For the first time in forever, we didn’t set foot on Bondi Beach for Australia Day. We headed to Rose Bay Beach and hit up the first annual Australia Day Lilo Raft-up Party.
With the weather looking precarious, we didn’t know what to expect of this debut event. But the storm clouds cleared and over 1,000 beachgoers descended on the sand flats for one of the loosest beach parties around. Inflatable lilos, armchairs, tubes, turtles, balls, dolphins, boats, air mattresses (don’t leave your lilo run too late) and some seriously ingenious homemade floating eskies covered the water’s surface. A generator pumped the Triple J Hottest 100 out across the harbour and the grassy reserve above the beach became a dance floor. The neighbours didn’t seem to mind, unless you count the older man in black Speedos and a dark tan with his perfectly groomed Dalmation who came outside his waterfront mansion to knock beer bottles off his retaining wall.
See you next year for an Australia Day sundowner on what’s set to be an annual inflatable tradition.
