Back by popular demand (and some complaints from our audience)... we now introduce the Didgeridoo!

Due to some nasty fanmail* that was received regarding the lack of posting over the past week, I'm happy to say that we are back in full force**. Anything for our audience!

This past weekend was quite an exciting one in Australia. It was Australia Day on 26/1/08 (That's January 26, 2008 for those of you in America). Here's a brief little history on Australia's equivalent celebration to July 4th in the US:

Australia Day, celebrated annually on 26 January, is the official national day of Australia, commemorating the establishment of the first European settlement on the continent of Australia. The date is that of the foundation of a British penal colony at Sydney Cove on Port Jackson, New South Wales, by Captain Arthur Phillip, who was to become the first Governor. Australia Day is an official public holiday in all states and territories of Australia, and has also been known as Anniversary Day, Foundation Day and Invasion Day.

For you history buffs please click here for more information.

Now let's get to the fun part... Australia Day is quite a display of proud Australians wearing flags and/or painting flags on their faces, lots of parties, lots of open markets with arts, crafts and food, lots of tall ship races in the harbor, lots of music, lots of excitement and LOTS of fireworks! (Please note that Sydney is OBSESSED with fireworks and pretty much sets them off for any reason).

We spent Saturday walking around the city where we started by watching some traditional aboriginal dancing down by the botanical gardens. It's called the Woggan-ma-gule. This ceremony honours the traditional Gadigal custodians of the Eora Nation, and gives recognition to the original shoreline of Sydney Harbour.



Next we walked up through "The Rocks" which is an area with cute shops, bands playing on the street, fun pubs and people dressed up EVERYWHERE.



We then taught Chris how to play a didgeridoo - see below:



Proceeded to Hyde Park where there was a vintage car show, food and more... Here we are getting into the spirit with "Tomato Sauce" (otherwise known as ketchup).



I don't have the rest of the pictures of fireworks that our neighbor took, but feel free to look around at some other pics of the festivities from Australia Day 2008!

Click here for more pics.

We miss everyone and hope to speak with you all soon!!

*Don't worry Sims family, I won't mention the specifics on who the nasty fanmail came from... but, watching the toilet flush 5,200 times? You really do miss us in California huh?