In the Riverland, South Australia

I am now in South Australia, in an area called The Riverland which is about a two hour drive northeast of Adelaide.  If you're looking at a map, I'm now staying with friends (Harry and Yvonne) who live about 10 kms outside of a little town called Waikerie (South Australia).  And can you believe it - but Waikerie is on the Murray River?!?!

In 1890 a severe depression in South Australia resulted in massive unemployment in Adelaide.  The government at that time selected groups of approx. 30-40 able bodied men to start irrigation settlements along the Murray River, and hence Waikerie came into being in 1894.

Life is pretty quiet here in the Riverland - but that guarantees I have lots of quality time to catch up with friends, which is what I've been doing.

Harry and Yvonne picked me up at the airport in Adelaide when I flew here last Wednesday, and on the way back to their place we passed the SA Brewing Company (or West End Brewing Company) which sets up a lovely Christmas display on their property every year.  It goes for quite a distance along a little canal that runs on their property and I couldn't possibly get it all in one photo, but here is an example of what it looked like.

Because the Riverland is the part of South Australia that runs along the Murray River I've had (and will continue to have) lots of opportunities to see the river.  Here it is from a lookout spot in Waikerie,

(with a little lagoon off to the left)

here it is from the town of Berri (approx. 70 kms upriver from Waikerie),

and from Renmark (a further 20 kms upriver).

We also went to visit friends the other day (when it was 44 degrees here) and this is what I could walk right into from their front lawn:

For Christmas every year, the town of Waikerie puts on what they call "Santa's Cave" - a Christmas wonderland set up in a building (like the local community centre).  What I loved about the promotional brochure for Santa's Cave is that on the front page, in big letters it says:... "AIR CONDITIONED"!

Living a bit more rural (as I am right now) allows me to experience a bit of different animal life - in particular amphibians.  Yvonne has a hanging plant on her front veranda that is home to several little frogs.  They are called Peron's Tree Frogs and they are the only type of tree frog in South Australia.

Also here in South Australia there are some absolutely beautiful red flowering gum trees.  There are quite a few along the road to Waikerie - this is one of the nicest.

Well it's Christmas Eve here now and there's no doubt that Christmas when it's 30+ degrees is going to be a bit different from what I'm used to.  But the sparkling shiraz is in the fridge and the prawns are defrosting...

MERRY CHRISTMAS/HAPPY HOLIDAYS to everyone reading!!!