Australia Day Amusements

Cricket in the park

The official national day of this beautiful country is called Australia Day and is celebrated every year on the 26th of January. It commemorates the 1788 arrival of the First Fleet, eleven British ships under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip, at Port Jackson, which is now a part of Sydney. Currently the largest annual public event in the country with many concerts, ceremonies, and festivals, it's a time for Australians to get together with family and friends to celebrate their nation.

Our festive-looking chef

On this particular day, I met several friends from Cross Cultures at Princes Park in Parkville for a picnic and to play some sports. Originally, I was planning on just going to socialize and take some pictures since I'm not exactly the athletic type, but surprisingly enough, I found myself participating in a leisurely game of cricket....... and enjoying it! I won't attempt to explain the game here because I can't honestly declare that I fully understand it, but I will say that unlike baseball, once the batsman hits the ball, he or she is supposed to run with the bat, not drop it as I did out of habit.

After spending a few sunny hours in the park, we returned to St. Jude's for our Australia Day barbecue. I had invited someone I had met at City on a Hill who's new to Melbourne to Cross Cultures so he was able to join us to celebrate the holiday. Following our Bible study, there was a contest to see which table could decorate the best pavlova, which is a popular Australian meringue-based cake. Actually, there have been conflicting reports on whether the recipe originated in Australia or New Zealand, but for the purposes of this blog, we'll just go with Australia. My table decided to use

Another group's Oz-shaped pavlova

the fruit we were given to make our pavlova look like an Australian Football League field. I know nothing about the AFL, except that I'm fairly certain I was told that they don't wear any protective gear.

By the time we were finished, the best way I can describe our cake would be to say that it resembled modern art:: creative, open to interpretation, abstract..... no one, myself included, understood what it was.

Oh well, at least it was fun to decorate. :o)