Happy Australia Day!

Oh, to be back in the Lucky Country today! While I write this, their Australia Day (US equivalent is the 4th of July) is winding down, but my heart is full of great memories of the same from last year when I was lucky to spend that sunny day in my beloved second 'home away from home': Sydney. January 26, 2006, was the last full day there before I returned home, still suffering from pneumonia. I still have the notebook promise I wrote in the Sydney airport the following day, vowing to make it back there again as soon as I can. Barring a miracle, by all accounts it looks like I will not be able to immigrate there (let alone celebrate Oz Day more 'officially'), but I do plan on doing this wonderful holiday again as a tourist. And I cannot wait for that return visit to start.

Some memories and pictures from my Australia Day, 2006:

Watching the annually spectacular Great Ferry-Boat Race by the Opera House with thousands of other spectators near, underneath, and standing astride the famous Bridge...


and then walking around Sydney Harbour and the Botanical Gardens, (around the corner of Mrs Macquaries Chair), meeting new friends and re-learning the lyrics to "Waltzing Matilda"...


then off to downtown Sydney and its CBD (Central Business District), to meet the veterans talking of their sagas and deployments (you'll never find a prouder bunch of vets anywhere)...









...and I also took in an antique car show and music show there in Hyde Park, too...














...finally finishing the day off with a glorious sunset dinner at Doyle's on the Beach at Watson's Bay, a 'must do' meal on the last night of all my trips.


Last year's Australia Day adventures, even though I physically felt miserable, remain some of my all-time fave Oz memories (and I've been lucky to have many from my several trips there by now). I just hope some other Yank tourist is as lucky today as I was last year --- and may they never forget their good fortune, as I never will mine. God bless the beautiful, magical, and glorious continent that is Australia.

Aussie!! Aussie!! Aussie!! Oi, oi, oi!!