'Stralia' Day, means different things to different people. Life goes on but sometimes there's a discontinuity  - debate over the meaning of this day has been occurring and disssent has arisen. It is food for thought.
Above, our state premier once visited Hamilton Railway station while she was a minister and plans were germinating about the new interchange, privatisation and other processes and that time a minor protest was underway - which fell on deaf ears.  This week an unrelated rail strike on a critical day was averted much to the relief of the said premier no doubt.
Well, today the new bus routes and timetable round Newcastle were found to be challenging, it took three modes to make the relatively short distance to the CBD, admittedly bypassing another possibly easier 'block chain'. At one stage the bus driver took a wrong turn and following prompts from the passengers after a few attempts and a detour managed a short circuit to Broadmeadow Station - which is a bit tricky - where a connecting train was quite some time off.
A fellow traveller was taking a train to a country town four hours away and had several pieces of luggage.  On arrival the luggage service seemed unattended so after a while when staff 'appeared' she called to them from platform 2 and asked about checking in the luggage. No, that should have been done half an hour earlier and with possibly 15 minutes before departure shortly the 'porter' jumped into his 'buggy' to transport one single suitcase to meet the country service, it was not as though they were under pressure from countless travellers and might have obliged her.
Next a connecting shuttle was caught up in traffic on the foreshore by which time a lot of the holiday action was half finished. We are usually carefree as it is very rare to get caught in a traffic jam in the city.
Unpatriotic dissidents we rejected meat pie or chips and going international a Spanish paella was enjoyable during a chaotic lunch.
Afterwards, return to the interchange drew attention to the total wilderness that is Hunter Street, due to light rail construction, and how fences and detours added to the return walk in the high summer sun. The bus shuttle seemed excluded from doing a return run to the interchange, there was no flexibility that way.
Never the less, we returned buoyant.  
 I am guilty of wondering if there are many red neck bogans among the flag and accessory wearers although this was not overdone.  It is a problem if a person is deemed an Australian only if they are a regular looking Anglo.