Adelaide’s Finest: Fantasyland, Santa’s Cave, and Christmas Lights Galore

The lead-up to my first Christmas abroad has been quite jam-packed and awesome! Chris and I left Naracoorte for Adelaide on Wednesday afternoon, after a bit of last minute gift shopping and a slight disagreement about which way was the correct way to go (not to rub it in, but I was right). After an uneventful four hour car ride, we arrived at Chris’s family’s place in Mawson Lakes. In the evening his mom took us to Fantasyland at the West End Brewery, a delightful collection of Christmas lights, large statues, and fantasy characters. My favorites were a whale sprouting water from its blowhole, a rotating disc with various toys on it (like a dragon, a cowboy on his horse, and a ballerina on top), and Santa being pulled in his sleigh by his reindeer. Among the strangest ones were a volcano with a cave man inside and an extremely creepy Frosty the Snowman (a young child confirmed this assessment when he asked his parents, “Why is the snowman so creepy?”). Lots of people had come to see the Adelaide tradition, and I was so happy to be a part of it.

 

The nearly beached whale (the river level was lower than it’s been in quite awhile).

 

I liked the dragon and ballerina the best.

Merry Christmas from Adelaide, Australia!

 

I have yet to figure out the link to Christmas here...

 

The creepiest snowman I have EVER seen. It’s right up there with creepy clowns.
 

On Thursday Chris and I headed to the Harbour Town outlet mall with his mom and two sisters. I justified a few purchases, including a red belt (which I’ve been looking EVERYWHERE for), a leopard print dress, and a polka dot skirt, with the consolation that I didn’t bring many “nice” clothes to Australia. When I was packing for my year here, I planned for lots of field work and not much going out, so I budgeted a lot of field clothes and left most of my nicer things at home. Also, I know that when I get home I will reassess my wardrobe and purge the things I no longer want/need (at least that’s what I tell myself). So I figure I can buy a few items of clothing while I’m here. After a few hours walking around in the BEAUTIFUL weather (mid-80s) at the mall, Chris and I went to the South Australian Museum to meet up with Terry Reardon, one of my project collaborators and a big bat guru. We gained access to restricted areas and followed him to his office. He copied over some thermal count files from my external hard drive that I’ve been having trouble analyzing. Hopefully he can shed some light on the problem. He then took us around for a tour of the specimen collections. First up was the wet collection, consisting of preserved critters in jars of alcohol/formalin. Some of them looked other-worldly, like little shriveled up aliens. Some of them were collected over 100 years ago. It’s amazing to think that they can still extract DNA and find out many things (like diet, taxonomy, etc.) from samples so old. We moved on to the dry collection, consisting of animals that had been collected and preserved through taxidermy. Chris’s favorite was the Ghost Bat (Macroderma gigas). I didn’t realize just how big these guys are until I saw a specimen with its wings outstretched. The body length was about 8 inches, and the wingspan about 24 inches. Ghost bats are carnivorous and eat fish, birds, insects, and even other bats.

The highlight of our tour was the Thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus) specimens. Also known as the Dog-headed Pouched-dog, Tasmanian Tiger, or Tasmanian Wolf, these animals were large carnivorous marsupials now believed to be extinct. Many factors led to their distinction, including a bounty established by the Tasmanian government from 1888 to 1909. The last wild thylacine was killed in Tasmania in 1930, and the last captive thylacine died in the Hobart Zoo in 1936. The specimens we saw (which came from the Adelaide Zoo) are considered the best taxidermically preserved specimens in the world and are the pride and joy of the museum. I felt honored to be among the few who get to see them.

The last known thylacine photographed at Beaumaris Zoo in 1933. Look at how wide it can open its jaws!

Outside the South Australian Museum

 

I wish I could get this as a painting!

Once our tour concluded, Chris and I walked to the Botanic Gardens to look at the flying fox colony (it has about 400 bats). We watched and listened to their squabble for a few minutes and then headed off for Rundle Mall, the main shopping area in downtown Adelaide. I got my classic souvenir spoons and some other trinkets, and I also got to play with some puppies and watch some rats at the pet store! That was definitely one of the highlights of my day. I sorely miss pets and having contact with animals. 

 

The puppy that Chris and I are getting. Just kidding. But I do wish...

We then hit up Santa’s Cave in the David Jone’s department store. It’s just what it sounds like: a kitchy Christmas display targeted at children, which of course appealed to me. Chris and his family used to go when they were kids, so I just had to see it. It was full of laughing and playing children and lots of Christmas cheer. I bought a “Lucky Dip,” for which you pay and then pull a surprise gift out of a hole in the wall. When I asked for a girl gift, the cashier asked, “How old is she?” to which I answered, “It’s me”. Haha, I was a teeny bit embarrassed, but I love kitchy things like this so I had no problem admitting that. Of course the cashier found the most “mature” gift she could, and I walked away with a Rubik’s Cube and a pretty ball. Well worth the $6 I payed!

Outside Santa’s Cave. Only 3 days until Christmas!

We took a train back to Chris’s place, which is still something new to me. I’ve never lived in an area where I needed to use public transportation, so taking buses and trains is still a novelty. We did get to witness a belligerent man on the train mouth off to the security guards and then take a swing at them (he was promptly removed from the train, struggling the whole way), which made the experience a bit more exciting. Once home, we headed back out to the Tea Tree Plaza, another big shopping area, to have dinner, get Cold Rock white chocolate ice cream with Rocher (the Australian Cold Rock is the same as the US Cold Stone), and see a movie. I also bought my first can of spray-on deodorant, a big thing here but not something I’m used to. I guess I’ll give it a go. We also bought some marshmallow fluff at a novelty/international sweets shop, which they don’t have here in normal stores. When we got home I introduced Chris to the Fluffernutter, a wonderful combination of marshmallow fluff and peanut butter on bread. He’s now a big fan.

On Friday evening Chris and I drove around the area looking at Christmas lights. There were some really elaborate decorations at some houses. The pièce de résistance was a display that had a sign saying “Tune to 94.3,” which of course we did. We then watched as the music played on our car radio and the lights flashed in sync with it. I’ve seen videos of these kinds of displays on YouTube, but I’ve never seen one in person until now. It was one of the coolest Christmas things I’ve ever seen! Of course my camera battery died in the middle of filming it, but I recorded most of it (see video below). What a great way to end the day before Christmas Eve!

The most elaborate (still) display. The owners had a collection bin out and were raising money to support local disabled children. What a great idea.

One of my favorite displays. I love the blue lights!

 

Christmas lights flashing in sync with Trans Siberian Orchestra’s “Wizards in Winter”