Day 126 - January 26

Today is Australia day, commemorating the 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.

Jenn's friend from Melbourne, whom I also met a couple of times, Natalie, came to Perth for a visit. It was great to see her again. She used to live in Perth as well. Jenn, Paul, Natalie and I went to the Havaianas thong challenge at Cottesloe Beach. It's $25 to attend the event and goes to charity. With that you also get a giant inflatible Havaianas thong. The challenge is to get as many people in the water on the inflatible thong at the designated time.

It was 42 degrees with no clouds in sight!! So hot!! There was a lot of people on the beach. I was in barefeet walking toward the tents to pick up our inflatible thongs, but the sand felt like hot coals. I tried walking on the pathway, but that wasn't any better. To get to the registration tents, I had to walk from shadow to shadow from other tents, trees and canopies. A couple of times I would even bury my feet deep in the sand where it was cooler. It was ridiculous.

Me... deep inside a thong...

Everyone waiting for instructions.

It was time and the the event coordinators told us all to get in the water. when we were instructed so that they could start counting the numbers.

The start of the challenge.

Soaking up the 42 degree rays.

Paul can't swin, so he needs constant supervision.

Lazy day for Jenn...

...and Natalie.

We broke the record for attendance! There was 2088 in the waters for Cottesloe, 1376 for Bondi Beach, 1236 for Torquay and 526 for Glenelg. I'm a piece of Australian history haha.

After lounging around in the giant thongs in the ocean, we left to go to an Aboriginal festival. Paul, Jenn and Nat were unable to drive so it was up to me.... they drive a standard car. It was time to see how well my driving game skills were. I stalled while trying to get out of the parking spot. What a great start. But then I made it all the way to the city without stalling again. That does it then, games really can transfer to real life. Time to put that light saber Jedi training game to good use haha. 

We passed by some kangaroo statues in the city.

 Mounting the unsuspecting kangaroo. 

Big Red Kangaroos can actually be that big.

 Paul pretending he's too cool to pose. 

 Me and my stealth skills. 

We met up with Nats friend Tammy, whom is the one that set up the festival. We walked around for a bit and watched a small concert. We stayed for about an hour then we headed back to my place where I made Paul and Jenn a chicken peanut satay dish.

It then started raining hardcore with loud thunder and bright lightning. Surprisingly the fireworks still went off for Australia day. The pictures looked awesome.