half-baked
View allAll Photos Tagged AustraliaDay!
Out photographing some urban art at the Australian Glass Manufacturing Company Ltd, Spotswood, Melbourne when i spotted this stack of pallets. Seems somewhat fitting given it is the Australia Day weekend.
Okay - not quite waltzing - actually rockabilly - the title of this could/should have been The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company Sea - however as it is Australia Day here , I had to call it Waltzing Matilda.
Yes, my fine flickr friends - whilst Cronulla (seen yesterday) and 99% of beaches around Australia are very Australian/surfey - around Bondi just about everything happens on the beaches. You never know what you are going to see(sea ;)) next. This was taken in Tamarama about 10 days ago - there was a couple doing rockabilly dancing on the shoreline as the sun rose. She was beautifully done up with costume, perfectly coiffed hair with a gardenia and they were loving it. I love this shot as it captures the look on her face - they were having such a good time.
Happy Australia Day to one and all and remembering and respecting the custodians of this land for 40,000 years - many different indigenous tribes who treated this amazing continent with great respect and care until Captain Cooks(and a few before) arrival. All of us, who are recent arrivals, have much to learn from these people in how we live in this precious place .
Red-winged Parrot. Australia day is our official national day. It marks the anniversary of the arrival of The First Fleet in 1788 at Port Jackson, NSW. Many events are held today throughout Australia.
Crazy weather today, 42C in the morning then thunder storm just before the firework started. We couldn't make it to South Perth so found the nearest roof and took some shots.
So here is a wide open shot of Cronulla beach looking down one end . Now this really is a more typical morning beach scene during summer in Australia. You see your surflife savers in the foreground doing their stretching exercises - they always do this swing leggey thing with each other - as they are getting ready to go in the rowing long boats in the distance. These guys are super super fit - they run up and down the beach at 6 am and then jump in the boats and do some serious rowing.
Off in the distance - well that headland is where Captain Cook landed - the white 'settlement' of Australia on January 26th 1788. So on a morning pretty similar to this , almost to the day, - can you imagine what the crew thought - we have found Paradise !. And then can you imagine what the indigenous thought - who are these idiots in their crazy clothes ;).
So when they got back to the UK , from what I understand, they went and told everyone how wonderful Australia was and how warm it was. So when the next ship arrived - in winter now - they all shivered ...I always find that amusing. As I had the same thoughts myself when I 'landed' in Bondi Beach many moons ago - it was grey, rainy and cold - I could not believe it - some lessons are just never learned ;)).
IMG_7734
Cultural dancers at the Yabun festival, at Victoria Park, Sydney. Australia.
Part of the Australia day celebrations, 26th Jan 2010.
ISO 200 210mm f/5.6 1/2000 sec, hand held, raw..
yikes... explore 26th Jan #244