Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Moomba Time!

Every year the City of Melbourne organises an event held in the CBD complete with a parade, carnival rides, foodstalls, entertainment galore and also a really bizarre sub-event called the Birdman Rally (why, I don't know). This is where people dresses up in the funniest of costumes and jump off a ramp trying to glide their way into the Yarra River. The objective of this act is to glide/drop the longest distance from the ramp. Most land with a splash not far from the jump mark, but the winner of the 09 Birdman Rally managed a 7m glide/drop. Not bad huh?

This family event is predominantly favoured by kiddies which is why when I arrived in the city on the Labour Day holiday on Monday, about 1/3 of the people there were children of all sizes and ages. The other 2/3 of the crowd were their parents. I suppose there were a small percentage of anomalies such as Gaz and myself who didn't have any kids in tow, but the stats were low..

The dragon, unleashed on Swanston St

Darth Vader was rasping for Luke but the latter was nowhere to be found

Humphrey B Bear donned a St John Ambulance uniform, looking for food. He kept motioning us to feed him

The Love Band floated by..

... and released lots of love in its wake

Willy Wonka spotting dreadlocks ditched the Oompa Loompas and came to Melbourne on his own

Even our Indonesian neighbours came. M'sia was too shy to attend the party.

The giraffe escaped from the zoo and was trying to blend in with the crowd

Don't even ask me what these one eyed mascots were...

After the parade, we went to the gardens where the rides and circus shows were. Lots of kiddies, and I felt a bit embarassed taking their spot at the front near the ring so I ended up standing for the show. The circus we went to was called Circus in a Suitcase - two clowns, one suitcase, no lions (endangered, plus too dangerous with the kiddies in close proximity. They had fake horses though). The guys did simple acts, but enough to make Gaz and I smile. Maybe we're simple minded huh? Midway, I felt so tired being stationary on my feet so Gaz and I left.

Although people stared at me incredulously when I told them I was going to the Moomba, I'm glad I indulged the kid within. It was a good experience and even Gaz who were one of the starers had fun that day.

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