Australia Day!

Sydney is an old friend and I was glad to return for the past two days to celebrate Australia Day.  January 26th the city stops to celebrate Australia's heritage.  I headed down to Sydney Harbour with Bob, Sharon, and their two grandkids to see the festivities.  It was a nice hot day and we lathered on the sunscreen, but even then still got a nice burn/tan.  Out on the harbour there were many things going on from noon till evening.  Everywhere Aussies were dressed in Australia's colors of yellow and green and had flags tucked in various places. Flags were in bags, back pockets, wrapped around shoulders, worn as tattoos etc etc, lots of Aussie pride if you didn't know.

 Flags in bags........

around the shoulders.....in hand....

We sat in the shade and walked to the water when the race took place

Many people had their picnic blankets and lawn chairs out by the harbour foreshore and we joined them in a shady spot to watch the water activities.  First up was the annual Ferrython.  There were boats of every size and shape out in the harbour loaded with people all cheering the races and from shore there were thousands of people lined near the opera house as well as on the foreshore closer to the Sydney bridge.  Four ferries dressed in bright colors and flags raced down the harbour to cheering fans.  The ferrython was followed by the Tall Ships race.  One of the ships, the Southern Swan, was one I had ridden and written about in an earlier post.  It was a sight to see, all the ships with their sails proudly out and filled! Following the races there was a display of F18 planes up above and a Red Beret splash down into the Circular Quay.  These berets jumped from a plane miles above shore and parachuted down safely into the water, amazing! 

 

Ferrython!

 

Tall ships race!

Red beret parachuting down!

Aussie pride!

We followed the hot day in the city with some fun in the water at Freshwater beach closer to home.  The boys and I bogey boarded and surfed to our hearts content in the refreshing surf.  Many other families also had the same idea and though it was crowded we enjoyed ourselves immensely! What a wonderful Aussie Day experience!