Happy Australia Day!

What an incredible day! January 26 is Australia Day, the official national day of Australia. It is a public holiday, so no work (yay!) and they celebrate it in a big way here!

I spent the day on a harbour cruise with some friends from work and it is definitely one of the coolest things I have done in my time here! It was a hot hot summer day, but what better way to spend a hot day than out on the water watching the festivities! At about 11 am, the harbour kicked into high gear with a boat parade and then a ferry-thon, where some of the Sydney ferries race each other. All of the boats kind of line up behind the ferries and follow them as they race. There were literally just boats and people everywhere and everyone was in such good spirits and happy to be celebrating their national day! I will let the pictures do the talking now...

Here come the ferries...we were cheering for the one decorated with the whale tail and it won!

People lined up on the bridge to watch the festivities down below!

Me with my Luna Park and my apartment building (tall, white top, to the right of the ferris wheel) in the background...I love my location!

Yummy lunch buffet on the cruise...and yes, Mom and Dad, I did give the prawns with the heads another chance, ha ha!

We didn't want our harbour cruise to end, but we did finally get off and we spent some time walking around Darling Harbour and then took a ferry over to Circular Quay and The Rocks to see all the action down there. The Rocks had some of their markets open and there were about 6 different stages with live music. Again, just an awesome party atmosphere on a hot summer holiday! We all hung out for a little while, but then decided to head our separate ways because we were beat from the heat. As I was walking back across the bridge, I took one last picture of the action on the harbour...not as active, but still lots of boats out cruising around!

I am so happy that I got to be here for an Australia Day because it is definitely a day of celebration and was so much fun to be right in the middle of the action! This is truly just an unbelievable place and I still sometimes feel like I am living in a dream. Happy Australia Day...Australia, I will always remember you and your beauty every year on January 26th!

PS...As I sit out on my balcony writing this, I have seen 4 different fireworks displays...love this place!

PPS...Happy happy birthday to my dear friend Maggie Goss and my little Swiss girl Elizabeth Paulson! I miss celebrating with my birthday buddies, but I was thinking of you both today!