Australia Day Celebrations

Australia Day, 225 years since Captain Arthur Phillip sailed into Sydney Cove with the first fleet, mostly convicts, to form a settlement. Big Ted is celebrating the day with a new shirt, hat and sun glasses. Rescue Bear was asked along at the last moment and had nothing new to wear.

 When it got too hot they arranged themselves on the steps. Lots to see today with many boats and fishermen on the lake. Big Ted and Rescue Bear are now firm friends and often seen together since BT heard of RB's sad start in life. The other bears are too Royal to celebrate Australia day. They will have their turn on Queen's Birthday holiday in June.

 Had a bit of a panic when I thought I had no Australian books among all my Royal and cat books. Have manages to find a fair selection to show. I can include the Royal visit book because it is about the visit to Australia 1954. The small book on the right Transportation and Chains was written by a distant cousin about his convict ancestors.

 Here is a true blue Aussie dog. A brown Kelpie named Gypsy. Gypsy belonged to my father many years ago.

 An old Aussie holiday home. My mother always insisted on a waterfront with a rock pool and a boat included. We had a couple of holidays here as children, we always hoped the tide would come a bit higher and go through the floorboards, it never did.

Another house of mum's choosing. The tide is out here and oysters can be seen on the rocks. These houses never had a bathroom or much of a kitchen. There was always a stiff climb down from the road high above with our luggage. The toilet was a ramshackle building with a pan back up in the bush somewhere and in some of these houses a man and boat would call to take away the pan.

Different times. This is some of my family off to celebrate the day on the lake in their boat. I happily waved them off, someone has to stay behind and do the waving and I love my lake view but I don't want to be on it or in it.