Welcome to Grant & Sharon's
Christmas Lights 2009

Each year, we bring some Christmas cheer to the neighbourhood through our Christmas Lights display. What makes our display a little special is that much of it is hand built out of materials you find at a garden centre or hardware shop. The other unique aspect is that it is computer controlled and synchronised to the music! It is a labour of love that takes many months of preparation before each display is mounted. Christmas never really ends in our house as planning for the next year's display begins even before this year's is over!

The display can be found at Vernons Drive, Highbury (South Australia).

The display operates from:

• 8.30pm-10.30pm Monday-Thursday, and 8.30pm-11.30pm Friday-Sunday from the 1st of December until the 18th of December.
• 8.30pm-11.30pm every day from the 19th of December until the 26th of December

We hope you enjoy our show!

During the show, the music playing is also available on FM-Stereo 91.1 MHz for you to listen in your cars!

HOW DID WE BUILD IT?

The control system powering this year's display is from:

A considerable amount of help has been had this year from my friends. Special mention must be made of Scott who did most of the work on the presents in particular, Mark who helped with much of the wiring and construction of the train tracks, Matt B, Chris & Matt C for their work on mini trees. In particular I must thank my wife Sharon for all her help and support who apart from being chief site caterer during the construction working bees and hubby support officer, also undertook all the sewing of the covers over the new presents.

This display would not have been possible without the help of all of our friends and we cant thank them enough for their generous help!

To see more details of how we built the display for 2009, come and take a look at the construction pages!

Previous Year's Displays

The photos of our past year's efforts both at Flagstaff Hill and at Highbury can be seen via the following pages. Take a wander through memory lane and see how the display has evolved over the years!

• 2006 Display

• 2007 Display

• 2008 Display

Frequently asked questions:

2. How long did it take to build? - 10 months this year plus accumulated time over the past 4 years.

3. How much did it cost to build? - A lot!

4. How many control channels this year? - 147 active today across 10 controllers

5. Do you receive any sponsorships? - No - this is completely self funded.

6. How much does it cost to run? - We estimate around $50/year in electricity

7. How much power does it use? - peak power is approximately 4kW, average is about 2kW

8. Does it take long to program the sequences? - each song takes ~5-10 hours, depending on the complexity.

9. Are there other people with light shows synchronised to music in Adelaide? - yes there are! Visit these websites for more details:

Len's Christmas Lights - Garnet Drive, Salisbury East
Ryan's Christmas Lights - Marquiste Avenue, Salisbury East
Regency Christmas - 574 Regency Road, Broadview

Where Are We?

Vernons Drive, Highbury, South Australia

Feedback is most welcome via E-Mail.

Where else in Adelaide can you see Christmas Lights?

The following links will take you to lists of Christmas Lights in Adelaide:

Community Walk Christmas Lights Map of Australia
www.achievesuccess.com.au
Op Shop Christmas Lights Map
The Advertiser Christmas Lights Map via Google Maps