People often enjoy taking pride in their country. And let us be the first to tell you that Australians are no exception. In fact, Australians are very open and exuberant about their national pride. And it is in full effect on Australia Day. According to the government's Australia Day website, "Australia Day, January 26, is the biggest day of celebration in the country and is observed as a public holiday in all states and territories. On Australia Day we come together as a nation to celebrate what's great about Australia and being Australian. It's the day to reflect on what we have achieved and what we can be proud of in our great nation." It actually marks the day that the prisoners arrived in the Sydney Harbour, or more P.C. it commemorates the establishment of the first European settlement on the continent of Australia.
We were actually lucky enough to have been invited by some new friends to spend the first day of the long weekend water skiing up north on the Hawkesbury River. We started the morning early, and
while we were getting on the train we noticed an unusually large crowd of people on the subway for 8:00 on a Saturday morning. People of all ages were decked out wearing the Australian colors and the majority of them were most likely heading down to the Circular Quay to enjoy the festivities that the city had put together to celebrate the holiday. We met up with our friends in North Sydney and they took us for a beautiful drive into the northern countryside of Sydney to the river. The drive was gorgeous with amazing views of the Blue Mountains. When we arrived at the river we must admit, we were a little nervous about the skiing. Having both been skiing only a couple of times (and without too much luck with it at that) we weren’t sure how rusty we were going to be. And while by no means were we tearing up the water or impressing any of the Aussies with our moves, we did both manage to get upright and enjoy a nice ski on the river. But even if we hadn’t had any luck on the skis, just hanging out on the river learning about the history of Australia Day and sharing stories with the group would have been enough fun for us.
And of course it wouldn’t be a proper blog entry without an entertaining story about either Carey or Greg – and Carey appears to be the lucky winner this time around. The whole day she was a little hesitant about getting behind the boat on the skis. She didn’t know if she would be able to get up and if she did end up skiing ok, she was a little worried about how she was going to stop. Well sure enough, her first attempt wasn’t too pretty. Legs were flailing, skis were flying, and body parts were moving in directions that body parts don’t normally move. To her credit, she gave another go at it and was able to put together a quality ski session. However, when we she attempted to get back on the boat she realized that her back wasn’t quite right. In fact, she probably pulled/strained more than a few muscles and was in quite a bit of pain the rest of the evening. However, she quickly found out that Australian pain killers work extremely well. Especially when washed down with a glass of wine. No worries though, all is better now and she’s back up and running, almost good as new. Our first Australia Day weekend was quite a success and we are looking to celebrating again next year! Special thanks to the Martin’s for inviting us out with them and especially for not laughing (too hard) at our water skiing skills. Happy Australia Day!
We were actually lucky enough to have been invited by some new friends to spend the first day of the long weekend water skiing up north on the Hawkesbury River. We started the morning early, and
while we were getting on the train we noticed an unusually large crowd of people on the subway for 8:00 on a Saturday morning. People of all ages were decked out wearing the Australian colors and the majority of them were most likely heading down to the Circular Quay to enjoy the festivities that the city had put together to celebrate the holiday. We met up with our friends in North Sydney and they took us for a beautiful drive into the northern countryside of Sydney to the river. The drive was gorgeous with amazing views of the Blue Mountains. When we arrived at the river we must admit, we were a little nervous about the skiing. Having both been skiing only a couple of times (and without too much luck with it at that) we weren’t sure how rusty we were going to be. And while by no means were we tearing up the water or impressing any of the Aussies with our moves, we did both manage to get upright and enjoy a nice ski on the river. But even if we hadn’t had any luck on the skis, just hanging out on the river learning about the history of Australia Day and sharing stories with the group would have been enough fun for us.And of course it wouldn’t be a proper blog entry without an entertaining story about either Carey or Greg – and Carey appears to be the lucky winner this time around. The whole day she was a little hesitant about getting behind the boat on the skis. She didn’t know if she would be able to get up and if she did end up skiing ok, she was a little worried about how she was going to stop. Well sure enough, her first attempt wasn’t too pretty. Legs were flailing, skis were flying, and body parts were moving in directions that body parts don’t normally move. To her credit, she gave another go at it and was able to put together a quality ski session. However, when we she attempted to get back on the boat she realized that her back wasn’t quite right. In fact, she probably pulled/strained more than a few muscles and was in quite a bit of pain the rest of the evening. However, she quickly found out that Australian pain killers work extremely well. Especially when washed down with a glass of wine. No worries though, all is better now and she’s back up and running, almost good as new. Our first Australia Day weekend was quite a success and we are looking to celebrating again next year! Special thanks to the Martin’s for inviting us out with them and especially for not laughing (too hard) at our water skiing skills. Happy Australia Day!
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