What or who makes me proud to be australian

I was watching TV yesterday and i came across an interesting question what or who makes you proud to be Australian and it made me think for a while what would my answer be as i pondered this for a few hours i had barely came up with any answers. After the news of the past few days which we found out a recipient of the father of the year award had been having an affair for 10yrs with a woman and had a child with her (he was stripped of his title) and countless youths have been so disrespectful by desecrating war memorials, a liberal politician picking on a labor candidate because he is a Muslim and our prime minister because she is a self professed atheist because apparently he thinks our country should be run by Christians. In the midst of our country being in an election where the phrases moving forward and fair dinkum (for my international readers Aussie slang for be truthful) are repeatedly spoken i wondered how can we move forward if we aren't being truthful? not just on a national scale but on a personal scale too. We all speak some untruths now and again but do we stop to think what consequences these may have a promise made to your country, or a promise made to your family or friends that is only to be broken and leave countless numbers of people or even just one person disappointed only time will tell if our nation and people can do this.
So to answer my original question who makes me proud to be Australian i think our lady prime minister although she has yet to have enough time in power to do much she is showing men that a woman can run our country too (sisters are doing it for themselves).
The best thing that makes me proud to be Australian is whenever we have a national or international disaster Australians always band together to help out our own people or other countries this was displayed by our black Sunday fires when our fireman from all over the country came to help as well as the many thousands of people who donated clothes, money, food and accommodation to the effort. When tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, fires any disaster happens around the world our country is always there to help.
When war is declared our many brave men and women of our armed forces are always there to defend our country, putting their lives on line for a war that seems is not winnable but continues to go on our soldiers are still there putting there lives on the line everyday and for that alone they make me proud to be Australian!
So in conclusion i think it's our actions as the one or many rather than our words which show who or what makes us proud to live in this beautiful country.

A Bit Off Subject My Trip Around The Harbour

Now i know i call this blog the American holiday project which is ultimately my dream but I'd like to talk about my recent trip to Sydney you see although i am 25yrs old & live about 1.5hrs away from Sydney i had never been on a ferry before around the harbour so to some this may be a daily trip to work but for me i was like a tourist with my camera continually clicking away.

It was a winters day but a particularly nice one the sun was out and there was a clear blue sky. I had promised my 11yr old cousin i would take him to Luna Park while he was on school holidays but i must admit it was more for me than him as i had never been there before.

So we set out from Newtown i had purchased a day tripper ticket for $20 which means you can catch unlimited buses, ferries and trains all day long. When we arrived at Circular quay my eyes immediately transfixed upon the huge cruise ship anchored in the harbour and was so jealous of the people waving from there balconies and started thinking why can't that be me!

We waited about 20 minutes for our ferry i was getting impatient because i was excited, so when we got aboard i was like a kid in a candy shop i hurried outside to get the best seat so i could take some great pictures.

As we left the Quay the first sight on the left hand side was the Opera House now you see it on TV all the time but it's not until you get up close that you realise what a magnificent piece of architecture it is.

On the right hand side was the wonder which is the Harbour Bridge. We got off the ferry and started to walk over to Luna park if you don't go on the rides it's free entry but if you want unlimited rides it's $45 for adults my cousin who had been there numerous times before had his whole day planned him "Ez first we go on the tango train than the crazy coaster, Ferris wheel, carousel then coney island" but i had my own idea i wanted to start from the beginning and make my way down to the end. The first ride was one of those things they spin you around and you stick to the wall unfortunately i had to go it alone as my cousin was too scared to go on it. Next the tango train i still have bruises from the 11yr old pushing me into the corner with every spin.

After a few more rides we had lunch (take your own to save money) and i decided i wanted to go on the grown up rides but he was too scared so i left him to his grandma and went off alone to be spun around and turned upside down in the air i love that shit.

The last ride we went on was the Ferris wheel and it was a great view of the harbour so i took a few shots up there hoping that i didn't drop my camera. We got off and decided it was time to leave we had a good day but i think next time i will take a long harbour cruise and skip Luna Park leave that for kids i hope you all enjoy these pictures although i have not yet learned how to place them on the page correctly.

