Australia Day

Saturday was Australia Day, which marks the date in 1788 that the First Fleet arrived in Sydney to form the first penal colony. To a non-Australian, the celebration seems a bit arbitrary, since it doesn't mark when Australia was discovered, when it was founded as a nation, or any number of other significant dates. It simply marks the day when the ships arrived in harbor.
But once you experience it, it makes more sense: it seems to be a national holiday to simply celebrate being Australian. Think of all the themed-wear, traditional food, patriotic events, national pride, and general shenanigans of Independence Day and multiply by 10. That's Australia Day.

Australia Day also has a bit of controversy associated with it. Indigenous people call it Invasion Day, since it marks the day when their way of life was impacted for the worse. The modern Australia Day celebrations incorporate Aboriginal culture into festivities and focus on paying respect to Australia's native people, but there's still some disagreement about the merits of the holiday.

Controversy not-withstanding, Australians love this holiday! Most of them barbecue with family and friends, or bring picnics to the city to watch the harbor festivities. We decided to follow suite, packed a picnic, and headed down to the harbor to immerse ourselves in the day.

Before we headed out, we got our Australia gear on. It's not much compared to how everyone else looked, but we did what we could.

Croc Tobys wear flag tattoos on their chests

Lots of people were out picnicking with friends and family.

We quickly learned that on Australia Day, anything is considered fashionable, as long as it's got Australia color, and preferably the flag on it.

This lady was literally wearing an umbrella hat

Or you can just wear the flag itself.

If all this wasn't enough to see, there were hours of entertainment out on the harbor to take in.

The festivities started out with Ferrython, which is a race some of the ferries take part in. It ends under the  Harbor Bridge, so we had a great view.

This water-spraying boat leads the racing ferries into the harbor

It was hard to get a good picture of the racing ferries since there were so many other boats cruising alongside the race, but here are the lead ferries passing the Opera House.

 And a strong finish under the bridge!

In addition to the ferry race, there lots of boats decked out for the day.

There was also a lot going on in the air.

Helicopters towing the flag over the city

Flyovers by RAAF Hawks

The harbor festivities ended in the afternoon with a tall ships race - all the big, historic ships participated in a race that ended under the bridge.

It was a really fun day, and a great day for celebrating living in Australia!

Posted with Blogsy