Day Off in Sydney, Australia

Today is the big Australia Day celebration. From the website:

About Australia Day

Australia Day. Celebrate what's great.

Australia Day, January 26, is the biggest day of celebration in the country and is observed as a public holiday in all states and territories.

On Australia Day we come together as a nation to celebrate what's great about Australia and being Australian. It's the day to reflect on what we have achieved and what we can be proud of in our great nation.

It's the day for us to re-commit to making Australia an even better place for the future.

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So there ya go! What it means to me is an almost-Labor Day type weekend and gazillions of people everywhere. All the shops, restaurants and bars are crowded. The beaches are insane, the ferries all packed to the hilt. Drunken revelry at it's finest. A lot of the bars are staying open tonight until 4, 5, even 6am.

I didn't really get into too much today.

I grabbed dinner at Rossini, down by the docks at Sydney Harbour, only a block from the hotel. Sat outdoors and people-watched the crowd. So many people! The food was terrific. It was among the best fish & chips I've ever had, the best being a little chip shop in Nottingham, UK, that I've been to a few times.

After that, I ran into a bunch of crew folks in the hotel lobby and dragged them across the street to Jackson's for a few rounds.

Uncharacteristically, I split shortly thereafter and was back in my room, in bed by shortly after midnight.