The 2009 Australia Day in Cobh that celebrated the arrival of the liner Dawn Princess with 1800 Australians on board was a huge success. As the passengers on the 2011 World Cruise prepare to set sail on 25th May on the voyage of a lifetime, plans are well advanced for the 2011 Australia Day in Cobh on Sunday 24th July. Cobh Tourism and the See You in Cobh committee are looking forward to planning the “Second Australia Day in Cobh”! and can confirm the following:
The day’s festivities include fascinating shop window displays, the sizzle of barbecues and food stalls, local arts and crafts, traditional music that will have locals and visitors alike tapping their feet, an air sea helicopter rescue display with the Coastguard helicoter and a performance by the Band of 1 Southern Brigade.
The Cobh Confraternity Band will play on the quayside as the Dawn Princess sails for Bermuda to continue its 104 night odyssey around the World. Will the traditional “Anchor’s Aweigh” be replaced by “Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport” as 1500 happy Australians are given a traditional Cobh farewell with white handkerchiefs and Australian and Irish flags waving.
One Round the World Cruise passenger on the Dawn Princess in 2009, Sheree Clem (Princess Oz) posted on her blog: http://clemsworldcruise.blogspot.com/
I wanna go home……back to the home of my ancestors, back to Ireland, how quaint was this special place called Cobh. I fell in love instantly, even though it was raining and cold (16c), however, we Aussies did take credit for the sunshine in the late afternoon. There is so much to tell you about Cobh that I intend preparing several blogs for this exceptional port of call. The Cobh Tourism bureau deserves the highest praise for their coordinated efforts. The whole township of Cobh, its people, made us Aussies returning to the shores of Ireland feel like we were most welcome visitors. Every shop front window had an Aussie display, from flags to surfboards to kangaroo and koalas, aboriginal art, boomerangs etc. Even the local real estate agent had 3 large photos in their window of the Opera House, Ayers Rock, and the Sydney Harbour bridge, each had the real estate spiel attached underneath and were for sale, how original is that! The Irish – they’re selling our Opera House! Could explain why many of us ended up in Van Deimans land in the first place.
As we sailed away thousands of ‘Cobhians’ lined the harbour streets to wave farewell, many waving Aussie flags, and we on board were waving just as wholeheartedly with our newly found Irish flags. We felt privileged to receive the traditional quayside send off by the Cobh Confraternity Band mixing repertoire such as Waltzing Matilda and Anchors Away was just brilliant. Well done Band Director…. We’ll done Cobh.
