Christmas In Sydney

Sydney is offering you a magical summer Sydney Christmas with a five weeks of Christmas celebrations . There’s concerts, markets, food, crafts, decorations, carols, festivals, religious services. We have it all except the cold snow and ice skating of our northern cousin.

We can and do make the most of the warm days and wonderful balmy summer nights where we can wander around the streets of Sydney and thoroughly enjoy the Christmas trees, the light shows  and all the other festivities, all accompanied by the sounds of Christmas carols and the ringing of bells.

It kicks off on Thursday 28th November, where you will have 2 wonderful events to choose from. Personally I want both! And the fun continues not just for hours or even days but for 5 weeks.

Some of the Highlights

Go visit the Sydney Christmas website to get the full program or more information on the highlights.. You don’t even have to come into the city as many ‘villages’ are joining in and putting on a concert or other. There really is something for everyone. You will hardly know where to start and you will surely not be disappointed.

Christmas on the Green

The celebrations really get into gear on 28th November.  You can have a marvelous picnic in Hyde Park with entertainment for both the kiddies & adults, including costume shows featuring Dirtgirl and Bananas in Pyjamas and singing by Darren Percival and the Australian Girls Choir.

 

Martin Place Children's Concert and Tree Lighting Celebration

At the same time as the Christmas on the Green is the free children’s concert and Santa to kicks off the lighting up of the huge Christmas Tree in Martin Place. There’s entertainment for both young and old.

Christmas Projections 

Every evening, except Sundays, from Thursday 28th November to Christmas Day, from 8pm to 10pm, the Sydney Town Hall will be the focus of the fabulous and colourful light display.

There is SO much more. Like I said earlier, you must go to the Sydney Christmas to get all the info.I just can't fit it all in.

Here are just a few more:

Christmas Choir Program Be serenaded from 7 pm to 9 pm at Sydney Square, Martin Place and Pitt Street Mall

Etsy Christmas Pop up Shop 28th November to Thursday 12th December
Are you a lover of handmade things, the come, shop & browse. There will be demonstrations and workshops too. You can find them at 74 Castlereagh Street, Sydney.

Pop up Pyrmont Market Day in Union Square 29th Nov


You don't even have to come into the City as there are Christmas in the Villages. There’s bound to be one near you. Here are some that are listed:

Pyrmont: 29th Nov
Rushcutters Bay: 30th Nov
Paddington: 5th Dec
Redfern: 6th Dec
Alexandria: 7th Dec
ChinaTown: 13th Dec
Newtown: 14th Dec
Potts Point: 15th Dec


It is very important to my family and I to to attend attend a Carols by Candlelight  and visit a Christian Church on Christmas Eve here in my home town. If you are going to be in Sydney, take a look here  to see what religious services will be on near where you will be in Sydney.

Sydney's St Andrew's Catherdral

And there's more! I don't want to nag... but go to the Sydney Christmas website for full details.

I wont be able to get to the earlier events as I have an operation to recover from but I certainly hope to catch some of it. I am going to travel up by train when I recover. I particularly want to see the Pop up shop and market and to see Martin Place and the Town Hall all lit up.


Are you off to join in your local Christmas festivities?

Should Free camping be restricted?

There has been a lot of talk about caravan parks being pivotal in the closure of many free camping/boondock or low cost areas through out Australia. There are many people who choose to always camp within the confines of a caravan for a multitude of very valid reasons. There are also times when even many people who would normally choose to free camp would go into a caravan park for a limited time for any number of reasons.

Free camping at Toolangi, Vic

To me the issue is around choice. Just as there is no one set of clothing style that suits everyone, nor is there one style of holiday that suits everyone.

Caravan Parks are important and are vital to tourism. There will always be many people who will always want the security and the amenities that caravan parks offer. Just as there are some people do not need or want playgrounds, BBQ facilities and such. There are others who only want basic toilet and maybe showers and there are some that don't even need that. Some people just want to get away from regimented allocations of land spaces or even away from close proximity to other people.  Some people want to have a camp fire rather than run a gas BBQ. They have all that they need just to sit back and relax.

There is no doubt that camping away from the general bustle of crowded caravan parks has become very popular for lots of reasons. Free camping places as well as very low cost camping places offer some alternatives to the traveling public.


There needs to be a place for all of us in this growing market and I think there can be if we don't expect a one fit suits all type of attitude.

To say that Caravan Parks need 'protection' for their businesses is to show favoritism to just one sector of the tourist market. This would be the same as businesses who claim that Caravan Parks with a restaurant, a cafe, a shop,  pool, spa, playgrounds and mini golf courses are taking away from legitimate businesses that offer one of these services within 15 kilometres of their premises. That is a part of free world enterprise or economy that many of us learnt about in basic economics at school.

Free camping at Pildappa Rock, SA

At the same time, I do think that some genuine free camping issues needs to be addressed both by individuals as well as corporate and government bodies. We are seeing signs of stress on the free camping areas. Some places are over-crowded, generally unregulated, and in many cases filthy. These once beloved places are becoming more and more unattractive. Is this the infrastructure we want for the future? It is not fair to blame any one sector of the population for the mess it is in. There are bad apples everywhere. Most travellers are good fine decent folks that maybe even go as far as to leave a place cleaner than they found it. Many of us just try to 'leave no trace'. Unfortunately it only takes the odd one to make a mess or be disgusting and make it rotten for the rest of us.

Either way, there is a real cost incurred to the government whether it be local or state to have many such 'free' camps, especially if we want toilet facilities, dump spots and garbage collections for starters. I think it is a cost that will need to be addressed in the future, but just how is another issue. As soon as anyone or any organization starts to introduce a fee structure then there's regulations and wages and all sorts of issues that come into play.

Kalgan River Caravan Park

I do think we are coming to a time in the near future when all recreational vehicles (RV) will need to meet certain conditions such as being fully self contained. "The Leave No Trace" scheme as promoted by the CMCA. (BTW: We are not full members of the CMCA at the time of writing, though we will possibly join them some time in the future.)

How do you see the future of RV travelling in the short and long term here in Australia?