Having been on leave through much of December and all of January, I have become unfamiliar with the smaller hours of the morning, hours such as 8am. So it was with a mixture of shock, horror, and disbelief that I found myself in Commonwealth Park for the morning of Australia Day 2006.
There had been promises of a free breakfast. Knowing well my economics, I had predicted this would lead to horror. Horrors such as this line.
Despite the line for free food the crowd was in good spirits. Even if some members of it were a little confused about which way the flag went.
The Sing Australia Choirs were in fine voice, ably supported by the Canberra City Band.
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There was a wide and motley variety of events in the park, while the choir and band were doing their bit, over by the stage a fun run was coming to an end.
And what Australia Day would be complete without a display of stationary engines?
Or pony rides?
Or the Army?
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But only one event was coming close to eclipsing the queue of tight-arses lined up for their crappy free sausage. That event was the fly-ball.
Here we see a contestant being measured. The jumps are set for the lowest dog in the team so a fast, small dog is an advantage in any team even in a sport where border collies are dominant.
Some dogs are very small indeed and get a special ball.
On the other hand we were told this was the worlds first fly-balling wolfhound on debut.
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But in general it was the speedy mid-sized dogs making most of the running.
And the turning.
In this highly competive sport
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The crowd was happy and friendly and had plenty to do, the flag was waved, empty platitudes about aborigines were mouthed.
All in all an ideal Australia Day with everyone getting into the spirit.
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