Today is Anzac Day in Australia a public holiday. This is a day when the troops of the 1st world war from both Australia and anew Zealand are honoured across the country. The serious bit starts at dawn with memorial services starting at about 5.00am then the armed forces parade through the streets with bands. In Sydney there was a fly past of 3 airforce planes. Then everyone goes out and drinks themselves daft, and plays 2up in the pubs, a game the troops used to play in the trenches. The weather was again cloud free and the sun was warm, although not as warm as we have been used to. We were due to meet the daughter and boyfriend of a friend of ours. They suggested that we meet at a place called Clovelly in a pub. Due to the parade lots of streets were closed off and many of the buses had disrupted timetables.
We started the day with a ride on the monorail which is due to close in June and as it passes under our bedroom window every 5 mins during the day we just had to have a ride. From this vantage point we saw the parade. Then we walked down to Darling Harbour and saw the replica of Capt. Cooks Endeavour, and the fly past of the 3 planes. It was buzzing in this area and we stopped for a coffee and watched the world go by, and I mean the world, every colour and creed and every type of clothing from smart uniform to scruffy shorts and flip flops.
We decided to take a taxi to meet Jo and her boyfriend Dan. We could hear the pub before we saw it - we were definitely the oldest in there by a long way. It was a large place with 3 floors and extra portaloos in the cellar and LOUD!
We had a couple of beers and some food there, and then decided to take a walk along the coast to Bondi Beach. It was a great walk with super views and great rolling waves coming into sandy beaches. Bondi was a great beach and as it goes dark here by 6.00pm we were glad to arrive in the semi light.
We caught a bus back, as they had started to run again. The city was heaving with semi drunk people so we made an escape to the quiet of our room.