Australia Day '08

26th January brought along our 2nd Australia Day – and another glorious day of sunshine. Having had a long & tiring week we decided against making it to the Aborigine ceremony that starts the day (will aim to make it one year!) and made it to the CBD for the passing of the ‘ship-parade’. Amazed by the crowds we wandered around the Rocks, stopping at times to sample the live music on offer and particularly enjoying ‘The Bottleman’ – a guy who plays a wide range of tunes on a selection of beer bottles (although the end of his session was drowned out by fighter jets flying overhead).

Most disappointing aspect of the day was the fact that the Museums charged $5 each - rather than the free entry of last year. A real shame as it is the only day of the year with free entry (unlike London which has free entry throughout the year) and I see it as a great way of encouraging people to experience some culture & history.

Making our way up Macquarie Street we passed a huge selection of vintage cars – although it seemed Lucy was most taken by the caravans – and popped into the Royal Mint (one of Sydney’s oldest buildings). Our original aim was to make it to the Triple J countdown in the domain, but the size of the queue put us off somewhat and so we wandered through the grounds of the hospital and ended up in the RBA building viewing an amusing 60’s video of it’s creation. Interesting to see the Sydney skyline of the 60’s, the half-built Opera House and a building that was seen then as a ‘grand & modern’ building but would now be considered a bit of a ‘concrete monstrosity’.

We ended up spending much of the afternoon taking in the live music provided by the ABC stage in Hyde Park. Sampled a couple of Bluetongue Ginger Beers, caught some sun & listened to a wide selection of music – jazz, samba & Australian Indie! – before heading over to Darling Harbour for the end of day fireworks celebrations.

If I was amazed at the number of people in Circular Quay earlier in the day, I was dumbfounded by the mass of people in Darling Harbour. We fought our way through to the bar in Tumbalong Park and had a drink with Arjun (from my MBA course) and his wife (Kiran) before heading back to watch the firework display – impressive but not on the same scale as NYE. We then had the misfortune of struggling through the throng of people in order to leave the harbour and make it for a drink somewhere. After close to 45 mins of struggle we eventually made it to the Shelburne Hotel for a drink or two.

Lucy & I then headed off to Hyde Park Barracks to enjoy a DJ session from Moodyman. Whilst the music was top notch – if a little more ‘retro’ than I expected – it was becoming a struggle to stay awake. A long day in the sun after a long week at Uni was taking its toll and the beers weren’t helping! Decided to leave around 1am and try our luck at the Spiegel Tent….where unfortunately we found it’s fame had spread and the length of the queue clinched our decision to head home. Whilst not quite living up to the standards of our 1st Australia Day in 2007 it was still an excellent day, one that really brings out the best in the Australian psyche – I only wish we could have a similar day of national pride & reflection in England.