IT IS THE MIDDLE OF SUMMER. SEE?
...which makes it all the more delicious when Aussies decide to make the Silly Season just a little sillier than it usually is. Santa has been caught driving tractors, fishing, climbing ladders, impersonating Elvis (not elves...), sitting in trees, riding bikes, getting caught in hay bales, taking a pit stop, getting blitzed and passing out on the roadside. Uh huh.
There are hundreds of these Santas all over the place between Clarendon and Kangarilla. Dave and I took a drive and a photographed a FEW. Here are some of what I think are the best. It was a lot of fun -- I hope the residents of the area do it again next year, as they did last!
...and after all of the above, we're not the slightest bit surprised to find Santa blitzed, having performed the proverbial face-plant on the roadside ... albeit with the assistance of a box of something red from Berri Estates. Ahem. [Nudge, wink]
It looks like being a lovely Christmas, weather-wise. Not to hot, and not stormy -- which can happen when the weather breaks in mid-summer: crash, boom, thunder and humidity. Dave, Mike and I are all set for the three day break from reality, though it's going to be somewhat strange this year: the first Christmas without Mom. I'm sure she'll be here in spirit. And I'm sure she'd have enjoy the "Santa Spotting."
Let me close with a few more landscapes from the Clarendon - Kangarilla area, to put this bit of seasonal silliness into context. Yes, vineyards in full green, hills burned brown (camera misbehaving like a [insert favorite expletive] the whole time...!) and -- well, I'll just shush-up now and let the pictures speak for themselves:
