Australia Day

Last week was Australia Day. It's a public holiday over here and we went along to see some new citizens being sworn in at a ceremony in the park. There was the traditional solitary Aboriginal didgeridoo player, a lady helping the children make kites (but really find it all a bit too hot and too much bother.. I think she was wishing she'd volunteered to be on the tea tent instead) and plenty of provision for purchasing barbecued food and icey poles (ice lollies to you and me).

It was a real mixture of the formal, proud and ceremonial followed by a rousing rendition of 'Ozzie, Ozzie Ozzie, Oi, Oi, Oi' to 'welcome our new citizens'. I love that about the Australians; they are unashamedly proud yet generally incredibly down to earth.

Evie liked it because they had a slide set up by the scouts which was basically a piece of plastic running down the hill, regularly doused in water and washing up liquid. They like their fair share of thrill seeking behaviour too....