Australia Day

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Hello my friends. Well it's the 1st of february today and truth be told - I'm still doing naff all haha. Well with nothing to really do all day apart from sitting in the sun watching the world go by, wouldn't you? Of course you would...
One of my aims in Australia was to catch U2 on their world tour, but when the dates were finally released I found they wont be playing here until December. I have since purchased tickets for one of the few UK gigs, which means I will be home a tad early, sometime before 18th June. Now that I have a coming home date, I've had to do some serious planning as there is much left that I want to see.

First off, I am now the proud owner of a Green card (after one dull and lengthy course) and some boots, which should gain me access to the world of manual labour. I start my first job tomorrow which is a two day stint working at a school. I'm hoping this will lead to further work, but the job front is pretty quiet despite the continous adverts in the papers. I figure I need to work for about 8 weeks or so to fund the rest of my travels, but i'll probably laugh when I look back at this (eight weeks? and the rest...)

Also booked is my Melbourne grand prix ticket, yeah! So I'm off back to Melbourne in three weeks to take in some high octane action. The first time we went to Albert Park it amazed me that someone had the vision to utilise it as a race track. As I walked around it, I found it hard to picture in my mind what it would look like on race day. For a start, its a public road right next to a lake, with a golf course and recreation centre thrown in. Part of the track they use runs right through the car park! So I look forward to seeing the track once its set up and the transformation is complete.

Other than occasionally looking for work, I took some time to head down to the harbour for Australia Day on the 26th January. This is a massive celebration and national holiday for Australians though I don't really know what it's all about, and neither it seems do Australians. It is however a good excuse for a day off to drink beer and revel in all things Australian. This leads me to the question - why don't we have an England Day? I know we have St. George's day but most people couldn't tell you when it is, let alone celebrate it properly. Anyhow, Australia Day proved that when it comes to partying, Australian's are world leaders. It all started early on with 100's of surfboarders racing in the harbour. Then at noon, there was a harbour procession of hundreds of boats, ferries and ships as they all headed down the harbour, round an island, then back under the bridge. It was quite a sight. In the afternoon there was a race between tall ships, and they looked fantastic against the harbour bridge/opera house setting. Throughout the day there were bands playing on several stages set up all over the Rocks and Circular Quay. In the evening Gary and I headed to Darling harbour where there was a festival and firework display to end the day. There were thousands upon thousands of people there to see the fireworks and it was reminiscent of New Year's. Best of all, the whole day was completely free!

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