Monday, January 26, 2009

Happy Australia Day


Today is Australia Day. A day of Vegemite and thongs. Of zinc cream and floppy hats. Of BBQ's on the deck and mosquito bites in the afternoon. A day for Tim Tams, lamb chops and Violet Crumbles. I could go on...

And how am I planning to celebrate my last Australia Day in Australia for a while? Tonight I am having a BBQ...to celebrate the end of the NFL (American Football) season...as you do! For the past three seasons now, a group of us have got together at my brother-in-law's (a mad NFL fan!) to watch American Football. The first season, there weren't too many of us with any idea as to what the game was about. We had one resident American among us who was fountain of knowledge. We tip on every game, other than the Superbowl, and at the end of season BBQ, we present a trophy to the tipping winner. The group is a pretty even split of guys and girls and very intersting to note that the first season trophy was won by a girl and the second season trophy was won by my sister. Not bad for a pretty "blokey" sport!

Now my goal is to take out the trophy this year. I have finished third the past two seasons and since this will be my last one, I want that trophy! I'm not too confident though, as the past three weeks games have been upsets (and not just upsetting me!) and have thrown my tips into chaos. Tonight will reveal the winner.

Next week is the Superbowl and even though my team, the mighty New York Giants, are out, I have to say...go Cardinals!!

Anyway, back to Australia. I woke up to the sounds of the kookaburras this morning which made it feel like Australia Day...although, I wake up to the sound of them most mornings!

This is going to be my last Australia Day in Australia for a few years. That makes me a little bit sad! In my life, I have spent two Australia Days outside Australia and they were both great!

The first one I spent in Crieff, a small village in Perthshire, Scotland. I was working at the Crieff Hydro Hotel and after my shift, met up with some other Aussies at the "Social" then back at home, we gathered under the Aussie flag in the lounge room and drank cans of Irn Bru out of our Aussie flag stubbie holders and ate Cheezels that had been sent from home for the occassion. The second one was in Manchester, and after work, we opened a bottle of Aussie wine and a packet of Tim Tams bought from Tesco and ate Cherry Ripe and Chicken Crimpys (sent from home), watching taped episodes of McLeod's Daughters!

Who knows what I'll be doing next Australia Day!

Have a great one....remember the Aerogard and avagoodweekend!!

1 comment:

A Confused Take That Fan said...

Hope you had a great day, We celebrated Australia day here too by watching shed loads of Neighbours and Home and Away on Channel 5