One of the most celebrated holidays, in the American culture as a whole, is the fourth of July. When traveling abroad, it can be hard to celebrate any holiday, let alone American Independence Day. While traveling, if you can let go of the traditional "American pride" (also known as the need to barbecue, repeatedly sing the National Anthem, and dress completely in red, white, and blue attire), you can have the most amazing fourth of July. I know that I did when I was in Australia.
At the start of my day, I woke up early, like I usually do while traveling. That day, I took a guided excursion to the Blue Mountains and Katoomba and a trip to Featherdale Wildlife Center (a sort of petting zoo with animals like wombats and kangaroos). While that was an amazing trip and a truly incredible experience, the celebration began that night.
I had agreed to meet with some of my travel buddies that night for dinner along the Sydney Harbor Docks, and our tour guide had told us that if we were to stay at the Sydney Harbor Dock and go outside at 8:00 pm, there would be a surprise "from the Aussies to our American friends". After eating dinner, a delicious platter of calamari, we went out to the dock. Promptly at 8:00 pm, fireworks went off, and a stunning fireworks show ensued, ending at 8:45 pm. Following that, we walked back to our hotel, running into a hot chocolate shop on the way back.
The next day, our tour guide informed us that while the fireworks were not for fourth of July (they had them every Friday night), it was still a pretty awesome way to spend the evening. That, combined with petting kangaroos earlier in the day, made for the most exciting and wonderful fourth of July that I have ever spent- all without a single bite of barbecue.
