Australia Day

Yet another reason to love living in Australia: There is a day every year that is specifically reserved for getting ridiculously drunk with your mates. None of the Australians I asked had a clue what Australia Day is all about (other than consuming copious amounts of beer), so here’s what Wikipedia had to say about it:

“Australia Day is the official national day of Australia Celebrated annually on 26 January, it marks the anniversary of the 1788 arrival of the first fleet of British ships at Sydney Cove, NSW, and raising of the flag of Great Britain at that site by Governor Arthur Philip. In contemporary Australia, celebrations reflect the diverse society and landscape of the nation, and are marked by community and family events, reflections on Australian history, official community awards, and citizenship ceremonies welcoming new immigrants into the Australian community”

…which confused me slightly, as I can tell you for sure that little reflection on society, landscape or history occurred. I had Nick staying with me all the way from Cornwall, between his visits to Sydney and Melbourne, and we got invited to Andy’s old housemates’ place in Leederville for their yearly celebrations. Ryan and his girlfriend Rhianna picked us up from Cottesloe bottle shop, where we had purchased an ambitious 24-pack of Asahi Japanese 5% beer. We rocked up to Leederville to find the perfect set-up; shade, paddling pool, beer pong and a kick-ass speaker system. TripleJ, the main radio station over here, counts down the Hottest 100 on Australia Day and it provided the ideal soundtrack for the chaos that ensued. We dived straight for the beer pong, where you always seem to become best friends for life with the people you pair up with. All of Andy’s friends were just as I expected: Very easy going and fun with incredible boozing abilities. Nick and I made firm friends with Sam and Sean, a hilarious Geordie couple. I reckon we got through half the beer in the first hour or two, which probably explains why my realisation that something was missing resulted in me finding Nick passed out on the grass a hundred metres down the road from the house. Classic.

Sam and I

Pommy mates

Myself, Ryan and Andy

The rest of the night was a bit of a blur of half-drowning in the paddling pool, singing at the top of my lungs and bundling into the back of Rhianna’s car. How we walked up the hill from Cottesloe remains a mystery and the next day was the most unbearably hungover day I’ve had so far. Nice one Aussies, you’ve got it all figured out!