Womadelaide 2012

Womadelaide, located in Adelaide's beautiful Botanic Park, is celebrating its 20th year. Here you can see some of the thousands of people enjoying a performance, many sitting amidst some very large shady trees; so welcome on a hot day.

Coca-Cola Bottle Blast

This free community event courtesy of Coca Cola is touring the nation; it was here at Glenelg last weekend.

Three activities were on offer; Jump ‘n Dunk, Trapeze Air and Spring ‘n Bump. The queues were long, but the patrons looked pretty happy after the experience.

Cats at the Festival Theatre

This is the main entrance to Adelaide Festival Centre. Andrew Llloyd Webber's Cats is currently playing in the centre's largest venue, the Festival Theatre. The theatre seats about 2000 and has a large stage area, well suited to large productions like Cats.

Last night we went to see Cats; a brilliant and lively production- a most enjoyable evening.

Unfortunately I did not take a camera as the norm is that photography is banned at live shows. I was kicking myself when it was obvious that some photos were allowed; as long as flash was not used. As much as I enjoyed the show, I won't be going again just for photos!

One Man Band

A couple of weeks back Dan Burt was entertaining at the Westlakes Carols. This photo was taken at the Oakbank Races earlier this year; Dan certainly gets around.

He has been performing for nearly 30 years; truly a colourful character!

2009 Spirit Festival

"Come and Expereience the Oldest Living Culture in the World" - the 2009 Spirit Festival is being held this weekend at Elder Park on the banks of the River Torrens. This is the second year the festival has been held; a free event due to sponsorships.

Besides the live musical entertainment on stage the festival includes visual arts, children's workshops, performing arts and sporting events.

Friendly rivalry

At the launch of Digital Radio on Thursday morning local radio station rivals worked alongside of each other.

Matthew Abraham from 891 ABC took the opportunity to gain members for his fanclub ... even rival station Nova 91.9's presenter, Fitzy.

Mascot race

This morning local Adelaide radio station Triple M ran a Mascots' Race. Held at St. Raphael's Primary School, it was part of one of the station's breakfast program's regular segments "Back to School Friday."

The breakfast show hosts Kim, Ali and Dzelde ran their show on site at the school. Click here to see a slide show of the mascots on Triple M's web site.

The Beachouse Ferris Wheel

Opened on Saturday December 6th, this is an Australian first; a single arm ferris wheel. Glenelg has waited two years longer than planned for this to eventuate, and the almost $1.8 million cost of building it was over budget. Unlike other traditional ferris wheels you get a continuous ride; people board and disembark while it moves.

Lion dance and moon lantern parade

Phu Dong Lion Dancers provided a lively bit of entertainment. There are two very fit and athletic young men inside the 'lion'.

This was closely followed by schools & community groups parading their beautiful hand-made lanterns through the park.

OzAsia Festival

This was the setting for the Moon Lantern Festival; Elder Park, on the banks of the River Torrens. At this event the OzAsia Festival, which runs from 14th to 28th September, was officially opened. During this fortnight a variety of performances are scheduled in venues throughout the City; a cultural exchange with some of our regional neighbours.

Dressed in traditional dress from Vietnam these girls delighted the audience with their performance.

ABC Wednesdays - I for Indian Rhythms

Indian Rhythms (tabla, singing & harmonium) with Jay Dabgar & Sunny Invrageed Singh was one of the stage acts at the Moon Lantern Festival last Sunday. The free event held on the banks of the River Torrens was the official opening of the 2008 OzAsia Festival. I will be posting more about this event over the next few days.

Adelaide is a cosmopolitan city and has migrants from many countries. Currently Indians are the second largest group of immigrants settling in South Australia, providing skilled workers in many areas.

To find out more about ABC Wednesdays and see other participants' contributions go to the ABC Wednesdays' site or to see direct links to their own sites go here.

Finale

The Royal Adelaide Show is over for another year; patrons were treated to a fireworks and laser display at the end of the program in the main arena.

Song and dance

At the Show there are two stages featuring a variety of non stop free entertainment. One act I saw was Frequency One, a highly entertaining trio. Their performance was vibrant; energetic dance routines and fabulous vocal harmonies.

Pigs Do Fly

Caught in mid air; as a finale to Tom Vandeleur's pig racing show, one of his pigs takes a dive into a pool and then races down a ramp.

These pigs complete their 45 metre race in about 6 seconds; on my calculations that's 27 km/hr!

The Big Dipper

One of the most popular spots at the Show, especially with the younger folk, is the Rides and Carnival area. New to the Show this year is a loop coaster.

ShowTime Freestyle Motor X Team

Another spectacular display of skill at the Show was that of three of motor cross riders. Not only did they "fly" from one ramp to the other, they did a variety of manoeuvres in mid air; one even did a complete somersault!

Toyota HiLux Heroes

The Toyota HiLux Heroes is a precision driving team; enthralling spectators at the Show with their display of speed and skill. This photo shows them doing a four way crossover; and no they did not collide!

The driver of this car drove around the whole arena track on two wheels.

The end of an era

This is another of the locations at Freeling used in "McLeod's Daughters". Another key location was the Kingsford Property, known as Drover's Run in the series.
Unfortunately we visited the district a week late; we missed the sale and a chance to visit the property!

Gungellan Hotel

This hotel is in Freeling, about 60 km north of Adelaide. If you have seen the television series "McLeod's Daughters" you will recognise it as one of the locations used. The final series was shot late last year, so it has resumed life as a normal pub now. It was built in 1867 as the Railway Hotel.

Fringe Family Weekend

Adelaide is all go at present - entertainment is laid on with something for everyone. Concurrently on the weekend we had the Fringe which included free family events, the Adelaide International Buskers Festival and the opening of the Festival of Arts.

This photo was taken in Rymill Park, the venue for the Fringe Family Weekend. These people are being entertained by aRTy Ms, a busker from New Zealand. I only caught the end of her show - aerial manoeuvres on a static trapeze. Just as I arrived she was enthralling the crowd with some fire stunts.
Other buskers were performing at three other locations in Rundle Mall, the city's main shopping precinct.

On top of the events I've just mentioned, this week is Writers Week and Artists Week and next weekend is Womadelaide - a music, arts and dance festival held in our beautiful Botanic Park.