Australia Day

Thursday 26th January, 2012


Happy Birthday Australia!  Today, being Australia Day, means a public holiday, bar-b-ques (lamb of course), concerts, fireworks, free breakfasts and some new immigrants being naturalised as Australian citizens.

I don't think we do it as well as the Americans do their Independance Day, but this year we seem to be showing a bit more patriotism.  I have noticed several cars flying the Aussie flag.  It's a start.


Then, on Tuesday we had this learned University professor from Perth, come out and say that she had done a study and people who chose to fly the flag on their cars were RACIST!   Whaaaaaat!!!!!!

"People who fly Australian flags on their cars have more racist views than the rest of the population, a new study has found.
Many flag flyers also support the now-defunct White Australia Policy and are afraid the Australian culture is under threat, researchers from the University of Western Australia say."

On reflection, maybe she has a point.  I think we are all racist in some small way, whether it be against a persons' nationality, religious views or culture.  I put my hand up, I know I am.  We are all Australian, therefore we should all be treated equally, not favoured because you were here first.

 We know we're Aussie because we......

* Believe that stubbies can either be drunk or worn. 
* You pronounce Melb...ourne as 'Mel-bin'.
* You believe the 'L' in the word 'Australia' is optional.
* You can translate: 'Dazza and Shazza played Acca Dacca on the way to Maccas.'
* You believe it makes perfect sense for a nation to decorate its highways with large fibreglass bananas, prawns, sheep, lobsters, oranges, and pineapples.
* You call your best friend 'a total bastard' but someone you really, truly despise is just 'a bit of a bastard'.
* You think 'Woolloomooloo' is a perfectly reasonable name for a place. 
* You believe it makes sense for a country to have a $1 coin that's twice as big as its $2 coin.
* You understand that 'Wagga Wagga' can be abbreviated to 'Wagga' but 'Woy Woy' can't be called 'Woy'.
* Beetroot with your Hamburger.   
* You believe that the confectionery known as the Wagon Wheel has become smaller with every passing year.
* You wear ugg boots outside the house.  
* You believe that the more you shorten someone's name the more you like them.
* Whatever your linguistic skills, you find yourself able to order takeaway fluently in every Asian language
* You understand that 'excuse me' can sound rude, while 'scuse me' is always polite.
* You know what it's like to swallow a fly, on occasion via your nose.
* You know it's not summer until the steering wheel is too hot to handle and a seat belt buckle becomes a pretty good branding iron.
* Your biggest family argument over the summer is about the rules for beach cricket.
* You shake your head in horror when companies try to market what they call 'Anzac Biscuits'.     
* You know how to abbreviate every word, all of which usually end in O, arvo, combo, garbo, kero, metho, milko, muso, rego, servo, smoko, speedo, righto, goodo etc.
* You know that there is a universal place called "woop woop" located in the middle of nowhere...no matter where you actually are.
* You know that none of us actually drink Fosters beer, because it tastes like shit. But we let the world think we do. Because we can.
* You have some time in your life slept with Aeroguard on in the summer, maybe even as perfume.
* You've only ever used the words - tops, ripper, sick, mad, rad, sweet - to mean good. And then you place 'bloody' in front of it when you REALLY mean it.
* You know that the barbecue is a political arena; the person holding the tongs is always the boss (well, us women let them think they are) because it is usually a man. And the women make the salad.
* You say 'no worries' quite often, whether you realise it or not.
* You understand what no wucking furries means.
* You've drank your tea/coffee/milo through a Tim Tam
* You own a Bond's chesty, in several different colours.
* You know that roo meat tastes pretty good, but not as good as barra, or a meat pie with dead horse.
* You know that some people pronounce Australia like "Straya" and that's ok. 

So Tony and I spent most of the day doing nothing.  That's what Australia Day can mean too.   After having a late lunch we headed off into town to watch the Australia Day parade.

This year it was much better than last years parade.  There were quite a few more nationalities represented and more people watched along the streets.  Maybe because it coincided with the finish of the days play of the cricket test at the Oval.

We wandered down to Elder Park where thousands of people had gathered for the Australia Day concert and the fireworks.  We didn't stay for very long. 

We ended up going down to Henley Beach and had some dinner at Zoots Cafe.  It got quite cool sitting outside while we were eating.  Even a coffee didn't warm us up.

On the way home we came back through the city, and parked the car along War Memorial Drive and watched the last of the fireworks.  It gave a different perspective seeing and hearing them from behind.