Australia Day 2013

Happy Australia Day! The holiday fell on a Saturday this year (we still got Monday off as a national holiday) and since the weather was nice I got to the beach fairly early. I brought my Australian flag towel, a Carlton Draught, and my book along with me and had a really relaxing afternoon.  By the time I walked back to my house the neighbors already had an inflatable pool set up in their front yard with about thirty people over; Australia Day festivities were officially underway.

There was a stage set up in the park near my house, and towards sunset I headed down with Hayden to sit on the grass with a couple of burgers and relax. The stage is right on the beach and it was really nice watching the sun set in the background. There was a really elaborate fireworks show on at 9pm, after which I just went home. It’s nice having a three day weekend to ease back into things after the Christmas holidays. Fortunately I have another one to look forward to this weekend, since there is no way I’m working on Super Bowl Sunday (Monday here) this year!

Spotted in Darlinghurst

I saw this beauty cruising around near my work. It's the Australian version of mom's old Toyota, and there are actually a bunch of them on the road down here! I had a quick look, but didn't see any obnoxious children in the rear-facing third row making faces at the car behind them.

Macca's

In honor of Australia Day later this month, a few McDonalds have changed their signs to the ubiquitus nickname Macca's. Only a handful of restaurants in the country did it, but one happens to be in Engadine, pretty close to where I live.

Summahtime!

It has been super toasty outside lately. Sydney has actually gotten the best of it, with poor Tassie (Tasmania) getting up to 40 degrees (104 fahrenheit) when it's usually much cooler than the rest of the country. The cicadas are out in full force now that it's summer. I usually only hear them chirping, and never actually see them, but a baby cicada landed on Hayden's shoulder while we were sitting on the patio. This poor little guy seemed really confused, but he made friends quickly. Obviously it's been a slow weekend if this is what I have to report to everyone, but I thought it was kind of interesting :)