Happy “Strayla” Day!

Macca’s loves Australia like Australians loves to call McDonald’s Maccas

Officially, Australia Day (also called “First Landing Day” or “Foundation Day”) marks the arrival of the First Fleet from Great Britain at Port Jackson in 1788 and the founding of Australia. This public holiday, celebrated on January 26 every year, is also a day of tacky costumes, boat parades, live music, sausage sizzles, day drinking, fireworks and full on Australian culture.

Australia Day 2013

On our walk to the Harbor, we passed a great fire engine and vintage car display

To celebrate, my roommates and I filled our Aussie eskie up with Bundaberg, beers (Cheeky Blonde) and our BFFL (best friend Fruity Lexia – aka boxed wine), and headed into the masses for a day of fun.

We unfortunately missed the Ferrython, a ferry race through the harbor (our eskie slowed us down a bit), but in the Aussie spirit, “no worries.”

We were able to catch the floating music festival as it cruised by, but we ended up spending the majority of the afternoon perched on a grassy knoll overlooking the harbor, enjoying the blazing sun and sights of Sydney.

 

How “Aussie” am I? Fosters and all.

My favorite decked out boat

This smiley guy is a legend.

While out and about, we ran into our supervisor from our cruise ship job (yes, we are all pier check-in agents), and she gave us quite the compliment. From the walkway, she thought we were true Aussies, all decked out in our patriotic gear.

Thanks, Target for the Aussie apparel.

Once we were sufficiently sunburned (ugh), we headed for shelter in The Rocks to meet up with some friends at an awesome rooftop bar. We even got a true Australian to sing us their national anthem.

Not a bad view

From there, we went on an unsuccessful hunt for some snags (sausage). Somehow, we ended up at the festive Circular Quay Hungry Jacks for some subpar snacks before ending our day at The Domain in the Botanical Gardens for the Symphony in the Park.

We caught up with some other friends there, finished off our goon and said goodnight to Australia Day.

Australia Day, in a nutshell

One for the road: Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi!