Aussie Aussie Aussie..... Oi Oi Oi!!!

The day has arrived, the big celebration, a great excuses to drink plenty and act like idiots!!!(turns out it was just us but hey we know that Australians aren't the best at holding celebration parties!!)

It is Wednesday 26th January 2011 and it is Australia Day, we are going to celebrate the first British fleet arriving in Sydney in 1788!! The sun is shining and we are psyched!! We have been behaving the last couple of weeks, saving pennies but we are letting our hair down today. It is super hot and although I had work in the morning it was a lay in at as a 7.30am start. The pool was packed as Commercial Swimming Club were holding a Flood relief event swim 100 x 100meters, (I would of volunteered but I had work!!!) but the BBQ Brekkie was a pleasant way to wake up and start work. The day was slow and soon the others came to join me and as soon as the clock struck 1pm my clothes were flying off and I dived straight into the pool to cool down the perfect way to finish a day at work on a heat baking 35 degrees. We spent some time sunning ourselves working on keeping our Whitsunday tans and prepared our outfits.

We had planned to go out and celebrate with all the other Aussies dressed as if the Aussie colours and flag had thrown up all over us. We had brought cheap white vest tops and marker pens... I had the very original southern cross and Aussie Aussie Aussie graffited all over me... Hana adopted her favourite giggle and in keeping with her other t-shirts "I heart Aussie Bush"... Shereen wearing ridiculous Aussie flagged shorts. We put our fake tattoos on, I put my Aussie bandanna on attached my new friends (clinging Koalas!), Hana had her silly sun smart cap and grabbed our flags.

We went off laughing and giggling at how silly we looked and the stares we were receiving in search of the others like us, we hit the bottleo and I convinced Hana to buy the bigger bottle vodka and we set off to South Bank. We walked in public through the high street with everyone pointing and laughing either with us or at us. Stopping briefly to take some naughty pictures by a police car with our illegal street drinking. The sky was my favourite light blue with not a cloud in the sky it was a big difference from the recent weather. Now don't be mistaken we were letting our hair down and were out to party and enjoy ourselves however this was largely to do with some free tickets we had for a free Aussie concert which was playing some true Aussie music with Guy Sebastian head lining, so we had some spare cash. We walked along South Bank lagoon, took some very poesy pictures in some strange places and started to name my clinging Koalas. I named my first Koala friend Chlamydia, for those who don't know Koalas are becoming an endangered species not only due to loss of habitat but because they are infected with Chlamydia which is spreading rapidly (I question how did a Koala contract Chlamydia?). Now expecting like in true British style everyone would be out and being proud of being Aussie we thought everyone would be dressed up there, but oh no it was only us. However we brought smiles to the organisers and they gave us extra Aussie flags and more tattoos.

We were originally sitting but wanting to jump around and have more fun we snuck into the crowd that were standing and watch the performs we had no idea about. Jumping out to get some fresh air in the break we bumped into the band that had just been playing and I think the alcohol and excitement had got to us that for some reason we became devoted fans and got our flags signed by them. I know they were good but I don't know what the name of the band was.

We waited eagerly for Guy Sebastian, we again didn't know much about him but we knew a few songs and knew he was a judge on Australian Idol so he had to be quite big. It appears from later research and for those who may be interested he was the first person to win Australia Idol in 2003 and has become quite famous and is quite good. During our wait though we were interrupted by protesters, they came into the crowd with their banners canting and shouting at everyone celebrating this day, they saw this day as "Invasion Day". I understand what they were saying and agree that here we were celebrating what appear to be a foundation day but that's not entirely correct as it is when the British came to Australia and doesn't really take into consideration that the Aboriginals where here first. However we weren't here to discuss or be involved in political agendas we were here just to have fun and not long after all was forgotten and eyes diverted back to the stage for the grand finale Guy Sebastian. He was very good talking to the crowd getting them involved and singing fabulously. It turns out we knew a lot more of his songs than we realised.

It was a great event even if it wasn't packed with others looking ridiculous like us, or even partying that much or acting as crazy as us. It was still early and we were all still buzzingbut realising we hadn't had any dinner we headed to good old faithful Hungry Jack for our $5 meal. But wait!!! oh no!!! I have lost Chlamydia, some where in all this partying I have lost my faithful friend!! It was a very traumatic experience but it was OK I had a new friend.... Syphilis.

Not yet sleepy and still wanting to continue our fun we decided to head to a fitting bar called "Down Under". Hilariously and some what surprisingly this bar was only allowing foreigners in luckily even in our disguise they believed we were British and joined the party inside. It felt a little bit like Walkabout at home, cheesy Aussie interior, cheesy Aussie competitions and my favourite Snakebites!!! our new house mate Ollie was celebrating and we enjoyed a few drinks before I realised I had work at 5.15am and needed some sleep before work and it was already pushing 2am!! I will confess I was a little drunk and became a little stubborn on the way home, I had been up since 7am, I hadn't had a nap, I had been doing a lot of jumping and walking and the last thing I wanted to do was climb the stairs to our unit!! The idea of sleeping on the bench outside was much more appealing than the climb, but the others mainly Shereen would not leave me alone and so I was forced kicking and screaming to crawl the 6 flights of stairs!! It was all OK though as I had Syphilis to get me through and luckily the next day at work too.