Well, if my timing's correct, it should be the 26th over there by now, so...

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY

...to all our 'mates' over there (from that Pom)...!

(Pours himself a cold glass of Vegemite!)

What if Vegemite anyway .. some kind of meat alternative?

I know Men at Work likes Vegemite Sandwiches.  lol

Happy Australia Day  :)

Happy Australia Day to all the Aussies out there!  :)

[quote author=whis

Happy Australia Day to all our friends down under. And we do have some vegemite so we just may have some in celebration.




Cat

Happy Australia Day!

Happy Australia Day!

Some of the best 80's bands came out of Australia.  I loved Noiseworks and INXS O0

Happy Australia Day!! :)

Never liked diggers myself. Kiwis are cool though.  ;D

;)

Happy Australia Day

Happy Australia Day, did the Aussies win against the Sri Lankans today?

Happy Australia Day, did the Aussies win against the Sri Lankans today?


by 5 wickets

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/4647058.stm

by 5 wickets

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/4647058.stm
so that has made they day more easier for them.

Thank you Paul and everyone else for your kind wishes  :)

And Philip - the cricket win made no difference to me  ;)

Thanks all - I spent the day relaxing with family  :) :)

Thank you all

Duderino, we currently have the USS Ronald Reagan in my home town.  In honour of your observation, we might hijack it and pay GoodRedShirt/Luke/GRS a viit in the shaky isles - just to celebrate  :P

Jeeze, I can imagine the scene:

A boat full of XXXX-ing QLDers roams the Tasman Sea. They run aground, but due to a mispronunciation problem, they are not marooned, because they were already marOAN ;)

Edit: Sorry, that joke should have been spelled "XXXX-ing"...

Happy belated Australia Day gang. I havent been able to log in to this site for ages.

I spent Australia Day relaxing and my mum came down from the country to watch the fireworks as she had yet to view them from my balcony.

As usual they were 30 minutes of splendour and I love that these days I dont have to fight half a million people for a view on the river - I just turn on the stereo for the live simulcast and stroll out to the balcony for the best view.

Spent the 4 day weekend hanging out with mum and redecorating the apartment and balcony. I used a drill for the first time - woohoo !!

Still cant take a decent photo of fireworks but here is one I took during Thursdays skyshow.

Jeeze, I can imagine the scene:

A boat full of XXX-ing QLDers roams the Tasman Sea. They run aground, but due to a mispronunciation problem, they are not marooned, because they were already marOAN ;)




Awww, that's bloody marvellous, that is  :o

Righto then  :P  We should have a few leftover warheads after dealing with NZ once and for all.  We'll stop in at Wollongong on the back then, Gaz, to see you  ;D ;D ;D

Still cant take a decent photo of fireworks but here is one I took during Thursdays skyshow.




We get the idea  ;)

I'd love to have a view like that - maybe when we move to Tasmania we might be able to afford it  :P :)

We get the idea  ;)

I'd love to have a view like that - maybe when we move to Tasmania we might be able to afford it  :P :)




:o :o  Perth's hardly closer from Tasmania as opposed to Sydney, Mooster  :P  :P :P :P :P :P :P

:o :o  Perth's hardly closer from Tasmania as opposed to Sydney, Mooster  :P  :P :P :P :P :P :P



Rats...well....geography was never my strongest subject...yeah..  :P :P :P ;D ;D ;D

We get the idea  ;)

I'd love to have a view like that - maybe when we move to Tasmania we might be able to afford it  :P :)




I would move to Tassie for the weather - tho its summer has been warmer then Perths this year - we had our coolest December and January on record. Delightful days in the mid 20s to high 20s. Yesterday was our first day over 35.  Its wierd - I am use to whingeing and moaning about the foul heat at this time of year but so far I have had nothing to complain about.

Meanwhile Mooster - move to Perth - huge inner city homes for under $300k - not shoeboxes ! Loads of city windows awaiting your decorating talents.

I would move to Tassie for the weather - tho its summer has been warmer then Perths this year - we had our coolest December and January on record. Delightful days in the mid 20s to high 20s. Yesterday was our first day over 35.  Its wierd - I am use to whingeing and moaning about the foul heat at this time of year but so far I have had nothing to complain about.



