Fireworks for personal use have been generally banned in Australia: I don’t think you can even buy sparklers these days. The only fireworks you can see are those in public displays, run by people specially licensed to use fireworks. (It was different when I was young – and you regularly heard of people being injured by fireworks).
And it’s not just the risk of personal injury: I suspect that it’s easier in Australia for a “minor brush fire” to get out of control, because of a drier climate, and because eucalypts burn very easily with the oil in their leaves.
Except between 5pm and 10pm on the Queen’s Birthday Weekend in the ACT . At those times and in that place, personal use of fireworks by adults is permitted*. Also - there seem to be no current restrictions (in Canberra, anyway) on the sale of sparklers. I can get two ten-packs for a dollar at the local supermarket. I bought some from a Woolworths in central Sydney on New Year’s 2007 so they were readily available there/ then. Didn’t even have to prove my age.
Although the ‘oomph’ of the available fireworks seems a little more watered down every year. I believe they are trying to wean us off them.
Use a tennis ball and two upturned trash cans for the wickets. If you don’t have a cricket bat, a piece of wood (from a fence) will do. The more improvised, the more authentically “backyard” it is. Score one run for running to the other wicket, four for a “boundary” - that is, if the ball reaches the edge of the yard, and if it goes out of the yard on the full (without bouncing first), it’s not six but “Six and OUT”. This makes the game a lot faster and more fun. An even simpler version is to just do away with running and scoring and simply try to get the person out (you only need one batsman for this - and it’s ideal for small kids). In cricket, you must bowl the ball rather than throw it, so you can’t move your elbow. For backyard cricket, an underarm (ten pin bowling) type of action is ideal - again, especially if a little kid is batting, because you don’t want to slam an international-level fast ball at the poor little bugger. Gentle, underarm bowling also helps in not spilling the beer you have in the other hand. Backyard cricket is also ideal for the beach.
Just about everywhere else, poisonous snakes announce themselves - they rattle, or they’re brightly coloured, or they hood up when they’re feeling frisky.
Here, they’re brown-coloured ropes in the brown-coloured grass waiting to bite you in the leg and kill you.
OK maybe the first couple can be gentle underarmers, but if the kid is still batting after the first over he’s getting some chin music!!
Oh and the reason for having something reasonably solid for the stumps at the bowlers end is to allow for the bowlers beer to be safely placed behind said object while he bowls.
If you want to keep a quick rotation of batsmen going to keep everyone involved and interested you should use the tipsy-run rule. [i.e. if the batsmen hits the ball no matter where it goes they have to take a run.]
'Nother nitpick - nobody actually drinks Fosters. It’s putrid. We drink VB, Carlton Draught or Boags. And I will be at Surfer’s Paradise celebrating my son’s 13th birthday by visiting every theme park and tourist attraction offered. We’re celebrating Australia Day this Saturday instead at home with … backyard cricket, the top 100, bbq and … beer.
According to my husband, you have Anzac biscuits (version with Americanized units). These are very yummy oatmeal-coconut cookies. I usually use Karo syrup when I make these, because I never knew where to get golden syrup, and they came out fine. Now that I see Williams-Sonoma has it, I will have to try the authentic version.
We’re planning a bbq, but then again that’s the plan for every suitably-temperatured day during Summer. Perhaps if we’re feeling patriotic we might pick up a pavlova.
ANZAC biscuits are only for ANZAC Day. On Aussie day you have cold cooked chook with Fourex, snags and onions on the barbie with Fourex, and Lamingtons for afters. There is generally some salad-type stuff in there and, if you’re lucky, some prawns or Moreton Bay Bugs on ice with Fourex. Vegemite and cheddar cheese on toast for snacks.
Also, I believe the Australian Open tennis is on about that time and generally a cricket match. So the tv might be on in the background.
Mostly it’s just a day to enjoy friends and relatives. We eschew jingoism and patriotism for the most part, preferring to focus on mateship and drinking alcoholic beverages somewhere around water, sometimes the beach but mostly around a backyard pool.
There are reconciliation gatherings where we celebrate the diversity of Aussie cultures, including the indigenous cultures. I know there is at least one here in Brisbane that I might pop along to.
I just consider Australia Day a long weekend, and have never done anything much in the past (apart from getting kids books/uniforms/hankies and stuff prepared for the start of school the day after).
That being said, pav and lamingtons washed down with some Tooheys and snags sounds mighty good.
Not sure what part of NorCal the OP is in, but if you’re anywhere near San Jose, you could stop in at this place for some Aussie foodstuffs. They even have meat pies, sausage rolls, and lamingtons.
And here is another place in San Francisco, although the selection is much more limited, at least in terms of food.
What would be interesting would be playing backyard cricket with a baseball bat – it would be easier to handle than a fence paling, even if not as good as a real cricket bat.
Well, I have gotten confused again. Either that, or I have been railroaded into providing goodies under false pretenses, which is not entirely unpossible.
. At those times and in that place, personal use of fireworks by adults is permitted*. Also - there seem to be no current restrictions (in Canberra, anyway) on the sale of sparklers. I can get two ten-packs for a dollar at the local supermarket. I bought some from a Woolworths in central Sydney on New Year’s 2007 so they were readily available there/ then. Didn’t even have to prove my age.
