Australia Day 2010

Luke — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 03:07:16 +0000

Australia Day (January 26th) is a national holiday, similar to the 4th of July in the states, with the major (tragic) difference being that we can’t buy explosive devices at the shop just around the corner. We tend to go to the beach, eat a lot of barbequed food, and in most towns and cities there are big fireworks displays.

RJ getting his snack on, just before we head out the door.

The petting zoo had the most rude and bossy goats that we've ever seen!

Grammy, RJ and LR cruise around on a camel ride.

We checked out the aboriginal dancers and music and even had a chance to join in ourselves! Strangely enough, no pictures of mum joining in seem to have survived.

LR sporting the butterfly face paint. RJ went for a crab, apparently a first for the artist.

Dad spent a lot of the day cooking and selling sausages (hotdogs) at Bunnings to raise money for a school. While stopping by for lunch, the kids decided we absolutely, positively needed some new rubbish bins.

Perth’s “Skyworks” is one of the biggest fireworks displays in the country and gets a huge turnout each year. This year we tried a change and went to see it from the city side, instead of from across the river. It was good, but not great: bigger crowd, less comfortable place to sit, and it was a pain switching between watching the buildings behind us and the river in front of us. Next year, we’ll go back to our favorite spot.

Time to go and see the fireworks! LR and RJ wait for the train to take us into the city.

The Australia Day fireworks always starts with the national anthem playing while a truly enormous flag is flown around the city by helicopter.

While the main show takes place over the river, they also have some of the fireworks launched from the tallest buildings in the city.

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Australia Day 2010