Who Takes Their Baby to a 21 Gun Salute?

Darwin, Australia
Wednesday, January 26th, 2011
Australia Day

This Ute is pretty toned down considering how some utes were dressed up for the big Australia Day Ute Run (it's a parade.......of utes). Apparently last year over 700 utes showed up. Of course you can join in the parade if you drive a car or a motor bike as well. No, we did not dress up the Land Rover for a the parade.....but did laugh at some as they drove by.

Well today is Australia Day, when the country takes a day off to hang out with friends and family and celebrate all things Australian. Or at least I think that's what happens. No one seems to be able to tell me what Australia Day is all about. So I had to do some research. Wikipedia (I love Wikipedia. I don't care that you can't consider it 100% accurate) tells me it is the day that commemorates that arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788 and the proclamation at that time of British sovereignty over the eastern seaboard of New Holland. I was thinking it was more like Canada Day (you know when Canada became a nation) but I was wrong.

It wasn't always called Australia Day. In the past it has been referred to as Anniversary Day and Foundation Day. Some Indigenous Australians refer to it as Invasion Day or Survival Day. That probably explains why it is so low key here in Darwin. The day really commemorates that moment in time that the British arrived and starting kicking the aboriginals off their land by not so friendly means. There is a very high Indigenous population here in Darwin and I can't imagine it would go over very well with them.

Interesting to note that it wasn't until 1994 that all Australian States and Territories celebrated a unified holiday on the actual date. Scott tells me in the past they use to do all the Australia Day events over a long weekend. Not anymore. Today the public holiday falls right in the middle of the week with most people in the Darwin area having to head back to work and school first thing in the morning.

When I was looking for events that would be going on today, once again I was expecting Canada Day so I was expecting a whole plethora of options. There wasn't much. There was the Fun Run in the morning and the Ute Run in the afternoon and not much else. The only thing that really caught my attention was the 21 Gun Salute and the Fly over at the Cenotaph.

It was a little smokey......and loud but totally expected.......considering it was a gun salute.

So Deb, Scott and I headed over to catch the event. We made it just in time to hear the first guns firing.....and all the babies crying. Seriously parents.....did you not think the loud guns would upset your young ones? I was expecting the loud noise and even all the gun smoke but not sure I was expecting to feel a jolt through my entire body every time the gun fired. Can't imagine how the little babies and toddlers felt.

A little video of the event. If you listen you can hear all the babies.

I had never seen a gun salute like this before and it was certainly neat. It appears that they occurred all over Australia at Noon on Australia Day.

Scott checking out one of the guns (he's in the blue tank top and sun glasses). There were still a little bit warm at this point but we were still able to get up close and personal.

Where they load the gun.

Once the smoke cleared most of us looked to the skies expecting a couple FA-18's to fly over at any moment. We waited and waited and waited and still no jets.

Debi and Scott waiting around for the fly over.

The boys putting the guns away. By the way.....at this point, we were still waiting for the fly over.

The Army guys involved in the Gun Salute had a good laugh. Apparently it is just like RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) to show up late, if they show up at all. We sat around for a little while until the local news media packed up their camera and headed home. We took that as a sign that the Jets weren't coming......and they never did.

After that we did a little shopping and then home to relax. I wasn't going to waste a perfectly good day off. Our shopping took us to Crocosaurus Cove, which is a crocodile haven right in the middle of the city. They have a few really big crocs there and if you want you can climb it the tube of death and swim with one of these big guys. I can assure you I will never do it. Not that I'm scared......just that it doesn't seem necessary.

Scott managed to snap this picture from the gift shop. Yes that really is a big croc. About 7 metres (about 23 feet) I think.

The only giant croc I want to get close to is this fuzzy and soft guy.

And that was my first Australia Day. The flyover would have made it a little bit more exciting.

Julie