Happy Australia day! At 35C, the beach was the perfect way to celebrate so off we went to Aldinga, along with about 2000 others...
But today was not without its controversy, with the Australian of the Year, Mick Dodson, declaring that Australia Day (commemorating the arrival of the first fleet) should be moved to a different date, to avoid offending the Aboriginal peoples. This makes sense to me, coming from Canada, where Thanksgiving commemorates the first Europeans making it through the winter thanks to the help of the First Nations peoples, who the Europeans subsequently persecuted and killed in large part. Although I love the spirt of the day ('we love our country'), it doesn't seem right that celebrating the country has to coincide with the date when one power arrived to subjugate another....
Controversy aside, woo hoo, go Australia! Gotta say, I'm loving this dual citizenship thing - I get to party this way twice a year! And now, my birthday is followed directly by a holiday - life is good!
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