Australia Day

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Up and out for 7.20am, the streets are busy with organisers and people setting up for the day’s celebrations. It is going to be another scorching day, and I enjoy wandering down to the swim registration area through the botanical gardens – they make such a peaceful and pretty escape from the city centre hubbub.

The area they are using, the edge of the botanical gardens right next to the opera house is awash with people. I register and am given my timing chip and pink swim hat, I then have my number – 54 drawn on both arms in thick black marker pen, and am handed a race pack. I join everyone else, settling on the grass overlooking the opera house and the water, soaking in the relaxed and happy atmosphere. P&O cruises are sponsoring the race so my race pack contains a nice P&O towel, sun peak, sun cream, water bottle and nutrition bar. And at the end of the race we are to receive a pair of eco-friendly ‘feel good’ flip flops (or ‘thongs’ as they are called here) from another sponsor. The event is very well organised, and we all gather by the harbour wall and watch the juniors go off for their 300m swim first, then the 750m ‘anything goes’ swimmers – lots of fancy dress, followed by the 750m age groupers. It is then turn for the 2.2k ‘anything goes’ swimmers – less fancy dress more wetsuits and flippers style, then the 2.2k age groupers of which my group (female 20 -30yrs) and the male equivalent are combined and are third to go. We enter the pontoon though the queen Elizabeth gates, along the board walk to the pontoon, it all feels very professional. We are given a race briefing and then we all jump off the pontoon into the water and line up along the imaginary start line. This proves trickier than we all thought, with 300+ people all treading water, being buffeted around by waves, after a few long feeling minutes the klaxon sounds and off we go. In true survival of the fittest style, people are swimming over you, grabbing your ankles, and arms and legs are flailing everywhere. Luckily I receive no blows to the , which are the only thing that really disorientate me, and quickly find my rhythm and a space in the water. As we all head out across the harbour to the first buoy I overtake a few people, there is a bit more competitive spirit flying around and then finally break into an open spot of water and continue un-pestered.

The first thing that hits me, quite literally, are the waves. The water is a lot choppier than I expected (well everyone expected I find out after) and are sizable enough to feel them buffeting you backward and forward which also requires you to adapt your breathing rhythm, realised after a few mouthfuls of sea water! My stomach felt slightly like it was in a washing machine, but I focused on my stroke rhythm and ploughed on to the first buoy. With the first buoy cornered we then head down towards the harbour wall, this is by far the easiest section, no effects from the waves and I overtake a few more people. Swimming parallel to the harbour wall and then up out of the harbour were the hardest sections, with the waves coming at you from both directions, in and reflecting off the harbour wall, it really was washing machine like! All buoys cornered with no problems I pushed for the finish line, battling with a lady on my left who overtook me at the last buoy, but she must have pushed to early, and with her overtaken, I overtook one or two men to the way to the finish line.

Once I had hit the timing mat with the chip on my arm (finish line) I felt quite exhausted and knew I had given it everything I had got, which is always a nice feeling. I picked up my pair of thongs, a rehydration drink and had a photo taken in the P&O photo booth before reclaiming my bag from the bag drop. Everybody sat and listened to the medal presentations with a top female surfer and several other Australian athletes giving out the medals. Once complete I wandered back through the botanical gardens to the hostel for a nice shower.

The rest of Australia day I spent in the city, walked through the vintage car display, watched the boats/ferries all dressed up and racing in the harbour and listened to the music, the best of which was the Dj tent in the garden bar and the world music stage. I decided that I should see the china town district of the city before I leave, so I wandered down and through the inside markets, selling all the fresh fruit, clothes, fish etc. It was all very interesting but after Hong Kong nothing really compares. On the way back I happened to wonder across a large park with large water fountains, nice bars and restaurants and lots of water and non-water playgrounds which were packed with families – this turned out to be the Darling Harbour area. It was beautiful with the harbour as the back drop. There were many more music tents and activities going on here, and I spent several hours listening to some fantastic music including a great acid jazz group, a Irish aboriginal hip hop group and a Jamaican jazz and rap group. The harbour is a beautiful area, lined with nice restaurants and bars, and I wandered round both sides of the harbour, looking at the ships on display for the day. I had some dinner in one of the more pub style venues on the water which was very yummy and then headed out to try and find a free spot on the harbour to watch the evening festivities. Much like London would be for an event like this, the whole area was packed with people, but like this morning it held a very friendly and relaxed atmosphere.

I actually managed to find a spot right in front of and a few rows of people back from the floating stage. Within minutes the Australian Naval brass band started playing and after announcement the Australian’s of the year winners were brought in by boat. After speeches from all (luckily non too long and boring), the governor of New South Wales and other important state politician people made speeches. Interestingly enough all the politicians and the governor’s speeches focused on the very controversial topic of inclusivity of the aborigines and rightful land owners. Once the presentations were complete the boat display started, first the important small ships and then the tall ships, all being announced and doing a lap of the harbour.

8.30pm quickly rolled round and the much anticipated fireworks commenced. The display was to music and at points included lights and lasers and was totally out of this world. I don’t think there are many more words to describe them but it must be one of the few moments in my life where I actually had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming it. I was actually watching the most amazing firework display I have ever seen, in Darling Harbour, Sydney…..Australia!

Everyone milled back through the streets of Sydney. Once back at the hostel, one of the other girls in my dorm named Shin (from Sweden) hadn’t done much today so we decided to see the day out in style and had a great time dancing the night away in some of the clubs close to our hostel.

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Comments

[Debbie Cull]

Australia Day
Hi Kate, You sound like you had the time of your life. It really is an amazing experience. So pleased you went.