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Source: Reuters -
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Well, what a way to start 2010: Surrounded by hundreds of thousands of Australians letting their true blue colours fly as the country marked Australia Day.
Australian citizens, new and old, were out in force to celebrate a national day of pride with patriotic fervour.
Under a sparkling blue sky, 200,000 people flocked to Sydney Harbour where tall ships sailed past the heads, just as the first settlers did 222 years ago.
BBQs and concerts littered the countryside, while fireworks popped the evening sky above my unit near darling Harbour. Dan Irvine, TVNZ's new Australia bureau cameraman was stunned by the level of celebrations. "Gee, these Aussies go hard here," he said.
In Melbourne, the apparent racial tensions concerning Indians took a back seat as more than 50,000 people rocked out to the Big Day Out concert at Flemington race course.
In Canberra, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd used an Australia Day speech to deny the notion that Australia is "The Lucky Country", insisting its prosperity is the result of hard work of the people who live here.
And a real life example of this was standing right next to the PM - New Zealand surgeon Dr Andrew Greensmith, who played a key role in last year's historic separation of conjoined twins Krishna and Trishna.
Dr Greensmith was one of 16,500 people to become an Australian citizen in hundreds of ceremonies held on Australia Day. The senior surgeon at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital has lived here for the past six years and said that the country had offered him great professional opportunities.
"The lifestyle, the attitude towards lifestyle and from a professional point of view, I'm part of a big team, a team that performs at a very high level internationally and I think that attitude of nothing is a problem, everything is achievable," Dr Greensmith said.
Dr Greensmith is one of almost half a million Kiwis currently living in Australia, many of whom have pledged allegiance to our big brother. It's hard to see John Key stemming the tide.
Read more of Steve Marshall's blogs.
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