January 26 marks a special day on an Australia’s calendar – Australia Day! Officially its a day to remember the anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet of 11 convict ships that came in from Britain in 1788. However in reality, its a public holiday where Aussie’s have a barbie, go for a swim, play a game of backyard cricket or just soak up some sunshine doing something outdoorsy.
Well, I’m in Nashville, Tennessee almost as far away from the sunshine and heat as they come so I thought I’d share some things I’m missing right now!
1. Pool parties with @festivallinda. How dare she twitpic pics of their pool party!!!
2. Eating a big roast lamb! Seriously I have very few friends here who’d even join me if I cooked one. Sam Kekovich would seriously be horrified! Watch his passionate plea to the world to eat lamb here.
3. My family… my niece and my little sister are probably going fishing with their pink girlie fishing rods!
4. Ginger Beer, lollies, Cadbury Chocolate (I know America has Cadbury… but take a close look at where it is made… Hershey’s factory… not cool!), Bakery’s with fresh bread, lamingtons and meat pies, sausage rolls, fish and chips… just to name a few.
5. The beach… what more do I need to say?
6. A roomful of Aussie’s accents, people joking around… mostly lots of sarcasm and bad jokes.
What I love about Nashville though…
1. The people that make this place feel like home. You know who you are… home is where friends make you feel loved and at ‘home’! Thank you for welcoming me into this town!
2. It’s country feel… the rollin’ green hills (at least thats what you see from the sky when you fly in during the spring!) the shades of Autumn… the (ever so slight!) chances of snow.
3. Grinning to myself everytime I hear a REAL southern accent! Sometimes I still don’t believe they really talk like that :-p
4. My friends graciously letting me brag on Australia and they even eat the ‘Aussie’ food I make and say they like it!
5. It’s cheaper to fill my car up with fuel here and to eat out!
6. We almost speak the same language! Every now and then I’ll have to explain ‘I’ll shout’ or how long a fortnight is… but most of my friends have gotten use to my lingo and understand me or just grin and pretend they did!
So cheers! Happy Australia Day! Find your local Outback Steakhouse and celebrate – even though they wont even realise there even is an Australia day! Below is a video of our shenanigan a few years ago at the Coolsprings one! Where you there?
Click here to watch if doesn’t load.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4yWDL6rSto]
