The Whittles Down Under: "Aussie, Aussie! Oi! Oi Oi!"

Today was Australia Day here. What is Australia Day you ask? Well, after reading a bit about the day it seems like the Fourth of July meets Columbus Day. January 26th celebrates the anniversary of the First Fleet landing in New South Wales. The “First Fleet” was the first eleven ships that brought convicts (and marines) to Australia from Great Britain. Between the first landing in 1788 and 1850, the English sent over 162,00 convicts to Australia in 806 ships. Despite the fact that the Aboriginal people had already inhabited the land for a long, long time, they had not cultivated the land and were therefore considered, “uncivilized” and the land was free for the taking. That is, of course, a very simplified version of the whole story, but it seems to be a very similar story to Columbus “discovering” America hence the Columbus Day part of the holiday. The Fourth of July part is that today is a celebration of being an Australian. So today many Australians celebrated “Australia Day” while many indigenous people had their own observation called, “Invasion Day” or “Survival Day.” A very interesting piece of information and a sad reminder that all over the world, native people were subjected to mistreatment by others who did not recognize or value their existence nor their history.

Giggle

Other than the historical reasons for the day, Australia Day is a day to celebrate! There is an amazing amount of things going on all over the city from swimming races, boat parades, music performances, car shows to evening fireworks. There was so much to do today that it was difficult to decide just what to do! So, we decided to do what was nearby and what the boys would like most. We went to Hyde Park and watched Giggle from the Giggle and Hoot Show. Giggle and Hoot are a duo that do silly things between kid shows on one of the local networks. They share kids’ artwork, do silly stunts and introduce the upcoming shows. Four of the channels big names were performing-- Spot, Miffy, the Wot Wots and Bananas in Pajamas. This sounded like a sure hit so off we went. Unfortunately, the weather was terrible. It has been raining for days here and today was no exception. But we were determined. We geared up for the rain with a plastic mat to sit on, umbrellas a-plenty and raincoats and we sat through the whole 2 hour show despite the rain! The show itself was fine. The boys loved it. Tucker danced and waved his AU flag the whole time. Coop chose to sit and relax (imagine that) during the show, but was an active participant to say the least. When Giggle first arrived on stage, he had the kids warm up with some simple exercises and dance moves. When the next performer came on stage and asked the crowd to warm up again, Coop shouted (loudly), "We already did that!" Later when someone on stage made a request from the audience, Cooper said again very loudly, "Not now, I am kinda busy."

One interesting side note-- They sang"Ring Around a Rosy" during the show today, but the lyrics here are different than they are back home. Here they sing:

"Ring around a rosy

Pocket full of posy

A tissue! A tissue!

We all fall down!

The cows are in the meadow

Eating buttercups

A tissue! A tissue!

We all jump up!"

vintage bus

The rain stopped just as the show ended and the sun came out. We ran home and dropped off our soggy clothing and gear and headed back out for some more AU Day fun. Our friends Cathy, Mallory and Morgan joined us halfway through the show and were now ready to have some more fun adventures with us. We decided to go on a vintage bus ride around the city. These old buses looked like two VW vans stacked on top of each other. Of course we had to sit upstairs. The kids thought this ride was the greatest thing in the world. Coop said that that bus was better than the buses we ride now. Hmmmm. After the bus ride we went to see the old-fashioned fire engines. Again, the kids were fascinated. Cooper was so disappointed that he could not go in one of the trucks. He spent a lot of time talking to one of the former firefighters about something that I cannot remember. Coop loves to engage adults and share his concerns....

Coop and the firefighter

By this time it was almost 4. We grabbed some food and went home. We were all exhausted, still a bit soggy and sunburned. Not a good combination. But overall, our first Australia Day was great!

Spot, Miffy, the Wot Wots and Bananas in Pajamas