Australia day celebrations...

This week we took part in the Australia Day celebrations in Sydney. When we woke up the weather was set for a sweltering day and it didn't disappoint. We had heard that there was going to be a ferry race down by the Sydney Harbour bridge so we wanted to check out what it had to offer...and having never seen ferries racing before just how fast could they travel? On our way we walked through Hyde Park, the streets were lined with cars and it wasn't long before we worked out there was an antique car exhibition happening all around the streets of Sydney. I think our favourite was the old fire engine! We had a quick walk through the park and made a new friend Happy Hank the Hereford bull! Hopefully he wasn't the meat that ended up in my beef sausage later in the day! He looked very hot in the shade even hotter that we were! As we arrived at the Opera House we set ourselves amongst the crowds and waited in anticipation. We are not actually sure what exactly the rules were or when the race had started or indeed whether it had started at all as it was a little confusing. There were lots of boats all decorated for the occasion but not actually all headed in the right direction! I couldn't stand the heat and could feel myself burning so I gave up and stood in the shade, Nigel toughed it out but with consequences....he found that when he took off his sunglasses he looked as if he was still wearing them! The sunburn marks looked very funny and he was not impressed with his new look! Later in the day we headed for the shade that Hyde Park had to offer us and relaxed under a tree and listened to the live band.
After a short nap in the afternoon we headed back to the park and waited for the comedians to start their set. The humour was not as funny as we had hoped..he got a few laughs but his set seemed to consist only of adverts sung that we had never heard of and lines that began with I'm so Australian I..... some of them we got but most went over our heads. Still it was a nice afternoon in the park. In the evening we headed for Darling Harbour to watch the floating stage and boat show. We saw the police band who were actually pretty amazing considering we laughed when they first came out. There was a ceremony held by the Governor and the arrival of the best Australians of 2010 award. After the boat parade we got to hears the delights of the Australian Idol winner, Stan Walker and Leo Sayer...not entirely sure why he was there but the crowd seemed to like him...Mum I know you will be glad to have missed that one! After the closing ceremony we were treated to a spectacular firework display...which made up for just missing the one a New Years by a couple of days! It went on for ages and was timed perfectly to the Bolero with Yachts sailing around in time to the music too! It was a fantastic evening and we really enjoyed it and best of all.....it was completely free!