Henley Hell
Last weekend I went to the famed Henley-on-Todd (or, to be more accurate, the Assa Abloy Henley-on-Todd). For those of you wondering who or what Assa Abloy is, I can now assure you that it's the world's largest lock group. Whatever that means, but 'not much' is the general message to you and I. While I'm not much the wiser nor more interested in the major sponsor, I do know that the Assa Abloy group gets a whole lotta benefit out of being the sponsor of the Henley-on-Todd for not a lotta money. But that's a different story.
The Henley-on-Todd, for those still at sea at this stage in the blog entry, is Alice Springs annual boat race on the (dry) Todd River. As the slogan says, the most fun you can have on a boat without getting wet.
In actual fact (and apologies to my former landlord, a Rotarian and on the committee for this annual event), it's just not that exciting. When I rocked up and paid my $10 to get in, it seemed like just another festival. And there's been a few of these the last few weeks in Alice. In the time since I last posted an entry on this blog, I've been to the same area partitioned off by the Todd causeway for a 'Cinema in the River', Bush Bands 2006, Opera in the River (or something like that, can't remember the title), and now Boats in the River. The 2006 annual DesertMob festival was the main reason there was so much riverside activity, but the Henley was just another activity on a Saturday for the activity-hungry in Alice.
As I walked in, I recalled my colleague Sarah's comments to me after she returned from the Henley last year. She'd had a coincidental work trip to Alice, and decided to stay the extra day on her own time/cash, in order to participate in this iconic Australia event. With some sense that perhaps she was betraying the national identity, she reported that it was "a bit disappointing". At the time, I thought perhaps she hadn't managed to really get into the spirit of things, not being a local n'all.
I was prepared to be a touch more patriotic as I entered. There was a pretty impressive set of boats over by the edge, but unmanned and a bit boring after 30 seconds of no activity. Moving further into the seething crowd of beer-swillin' and sausage-eatin' revellers, I quickly worked out that the 'race' was in fact just a fenced off area about 50 metres long. Little people would pick up their little boats, or little contraptions, and tear off up the little stretch before turning around the little 44-galloon drums and pelting back up to the little finish line. It was a little underwhelming, to say the least.
After about 20 minutes, I'd worked out that the event was not really my thing. Notwithstanding this, I'd agreed to meet two friends there. So when we caught up (and they had pretty much worked out the same thing themselves, without any of us needing to say this to each other so as not to spoil the party mood), we sat and nattered in the stands instead. The swirling mass in front of us provided useful fodder while we quaffed a few drinks of choice and gossiped about the desert research mob we were all associated with in some way. The only highpoint to this, as far as the Henley was concerned, was that I earned myself a huge blast of a water pistol toted by a young woman unconvincingly dressed like a (hot and sweaty) Viking. The reason being, I was wearing white, and that was reason enough on a hot day. Perhaps I also looked like the type who wouldn't storm out and sue them for a spoiled day out. And she was right. What's a little water, when you have none in the river in front of you.
The Henley-on-Todd, for those still at sea at this stage in the blog entry, is Alice Springs annual boat race on the (dry) Todd River. As the slogan says, the most fun you can have on a boat without getting wet.
In actual fact (and apologies to my former landlord, a Rotarian and on the committee for this annual event), it's just not that exciting. When I rocked up and paid my $10 to get in, it seemed like just another festival. And there's been a few of these the last few weeks in Alice. In the time since I last posted an entry on this blog, I've been to the same area partitioned off by the Todd causeway for a 'Cinema in the River', Bush Bands 2006, Opera in the River (or something like that, can't remember the title), and now Boats in the River. The 2006 annual DesertMob festival was the main reason there was so much riverside activity, but the Henley was just another activity on a Saturday for the activity-hungry in Alice.
As I walked in, I recalled my colleague Sarah's comments to me after she returned from the Henley last year. She'd had a coincidental work trip to Alice, and decided to stay the extra day on her own time/cash, in order to participate in this iconic Australia event. With some sense that perhaps she was betraying the national identity, she reported that it was "a bit disappointing". At the time, I thought perhaps she hadn't managed to really get into the spirit of things, not being a local n'all.
I was prepared to be a touch more patriotic as I entered. There was a pretty impressive set of boats over by the edge, but unmanned and a bit boring after 30 seconds of no activity. Moving further into the seething crowd of beer-swillin' and sausage-eatin' revellers, I quickly worked out that the 'race' was in fact just a fenced off area about 50 metres long. Little people would pick up their little boats, or little contraptions, and tear off up the little stretch before turning around the little 44-galloon drums and pelting back up to the little finish line. It was a little underwhelming, to say the least.
After about 20 minutes, I'd worked out that the event was not really my thing. Notwithstanding this, I'd agreed to meet two friends there. So when we caught up (and they had pretty much worked out the same thing themselves, without any of us needing to say this to each other so as not to spoil the party mood), we sat and nattered in the stands instead. The swirling mass in front of us provided useful fodder while we quaffed a few drinks of choice and gossiped about the desert research mob we were all associated with in some way. The only highpoint to this, as far as the Henley was concerned, was that I earned myself a huge blast of a water pistol toted by a young woman unconvincingly dressed like a (hot and sweaty) Viking. The reason being, I was wearing white, and that was reason enough on a hot day. Perhaps I also looked like the type who wouldn't storm out and sue them for a spoiled day out. And she was right. What's a little water, when you have none in the river in front of you.
posted by sophsta at 12:45 pm
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