We’re spending Christmas in Australia

We’re spending Christmas in Australia.

It’s been a while since we were last there – we were in the middle of bathroom renovations earlier this year when we would normally go. We have had visitors from Australia since we were there last though, so we have seen some of our family.

Naturally, the primary aim of this trip is to see family members and spend Christmas in Australia with them. It is the one time of the year when the whole family gets together – well, everyone who can – to spend the day together laughing, eating and being jolly. This year, we will be in the thick of it, rather than on the other end of a phone line or facetime call.

We also plan to catch up with some good friends. Not just Facebook friends, but the kind who are still friends despite the fact that we have not lived in the same place for 18 years.

We do have plans to see a few other things while we are there. This time, we’ll be staying in South Australia.

Beaches

It’s Summer in Australia. We will be going to spend a day at the beach. Probably numerous times. Perhaps even on Christmas Day in the evening if it is hot.

Animals

We will be taking Miss M to see of the local fauna.

Traditionally, we visit our local zoo on Christmas Eve to see what the animals are doing for Christmas. We plan to maintain this tradition while celebrating Christmas in Australia. We have a few options:

1. Cleland Conservation Park: a popular and groundbreaking conservation park in the Adelaide Hills, known for letting visitors hold the koalas and feed kangaroos and emus
2. Warrawong Wildlife Sanctuary: Warrawong is home to probably the only platypus left on mainland Australia and various other animals, and lots of close up opportunities
3. Monarto Safari Park: A 1,500-hectare open-range zoo featuring Australia’s largest giraffe herd and pride of lions, and lots of close up opportunities
4. Adelaide Zoo: The first three parks are all closed for fire safety reasons if the temperature is predicted to be above certain levels. If Christmas Eve is one of those days, we still have the option of visiting the Adelaide Zoo and seeing the pandas.

A winery tour

South Australia has numerous world-renowned wine regions. Each visit, we take some time and visit one of the premier wine regions and try the wine. We’ve toured the Barossa, Clare Valley, Langhorne Creek and Coonawarra. This year, we will probably stay closer to home and tour the Adelaide Hills or McLaren Vale. We’ll pick a winery for a long lunch. And some wine for our Australian Christmas dinner.

Kangaroo Island

Kangaroo Island is one of the real gems of South Australia. Condé Nast Traveller just named Kangaroo Island as one of the destinations to watch in 2020.

Peter and I decided to gift each other a trip to Kangaroo Island for Christmas. We have been before, but we are looking forward to introducing Miss M to some of the highlights. And there are many highlights.

• Seal Bay
• Remarkable Rocks
• Emu Bay
• Cape Borda Lightstation
• Kingscote
• Admirals Arch
• Little Sahara
• Penneshaw Penguin tours
• Kelly Hill Caves
• Vivonne Bay
• And the food and drink – wine, gin, marron, honey…

We are going to have fun! We will definitely be posting about this one.

Adelaide Hills

Most of our time in Australia for Christmas will be spent in the Adelaide Hills. We plan to visit Hahndorf and its Christmas market, even if it pales by German standards. Cleland and Warrawong are both in the Adelaide Hills, and there are a number of eateries that we are planning to visit.

Adelaide

Of course, we can’t really visit South Australia without visiting Adelaide.

We are planning to take Miss M to visit Santa and have the traditional photo taken, so we will need to go at least once. Fortunately, you can book your Santa photo session online for both major department stores. I hope this convenience will come to Germany too!

Depending on the weather and how much time we have, we will also take her to see the Adelaide Central Market, take a ride on Popeye and do some shopping. And eat – Adelaide has some very underrated but very delicious food haunts.

Dubai

Yes, you are right, Dubai is not in Australia.

After our Australian Christmas, we will be stopping off in Dubai on the way back to Germany and spending 3 days and nights there. We have been to Dubai before, so we have some idea of what we will do while we are there.

Our last trips to Dubai were in March when some things are closed for renovations, safety checks and cleaning. This visit will be an opportunity for us to visit some of the things that we have not yet seen.

We will probably go back to the Frame and take our little dinosaur aficionado to the Dinosaur Park. We will take a ride on a Dhow on Dubai Creek and may go on a desert 4WD tour. Our hotel also gives us free access to one of the water parks, which we intend to use.

Do you have any Dubai suggestions for us?

We’re looking forward to spending Christmas in Australia

Of course, you know that means that we’ll be posting some images to Facebook and Instagram and will follow up with posts.

What would you most like to read about?