Happy ‘Straya Day! Australia Day is celebrated on 26 January, commemorating the day in 1788 when, after arriving a few days earlier in Botany Bay with a number of convicts, Arthur Philip proclaimed British sovereignty over the coast of south-eastern Australia, formerly known as New Holland.

 

226 years later and a few hundred kilometers to the south, I took the tram down to Windsor to meet Will and Rajiv, get some provisions, then meet some friends of Will’s in Lumley Gardens for a ‘Straya Day picnic.

The city was buzzing, I had missed the parade in the morning (sleeping and blogging), and had no more time to check out what happened in the Botanical Gardens, which was filled with stands, Aussies, bag pipe players… you name it.

 

We had two bottles of Sparkling, the temperatures were high, and we were getting drunk in the shade, watching the Aussie boys play cricket. Later on we headed to one of the busiest bars ever, the College Lawn Hotel, an iconic pub in Prahran.

At sunset, I went to the St. Kilda pier, to get a glimpse of the fireworks over the Melbourne Docklands.

On top of that, an amateur astronomer had set up his telescope, aiming on Jupiter, and offering a view on the planet, and the four moons visible: Callisto, Ganymede, Io and Europa. It was the first time I have ever seen those, with the not so naked eye, but still.