Australia Day

Yes, so today was Australia Day, or, as it is known by the Aborigines, Invasion Day. They have another type of festival called the Saltwater Freshwater Festival.

The Aboriginal Flag: black represents
the aboriginal people, red represents
 the red earth and yellow the
life-giving sun

Even dogs celebrate Australia Day it seems

However, every where you went today you would see people with Aussie flags, or clothes with the Aussie flag on it, or even painted on their faces. Hubby told me that this must have developed in recent years because when he was a child it was nothing like that.  Back then, it was just another day off work.

Looks and sounds like a serious
Australia Day Party

This family was happily sharing their
picnic all dressed in some sort of
Australia garment

Hubby had been given a voucher to be used on the Heritage Railway two years ago for his birthday by his sister, who knows his passion for trains, but he had not had time to use it, until today.

We used it to go from Sydney to Newcastle, and we had great seats in one of the Southern Aurora lounge coaches, which meant that we were served a morning snack, and on the way back, an afternoon snack. It went along the Hawkesbury River and sometimes being on a train enables you to see things you cannot see from the road driving a car.

We had three hours in Newcastle before the train went back and there was lots to do and see. They had the Maritime Festival on so we watched speedboats pulling water skiers.  There were airplanes flying overhead doing stuff, and there had been a harbor swim before we arrived. They also had a rough-and-ready boat building competition and many other activities. It was great fun, but not overly crowded, so it was easy to walk around and enjoy.  We also had time for lunch and a walk to the cathedral and then along the water back along the foreshore to the station.

I have more things to tell you but it is half past eleven at night and I am getting sleepy so speak again soon and remember "Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is a fast-approaching freight train!