Differences

One thing i have always wondered about visiting America is would i stick out like a sore thumb and be easily detected as just "another" tourist (if i wasn't carrying a camera).The thing that makes me wonder this is different words our countries use for different things such as a thong to us Aussies is actually what you guys would call flip flops a turtleneck we call a skivvy peppers we say capsicums scallions spring onions a yam is a sweet potato what you call runners we say joggers a cantelope we call a rock melon and I'm sure there are many many more to list.My cousin who will be my travelling companion has been to America before so i have heard some of her stories but my favourite is, one day she felt like just a ham and cheese sandwich and walked into a shop and for some reason the person serving her couldn't fathom that she just wanted ham and cheese so the sandwich she ended up with could have been her breakfast lunch and dinner she had to peel off layers of ham and cheese just to get a usual size sandwich she would get at home and then what amused her most is that everything comes with a pickle and a bag of chips this idea is foreign to me not only because it doesn't happen here but who would think potato crisps would accompany a sandwich is this the norm?.I also believe that our medium McDonald's meals are actually your small but that really doesn't matter seeing that McDonald's has drastically shrunk the size of their burgers of late. Spelling differences are common as well but our country is starting to become so Americanized that the next generation of kids will probably spell like Americans two easy differences are mom or mum to us or color or colour to us. One phrase I've recently been privy to by spending too much time with an 11yr old is: that's so random! when did this phrase become part of everyday language? it wasn't around when i was in school and when it comes out of my mouth it's just not cool apparently. These differences are minimal and they give the world variety but it's amazing how through TV, film, video games and books that we can learn about these things and i look forward to a few laughs on my travels with misunderstandings of certain phrases from our respective countries along the way!

Perceptions

To any American friends that read this please don't think I'm being rude but there are certain perceptions that us Aussies get from seeing the news, movies and TV shows from your country as I'm sure you do of ours we all don't put a "shrimp on the barbie" or have "kangaroos in our backyards". This may be just me but from seeing the likes of sex and the city, ugly Betty, the view or my personal favourite which alot of Aussies don't understand but i love is 30 rock. New York to me it seems is a place where everybody moves at the speed of light in the latest seasons fashion, restaurants are opening up every minute, you get mugged very easily, the subway and central park are extremely dangerous and no New Yorker wants to live in New Jersey and if you have a dream to succeed that New York is where you must go.Now don't get me wrong all of my perceptions are not bad for some reason i feel the need to try a pretzel a pickle a hot dog and a slice (i think you call your pizza's that) walk into a bakery and have a fresh pastry i want to do the tourist thing and which i assume is the statue of liberty, the empire state building and central park etc but as i said in my first post i want to see more so if anyone has any ideas that read this of places that are not to miss i would love to know this may be weird but i want to see Queens and Brooklyn i want to go to the Hampton's which my perception of is only the people who make good money live or have a holiday house there.
When i watch TV shows and see the likes of your day spas i get so jealous i definitely want a treatment! you hear about the gap which actually took me a while to figure out it was a shop not a hole in the ground, Starbucks which we do have here but basically went broke and all the fashion shops Prada, Versace etc i believe if i walked in there something like the scene from pretty woman would happen and yes i do realise that was in LA but i think they would look straight at me like you don't belong here but for me it's probably because i don't know if they would have anything in my size not like Julia being a hooker.
One of my major perceptions about New York is what's with all the tipping? i know it is customary in the US but i believe half my holiday money would go on tipping what is the fair amount to give someone not to piss them off? and why do you have to give someone money for hailing a cab this custom will feel weird to me as in our country tipping is a matter of coins not bills a small jar at the end of the cash register where you can dispose of your loose change but really there is no obligation so tipping with notes to me is going to seem like a waste of money but as one visits a different country one must adhere to their customs i could talk about this forever but i will end this post tonight and continue this another day.