Australia Day

We celebrated out first Australia Day in true Aussie style...beach, beers, barbie and a few fireworks thrown in! For those of you not aware, Australia Day is celebrated on 26 January and marks the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, the unfurling of the British flag at Sydney Cove and the proclamation of British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of Australia. The day is also given to some controversy as the Aborigines see it as the day that Australians celebrate the destruction of their culture, so it has also been known as Invasion Day.

We were up early with George and met our friends Zoe and Martin at the beach, with Buster and Millie. Wes was up for a challenge and brought his garden spade with him. He dug the biggest hole on the beach and not surprisingly, passers by stopped to have a nose! It was so deep Wes and Martin were able to hurl themselves into it and also, George and Buster had trouble climbing out!

After the beach, we had been invited to a pool party, with friends Steve and Jo, Clare, Dave and Tilly, Badger and Kayla. Steve and Jo are renting in a complex, so have the use of a shared pool. We were lucky to be the only ones in there and had a barbie around by the pool. After freshening up, we headed in on the train to the city to watch the fireworks.

You might think that catching a train to the city on a bank holiday would be chaotic, but we had a smooth journey in. We arrived at the Esplanade to find the police handing out sweets to the kids. There were free rides for the kids to go on, plus lots of planes and helicopters flying past. The fireworks started promptly at 9pm out on the Swan River and off the top of the skyscrapers. George did not know which way to look! The fireworks went on for over half an hour...am guessing mega bucks were spent on organising them! When it was time to leave, we looked towards the station and saw masses of people, so expected to take forever to get home. The whole event was very well organised, with certain stations only accessible for certain train lines and guards making sure the station was not too full. The gates were closed on the station to allow the crowds to filter through, but once they were open, we walked down and got straight on a train, so we were home within about half an hour. It is difficult trying to imagine a journey home running so smoothly in the London. We had fantastic first Australia Day!!