One of the Darwin’s great institutions, a unique event that demonstrates (and celebrates) the city’s individuality, is the Darwin Lions Beer Can Regatta.
Along the sands of Mindil Beach, not far from the Darwin city centre, the crowds flock to see the quaint beachside events: ...
... tug-of-war competitions ...
... sand-castle building contests ...
... kayak races and “iron person” competitions ...
... novelty hat competitions, and most of all ...
... the boat challenges. The boats here, as the event’s name might suggest, are an ode to invention and environmentalism, recycling hundreds of empty steel and aluminium beer and soft drink cans as the building blocks of (ideally) seaworthy vessels.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the beach, another great Darwin institution was underway: ...
... the Mindil Beach Market, a market that draws crowds to the arts and handicrafts, eminent food stalls, and splendid sunsets at the beach.
Usually an evening attraction, the market was an all-day event on the day of the Regatta.
Back at the beach, the open water challenge raced beer can vessels resembling canoes, crocodiles and London double-decker buses against each other. Many of the 11,000 people visiting the Regatta (a tenth of Darwin’s holiday-season population) gathered to watch this, one of the day’s highlights ...
Following this, the Peace Run team introduced the multitude at the beach to our project.
As Noivedya was interviewed about the concept and the goal of the Peace Run, heard on radio throughout the crowds, everyone else ran as a group across the beach, offering the Torch, waving at crowds, and gathering applause from an enthusiastic audience.
Many, many people joined in the spirit by holding the Torch and offering their hearts' oneness with the Run ...
We had to leave soon afterwards, so we missed the thong throwing competitions, the Battle of Mindil, and the Henley on Mindil boat race (Darwin’s version of Alice Springs’ famous Henley on Todd Regatta): had we been available – we would love to have entered a team.
Darwin is a changeover point for the Peace Run, as some of the long-running team members left and new teammates took the flame. This weekend we bid our sad goodbyes to the indomitable Anubha, Emily, Helena, Saranyu and Tavishi, meaning that our girls’ team will look very different. Tomorrow morning we farewell Amalendu and Prabuddha, two of the most seasoned veterans – teammates since the first year of the Peace Run in 1987.
But now we have fresh faces and returning faces: as well as Noivedya, who joined on Friday, Uddyogini – our Victoria coordinator – returns. We also have two super-keen, super-talented Peace Runners from the Netherlands: Abhinabha and Roos. More new teammates will join tomorrow. As we continue through one of the most challenging sections of the Peace Run, we are ready and eager for whatever the Northern Territory has to offer ...
