Australia Day in Adelaide

There was almost a howling gale through the night but by morning the wind had blown itself out and all was calm for Australia Day in Adelaide. This was another busy day for Graham and Nola and Colin too as AJ cracked the whip and got everyone working.

Graham was challenged to demonstrate he knew what to do with his new laptop.

Colin was given a hose and cloth and instructed to remove the squashed insects from the car so we could see the true colour of the vehicle once more.

 Nola was given the task of providing refreshments to the workers.

Once all those tasks were done we set up Graham’s video camera on a tripod and made a start on his “life story” video. This was a project that had recently been suggested to him and I said I would help him by showing how to insert photographs when editing his videos. To do this we needed some video – which is why we did a mini interview. Nola was a great help because she managed to unearth some photographs from the garage.

Tomorrow, our last day with Graham and Nola, we shall play with the editing.

It is Australia Day today and after leaving Graham and Nola we drove to Glenelg to see what was happening down at the beach. Although Colin hates both crowds and the noise a crowd makes, I thought it was amazing fun!

The beaches were generously covered with beautiful people – I think we were possibly the oldest people in Glenelg this day; the average age was around 20.

There is a jetty at Glenelg and it seems to be one of the attractions of the place – it seems as if there is a magnet that draws people out to the end and releases them once they get there!

I dragged Colin to a park near the beach where we had spotted a big crowd as we drove in. We were in time to see the vehicles that had gathered for the “Australia Day Ute Muster” leaving the grounds. Luckily for me there were still a few interesting vehicles to aim the camera at. The first one I am including attracted me because of the amazing quality of the artwork both on the back and on the underside of the torneau cover.

The second photo taken here is also because of exceptional paint work. An extra addition to the painting is a dog that does not need to be tied up so that it cannot jump out of the back of the ute when it spots another hound on the side of the road.

There is plenty to keep me happy on this trip!

AJ

A dangerous hobby

While enjoying wandering around the Australia Day festivities with my Nikon D90 with the 50mm lens attached I also managed to grab a couple of little videos with my next favourite toy - the JVC blog camera. This camera is so small and light that it lives quite happily in my shoulder bag which means that it is always available to be used when something interesting happens.
The formation riding by the flag waving team on their identical brown horses was one of the topics and a few minutes of the bull riding were the other. The audience numbers were good so to be able to see anything at all I was forced to be behind people. Even if I was closer the double fences would have been a problem. After seeing the size of the bulls and the way they pranced and bucked when that rope was around their mid-riff I was quite happy that there was a solid fence between them and me!
I only stood and watched four different rides and two of the tossed riders required medical attention - a third one was unlucky to be underneath when his bull fell over but lucky in that he was not hurt. It landed on his legs. The announcer happily told the audience that it was a miss-ride and the boy would be given a different bull later!
Of the two that were hurt, one was kicked and the other (the last one shown), the bull stomped on his chest. The announcer reported that he was "just winded" so I hope so!
I have learned not to use the zoom on the JVC blogger - it is only a digital zoom so the picture becomes quite degraded.

After watching another of my shaky videos I bet you will vow never to become a bull rider!
To see this video in Youtube without the sides cut off, click on the title at the top of the video.
AJ

Australia Day on the Gold Coast

On January 26th Australians celebrate "being" Australian in many different ways. The date is believed to have been that of the first raising of the Union Jack at Sydney Cove in 1788, symbolising white settlement, when the first convicts from England were landed.
These days the people of Australia tend to use the day to show their patriotism. This fervour is shown by some in the way they dress.

The national flag is used to decorate cars, stalls and people

This is a day of "feel good" and friendliness.
On the Gold Coast we always have a fun "free" day in the grounds of the Council Chambers where performers entertain and hobbyists of heritage crafts demonstrate their skills to the public.

The Wood chop competition is a tradition for Australia Day and the handicaps put on the champion wood choppers seem to put them at a huge disadvantage. For this bout, one of the men had to wait for the count of 30 before he could start. A small crowd gathered around a man and his working sheep dog as he demonstrated how a series of whistles would tell the dog what he wanted it to do.

In another park I was drawn to where there were loud cheers and laughter. Yet another holiday tradition is back-yard cricket. This park was at the edge of the beach and everywhere there were groups of picnickers but in a good sized clearing a bunch of lads were belting a ball - with absolutely no style at all! The cheering became louder and my shot shows why, the "boys in blue" had been persuaded to join in and one of them struck out at the ball sending it almost into the sea!

Australia Day is also a rather special day for some people - This country is made up of people from every country in the world and there are Citizenship ceremonies many times through the year but for some lucky people their day is Australia Day. How special that must feel.
AJ