By David, on January 25th, 2011 Over the last few weeks in Sydney the weather has been getting steadily hotter and hotter. Yesterday it was a scorching 36 degrees in the city and even more out west. I’m reliably informed this is because Australia’s national day, Australia Day is tomorrow, and the weather always heats up for the celebrations.
If you’re wondering what it is, there is a good site explaining Australia day here. Australia day is especially important for Sydney, as Sydney cove was where the Brits first raised the flag and proclaimed Australia for the crown, and from then on, where patriotic Australian’s celebrate the birth of their country. Of course, Captain Cook, Captain Arthur Philip and the dutch before them weren’t the first in Australia – the Aboriginals were here long before. For them, the coming of the Europeans wasn’t a joyous occasion, so many don’t celebrate but see it as a day of mourning.
For me, and my big group of non-australian Australians in Sydney, we’ll be making the most of a day off and the beautiful weather and head to Bronte Beach for a big beach bbq. There’ll be at least 9 Poms, an Estonian, a Polski, and an american in our group, so we’ll be toasting you Aussies with a cold Scooner and kangaroo burger.
As well as the beach fun, bbqs and all day drinking, there are some massive Australia day fireworks at Darling Harbour – opposite our flat. There are loads of other festivities in Darling Harbour too with a speech by the governor of New South Wales, some films and people receiving their citizenships too.
I did a search for ‘travel sites’ and your ugly mug popped up!