Spring has Sprung in Newcastle!

Well, it's official. It is springtime in Australia!

Today is actually the first day of spring, which to an American, seems off. Not only is it the wrong time of year for spring, but it seems like it's the wrong day. I should know, my birthday is on the first day of spring in the US (March 20th). 

When I went to Sydney a couple weeks ago, I sat next to three other young women on the train home, and they explained this to me. In Australia, they consider the first day of each season to be the first day of the month in which that season starts (March 1=autumn, June 1=winter, September 1=spring, December 1=summer). When I told them that the US goes by the equinoxes and solstices, they found that to be "rather archaic!" 

I'm more than happy to accept that it is spring, though, and today reflected that, as it was the most gorgeous, warm day. Of course, I had to go to the beach, Would you honestly expect anything different from me at this point?

It seems that I wasn't the only one who thought it would be the perfect day, as there were people paddle boarding, sun bathing, surfing, sailing, parasailing, swimming, body boarding, kayaking, and playing beach volleyball. It really was incredible. 

After a bit, I joined the sunbathers and read a book on my kindle while soaking up the warm sun rays. This only lasted about an hour because of my valiant goal of avoiding a sunburn (so far, so good!). I walked along the beach a bit more, noticing the beautiful broken shells among the sand.

Just before I left, I saw two really weird things on the sand, just beyond the surf. I still don't really know what they are, but they sure were cool to look at!

Weird, right?!

I then wandered around downtown for a bit, basically moving from park to park. It seems that the all of the spring flowers just bloomed within the past two days, and wow, are they beautiful. Maybe I'm seeing everything through the exciting lens of Australia, but it seems to me that the flowers are so much more colorful here! Take a look!

Now the real question: if my birthday is on the first day of spring, does that make today my Australian birthday? I think I'll eat some ice cream to celebrate either way. :-)