Territory Day

1st July was the State independent day.
Also the day I experience a day in Iraq under fire! The Territory is now the only Australian jurisdiction where the general public is allowed to let off fireworks without a special licence, everyone took the opportunity to have a crack at it.

One stupid thing people did was to light the crackers in the day- all we get was noise pollution since its too bright to see nothing in the day! One cracker was so loud that it scared my neighbour's kid who cried continuously for 10minutes at the top of his voice next door. I had the busiest day of all working from home, trying to rush out a report for my American colleague and had to deal with all the noise. It was hell!

Fortunately I managed to get my report sent out by 645pm and rushed Etienne out to the Mindil beach for the fireworks celebrations at 730pm. We were considered late but were so lucky to find a space to park on the grass. Darwin being a small city the rules were more friendly than in Sydney, I feel less oppressed too...

Then we walked 300 m to the market, got a roti prata and malay rice and ran to the beach to grab a spot. Its annoying that I didnt get to visit the market properly, it looked fun.

The sun has just set and it was rather dark to see what we were eating. Our friends arrived at the moment the first fireworks set off. Then it started the most personal and spectacular fireworks I have ever seen and the first ever on the beach. The fireworks were set off just 500 m in the sea in front of us from a barrage and there was ground base effects controlled by a DJ tent on the beach.

The music was didgeridoo techno, totally OZ!
The cheoreography synchronised the basting fires from the beach

 

  with the fireworks 

 

really gave me a busy time, shooting photos and going " wowwww"

Too bad the photos did not turn out that well as it was really dark, and I could not hold the camera like im a tripod.

Found out the fireworks cost 300,000AUD, a huge sum but definitely worth it as it made at least one person in the crowd felt proud to be a Territorian. Looking forward to next years Territory Day.