Australia Day
January 26th is Australia Day (commemorating the arrival of the first fleet in 1788) and similiar to our Independence Day it seems to be the BBQ and outdoor celebration of the year. It was nice that the holiday fell on a Monday this year, which gave us an extended weekend. Much like St. Patrick's Day in the US, everyone dresses up in Australian colors - the red, white, and blue mirroring the Motherland's colors as well as the official country colors green and gold. It is rumored that if they ever become a republic (officially cut all ties with the Queen), they have a green and gold flag designed to replace the Union Jack/Southern Cross currently used.
The beach was packed with people, picnics, BBQs, boats, floaties, and beach games. It actually got slightly out of hand with a handful of drunk teens (the drinking age here is 18) turning the Aussie pride into a racial diatribe (telling everyone on the Corso that didn't look Aussie (i.e. Asians) to go home). They wrecked certain stores, patronized anyone of different ethnicities, and bashed in cars. The riot police had to come out to calm everything down. Not much different than the way a few Pittsburghers and Hoopies react after their sports teams win, which is embarrassing. On a side note, the newspaper has had at least one article every day talking about how unacceptable and embarrassing the behavior was... Nothing beats the frankness of the news and opinions here... The headline of the Tuesday newspaper said "Rain and racist wankers dampen Aussie Day festivities"
On Saturday, Manly beach was packed with the largest surf and rowing competition/carnival in the country (outside of nationals). It kind of took away any thought of hitting up the beach, which isn't good when the temperature cracks 40 (about 104) and you can't walk outside without being drenched in sweat.
There were festivities going on all weekend, so we made it down to the city on Saturday night for the Open Air Symphony in the Domain (Sydney's largest downtown park) and Rock the Rocks on Monday, which was a series of concerts all day in the Rocks. Unfortunately it started raining as soon as we arrived in the Rocks, so we didn't stay very long and missed out completely on the fireworks that night.
To escape the carnival in Manly, we made our way to Bondi (ie. the other side) on Sunday. There is a bit of a rivalry between Manly and Bondi as the best beach spot in the city. Of course Manly is definitely better, but Bondi wasn't so bad at all. I will confess that the sand on Bondi Beach is much better than the Manly beach sand. We took the Bondi to Coogee walk which went from Bondi Beach along the coast, passed Bronte Beach and a bunch of other small beaches to Coogee Beach. The coast was beautiful as always and the Bronte Baths looked wonderful. They are natural rock pools in the ocean but we didnt have time to stop and get in as our ferry broke down on the way there making us an hour late to meet friends for a picnic. This was the first time we have been on a ferry that broke down. It was quite amusing for us and we didn't have to be anywhere so we didn't mind.
The beach was packed with people, picnics, BBQs, boats, floaties, and beach games. It actually got slightly out of hand with a handful of drunk teens (the drinking age here is 18) turning the Aussie pride into a racial diatribe (telling everyone on the Corso that didn't look Aussie (i.e. Asians) to go home). They wrecked certain stores, patronized anyone of different ethnicities, and bashed in cars. The riot police had to come out to calm everything down. Not much different than the way a few Pittsburghers and Hoopies react after their sports teams win, which is embarrassing. On a side note, the newspaper has had at least one article every day talking about how unacceptable and embarrassing the behavior was... Nothing beats the frankness of the news and opinions here... The headline of the Tuesday newspaper said "Rain and racist wankers dampen Aussie Day festivities"
On Saturday, Manly beach was packed with the largest surf and rowing competition/carnival in the country (outside of nationals). It kind of took away any thought of hitting up the beach, which isn't good when the temperature cracks 40 (about 104) and you can't walk outside without being drenched in sweat.
There were festivities going on all weekend, so we made it down to the city on Saturday night for the Open Air Symphony in the Domain (Sydney's largest downtown park) and Rock the Rocks on Monday, which was a series of concerts all day in the Rocks. Unfortunately it started raining as soon as we arrived in the Rocks, so we didn't stay very long and missed out completely on the fireworks that night.
To escape the carnival in Manly, we made our way to Bondi (ie. the other side) on Sunday. There is a bit of a rivalry between Manly and Bondi as the best beach spot in the city. Of course Manly is definitely better, but Bondi wasn't so bad at all. I will confess that the sand on Bondi Beach is much better than the Manly beach sand. We took the Bondi to Coogee walk which went from Bondi Beach along the coast, passed Bronte Beach and a bunch of other small beaches to Coogee Beach. The coast was beautiful as always and the Bronte Baths looked wonderful. They are natural rock pools in the ocean but we didnt have time to stop and get in as our ferry broke down on the way there making us an hour late to meet friends for a picnic. This was the first time we have been on a ferry that broke down. It was quite amusing for us and we didn't have to be anywhere so we didn't mind.
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