Day 65, Year 3: Darwin’s Beer Can Regatta
Date: Sunday, July 13, 2008
Weather: Beautiful Northern Territory Winter Day; Temps in the Upper 70’s
Location: Fannie Bay, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
Our day started at the Skycity Casino for breakfast. This is a small casino and is just down the beach from the Sailing Club. So we, along with Donna and Gerry of Scot Free II, piled into Tim of Rendezvous Cay’s rental car and headed there for the all-you-can eat Aussie Breakfast. We then drove about a half mile back toward the Sailing Club to Mindil Beach. This is where we went to the Sunday night markets last week, but today there were all day markets and a beach full of activity. The boats made of beer cans were most ingenious. We toured the beach examining each of the boats and then waited for the races to begin. The boats were made of beer cans. For some of the boats the cans were filled with spray-in foam and sealed with glue, but on others the cans were not filled. There were boats in the shape of Egyptian river boats, outriggers, sailboats, dinghies, and catamarans. Some boats were very tiny and built and propelled by young children wearing flippers in the water while others were much larger and paddles were used to propel them. On the beach there were also sandcastle building contests, tug of war contests, and just about every craziness you can think. These Top Enders really take their fun seriously.
Mark and I had fully planned to be back on Windbird by noon to get some work done, but instead we enjoyed an afternoon at the Sailing Club and at the Ski Club just down the beach. We talked with fellow cruisers and ended up having dinner at the Sailing Club. Tomorrow morning it is up early to go and get fueled up and then we will spend the afternoon downtown making arrangements for our inland trip. We are struggling with the decision of just what we want to do. We could spend lots of money and do everything or be frugal and pick and choose what we want to do. The real decision is whether or not we want to do the Yellow River Cruise in the Kakadu. This is an early morning trip down the Alligator River where you have close encounters crocodiles and with birds of all sorts. We have seen lots of birds and have spent the last two months trying to avoid crocodiles, so it seems a bit strange to now spend hundreds of dollars to go see them in their natural environment. One way or the other, the decisions will be made tomorrow.
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