Eve, but we don't have any plans. On Christmas day we will go to church and then to Bob and Anne's for lunch and then to our friend's house for tea (dinner). We wanted to hire a car, but they were all sold out in Adelaide, so we will be driving around in a 1 tonne Ute! Ha! I will take a picture. On December 26th we head to Melbourne for a bit of Cricket (Australia vs. South Africa), then Jenny and Ben (Justin's sister and her husband) arrive!! Then off to Tassie for a week of wilderness! We can't wait. So no posts for awhile because we wont' be back in town until January 5th. Expect lots of pictures! Merry Christmas everyone!! We miss you!!