Homesickness and the Hottest 100

For me, the Triple J Hottest 100 has always been synonymous with Australia Day. Claiming to be the biggest annual music poll in the world with last year’s poll attracting over 1.1 million votes, The Hottest 100 is an event I truly look forward to every year.

My time in London was spent trying to soak up the British culture as much as possible. I didn’t want to do the typical Australian thing and live in Hammersmith with fellow antipodeans, work in a pub with Aussies, and be loud and obnoxious on the tube. Instead I lived in North London with Brits, lost my tan and tamed my accent as quickly as possible.

However, I did learn that you’re never going to feel further than home when it’s Australia Day. Knowing that your friends are back home enjoying summer, going to the beach, having BBQ’s, and listening to the Triple J Hottest 100 while sinking tinnies was almost too much to bear.

Last year I recall being cold, broke and drunk (my job made me attend Maker’s Mark training at 11am) and so I coerced a young British friend to accompany me on my first experience to the now defunct Walkabout Pub in Islington.

Suddenly I was surrounded by the familiar Aussie twang and every stereotype that I’d tried to avoid since arriving in the motherland. There were people wearing flags as capes, there was zinc cream, there were thongs. But, I admit it, I had a blast, and it cured my pangs of homesickness.

For me, The Hottest 100 has always been synonymous with Australia Day. Claiming to be the biggest annual music poll in the world with last year’s poll attracting over 1.1 million votes, The Hottest 100 is an event I truly look forward to every year.

Just because you’re on the other side of the planet, it doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy what has come to be an annual tradition for many young Aussies. Invite your mates around and have your own Hottest 100 party in your overcrowded flat and stream the countdown live from the internet. Don’t forget about the time difference if you want to listen live!

Otherwise, if you’re looking to go out and listen to the countdown at a public place, there are currently five venues in London registered on the Triple J website: Belushi’s in Camden and London Bridge, YHA London Central, Super Pizza on Brick Lane and The Alexandra at Clapham Common Southside. Other London bars promising to play the countdown include The Underdog Bar in Clapham Common, Redback Tavern in Acton, Walkabout at Shepherd’s Bush Green and Waxy O’Connors in Leicester Square.

I hope you all remembered to vote!

Read more: Australia Day in London: Where to celebrate