last Saturday
I went into town with my camera, intending to take photos of the Chinatown area around the Central Market.
The bus was a little crowded, so I got off a few stops early and walked up Wakefield Street towards Victoria Square.
I began to notice more and more people, all heading the same way as me. Families, many, many, small children and babies in prams.
Further down the street I could see crowds of them lining the middle of the road.
I'd completely forgotten it was Christmas Pageant day!
There wasn't a good spot for me to stop and take photos, so I decided not to take any and just kept walking towards the market.
But then I saw something I could climb up on and maybe get a decent photo or three....
I'd missed the first few floats and even standing up on something, I still couldn't get photos of the bands that were playing and marching along.
I could only get photos of the bigger floats that stood out above the crowds.
Here are some of those.
Jester
Christmas on Parade.
Smoke breathing dragon.
Ghostly Grove.
Naughty or Nice? This wheel spun as the float moved along, then stopped when the float stopped.
The choices were naughty, needs help, nice and I couldn't read the other one.
Aaarrgh! Ahoy me hearties! Captain Hook I believe.
This shiny kangaroo bobbed his way along.
Clowning around.
Toy Town
Christmas presents piled high. There were three such piles on this float.
Toys
Fairytale Cottage.
Have you ever heard a brass band play Funky Town? This one did.
Carollers.
Santa's Reindeer
Santa blowing kisses. When I was a kid, Santa threw lollies.
Santa waving to the kids.
I did eventually get to Chinatown and took photos too, but I'll post those another day.
The bus was a little crowded, so I got off a few stops early and walked up Wakefield Street towards Victoria Square.
I began to notice more and more people, all heading the same way as me. Families, many, many, small children and babies in prams.
Further down the street I could see crowds of them lining the middle of the road.
I'd completely forgotten it was Christmas Pageant day!
There wasn't a good spot for me to stop and take photos, so I decided not to take any and just kept walking towards the market.
But then I saw something I could climb up on and maybe get a decent photo or three....
I'd missed the first few floats and even standing up on something, I still couldn't get photos of the bands that were playing and marching along.
I could only get photos of the bigger floats that stood out above the crowds.
Here are some of those.
Jester
Christmas on Parade.
Smoke breathing dragon.
Ghostly Grove.
Naughty or Nice? This wheel spun as the float moved along, then stopped when the float stopped.
The choices were naughty, needs help, nice and I couldn't read the other one.
Aaarrgh! Ahoy me hearties! Captain Hook I believe.
This shiny kangaroo bobbed his way along.
Clowning around.
Toy Town
Christmas presents piled high. There were three such piles on this float.
Toys
Fairytale Cottage.
Have you ever heard a brass band play Funky Town? This one did.
Carollers.
Santa's Reindeer
Santa blowing kisses. When I was a kid, Santa threw lollies.
Santa waving to the kids.
I did eventually get to Chinatown and took photos too, but I'll post those another day.
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The float with the carollers in a book was quite inventive. And I loved the spooky tree. Thanks for taking us along on your walk.
ReplyDeleteLOL!!! I've never heard of anyone "accidentally" going to the Christmas Pageant before! What a lovely surprise (and an explanation of why the bus was so crowded I guess).
ReplyDeleteI love how you inadvertently went to the Christmas pageant!!
ReplyDeleteIt's something I stay away from. We took the kids once and it rained. I'm glad I did it but it's not something I want to do every year.
Can't believe there were over 300,000 people there. The whole of Adelaide must have gone!
Now THAT is what I call a parade! It is so odd for me to see all the leaves and such, but what a wonderful "accident" you had. The floats are marvelous.
ReplyDeleteThat parade was a joy. I suspect that Santa can no longer thow lollies in case he hits a child in the eye or causes an allergic reaction and the lawyers dollars signs light up. Which I think is sad.
ReplyDeleteI loved the carollers - that was v clever.
I love a parade!!!
ReplyDeleteOur brass band (that DH and No 3 are in play all kinds of music
.....its lots of fun!)
I love the carolers!
Good fun photos. Must have taken you back to childhood when you climbed high into a tree to get the photos.
ReplyDeleteBonza parade and photos especially that you had to climb a tree to shoot 'em i especially like the court jester in the 1st photo :-).
ReplyDeleteDelores; that was a good one, the carollers.
ReplyDeleteLightening; if I'd remembered I wouldn't have gone into town at all. Think of the photos I'd have missed!
Sarah; it often rains on pageant day, the sunshine was a surprise.
300,000 people!
JeanetteLS; we have the biggest Christmas Pageant in the southern hemisphere.
EC; there's also the risk of kiddies running into the road to get the lollies and being run down accidentally by a clown on a bike or something.
pesky pixies; I rarely go to pareades even though I love them. The headache from the noise and glare isn't worth it.
Andrew; no tree climbing for me, I climbed up onto a block of concrete about 60cm high. Not high enough to see over the crowd properly.
Windsmoke; the photos turned out better than I expected, I had the old camera which doesn't have the "anti-shake" feature my new camera has. Only a couple turned out blurry, so of course I didn't post those.
I've never been to Adelaide's Xmas pageant - but part of me wants to (despite being crowd-phobic). So I'm glad to have seen it via you!!
ReplyDeleteAwww, that takes me back ..... we'd sit in front of the telly in Murray Bridge in early November and watch it all, listening to Jane Reilly (or was it Patsy Biscoe?) commentate throughout.
ReplyDeleteThen Mum would sigh as she put up with three of us begging to set up the Christmas decorations and I'd dream of being one of the lucky girls who got to sit on top of Nipper or Nimble....
What?!!! What is all this? It's absolutely adorable, all of it!
ReplyDeleteLoved the pics. Nicely done.
Pearl
Red Nomad; I'm glad to have brought this to you. I'll try to get a better position next year and get clowns and bands photos too.
ReplyDeleteKath; I remember doing that too, then in later years, my kids watched it via TV, before we came back to Adelaide. I don't remember who commentated before Jane Reilly, but Pasty Biscoe sounds right.
Pearl; this is Adelaide's annual Christmas Pageant, the biggest in the southern hemisphere.
Wow, that was so spectacular. I will go to your state just for this. Taking note of it now. The Myer pararde in melbourne is never as good as that.
ReplyDeleteWe love the Christmas Pageant!! It's the start of the Christmas season in our house!! The excitement begins!!!
ReplyDeleteGosh I miss the Christmas Pageant, It was wonderful to see it all again through your eyes.
ReplyDeleteThe only time I forgot about it was when I was cramming for my final year law exams. The exams were held at the Wayville Showgrounds in those days and this was a Saturday morning exam. I was living at Norwood at the time and needed to get a bus into town, then another to Wayville. Except the buses were all diverted, weren't they? Because of the pageant. God, I was in such a state when it happened and I could not find a taxi or anything travelling in that direction as all the floats left from West Terrace, so there was a road block set up and people and floats everywhere.
It was hot and I still had to run through the city, then the parklands up to the showgrounds, arriving red as a beetroot, sweating like a pig and totally livid. Luckily I did well in the exam, or Johnnies would have been on the recieving end of my wrath.
Joni Llanora; it's held on the second Saturday in November every year. You need to be in the city early if you want a good viewing spot! And lots of sunscreen.
ReplyDeleteMama's Alphabet Soup; were you there? Did you get photos?
Marie; Glad you did well in the exam after all that running! I was sad when Johnnies closed and the Credit Union took over the pageant. it's still a great parade though!