Happy Australia Day!

Saturday, January 26th is the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788. Australia Day is similar to America's Fourth of July - barbecues, fireworks, festivals, and celebrations. The Australian sense of pride and patriotism was actually much stronger than what I’ve felt in America. The streets were filled with people wearing the national colors (yellow and green) or flag colors (red, white, and blue).

We started out at Hyde Park. There were a lot of food trucks and a kid’s show going on. We didn’t stick around for long. Our next stop was Darling Harbour, where we listened to a live band on the green.

We made our way up to The Rocks, where we tried the famous Pancakes on the Rocks for the first time. Nina and I split chocolate chip pancakes with ice cream on top. It was pretty much heaven. We headed home shortly after and relaxed, then ventured back out to the Harbour to see the fireworks. Everyone was pretty beat by nine pm, but still wanted to check out the bars in the area. They were super swanky and wouldn’t let guys in who were wearing shorts. The end of the night was sort of disappointing, but it was worth it to see what Australia Day was all about.