Great that you've been having a nice mild summer - we've been having a stinker. It has been humid AS !  :P

Meanwhile Mooster - move to Perth - huge inner city homes for under $300k - not shoeboxes ! Loads of city windows awaiting your decorating talents.

For some reason I've never considered moving to Perth but it does  sound very tempting BMG  :)

Dunno whether I could get used to the sun setting over the water though...  :o ;D

I have a question about an Australian band and no better place to ask here ...

Is the band "Noiseworks" still together?  I really like those guys.  I remember their 1987 song "Take Me Back" was quite popular here in Canada

[quote author=whis

Lead singer Jon Stevens did a one-off (or two) with INXS, after the death of Micheal Hutchence - that's about all I know  :-\\


I remember hearing about that.  If I recall, they also had Terence Trent D'Arby as lead singer when they played at the Sydney Games in 2000

[quote author=whis

There was an article about Jon Stevens in the paper on the weekend... he seems rather bitter about the breakup with INXS. He also is touring again with some other oldies: The Choirboys and Ian Moss and a sort of "Greatest Hits" album...

belated greeting...what is Australia Day, exactly, sort of like the USA 4th of July (Independence day) celebration?

belated greeting...what is Australia Day, exactly, sort of like the USA 4th of July (Independence day) celebration?


It's a national holiday celebrating Captain Cook's discovery of Australia

It's a national holiday celebrating Captain Cook's discovery of Australia


;D  Avast, ye pommy heathens  :P  It's no wonder we all chose to leave there  ;D

You're sort of on the right track Karen, but noooot quite there !  :)

Australia Day commemorates the day in 1788 that the British First Fleet, led by Arthur Phillip, sailed into Sydney Harbour to establish Sydney, the first permanent European settlement on the continent.

Captain Cook, however, 'discovered' Australia in 1770 :

The ship's log recorded the date as being Thursday April 19, 1770; however, Cook had not made the necessary adjustments when they had earlier crossed the 180th meridian of Longitude, and the actual calendar date was Friday, April 20  ::) (Whoopsies)

I said 'discovered' like that as these days there is ample evidence to suggest that he certainly was by no means the first explorer to get here (Willem Janszoon - 1606, Dirk Hartog - 1616, Abel Tasman - 1642 and William Dampier - 1697 spring to mind)...however, Cook was the first to say he was claiming it for his boss  :o :)  First in, best dressed, I guess  :)

;D  Avast, ye pommy heathens  :P  It's no wonder we all chose to leave there  ;D

You're sort of on the right track Karen, but noooot quite there !  :)



That's because all the websites I found talked about it being Australia's national holiday and what was happening to celebrate it this year, last year, next year, etc etc but not actually what the reason was.  So blame your crappy websites!

As a companion to Fuss' excellent explanation :D  I found this :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_Day

As a companion to Fuss' excellent explanation :D  I found this :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_Day




a good explanation of the day but it only talks about the British Invasion.  Thinking about it I did read somewhere that it marked the arrival of the First Fleet.

That's because all the websites I found talked about it being Australia's national holiday and what was happening to celebrate it this year, last year, next year, etc etc but not actually what the reason was.  So blame your crappy websites!


Who goes to Aussie websites ?  ;D  They're *as* annoyingly paraochial as a certain other country's sites... ::)

I did exactly the same as Mooster, I went to Wikipedia -- I KNOW that usually speaks with accuracy  ;)  Then I followed links from there to get more info  ;)

The official Australia Day government website gives the full history here

http://www.australiaday.gov.au/section.asp?sID=36

Its noted that these days they do technically try to hose down the whole "discovery" of Aus to avoid problems with the original inhabitants. Thats why it is publicised more as a celebration of being an Aussie - rather than an anniversary of the actual date when Phillips and crew sailed into the harbour and stepped foot on the land.

In WA we also celebrate Foundation Day as a public holiday on June 1st which is our states own birthday and recognises when we were founded in 1829.

From our state govt website it quotes "June 1, 1829 was the day the first British settlers, on board the