Boats on the river

from w
The mechanic said 'The two tyres will be on in forty minutes.' We needed one new tyre,but then decided two would be better. There were lounge seats and yesterday's papers to read while waiting, but as it was sunny and we were one block away from the Barwon River and the Moorabool Bridge we decided to have a quiet stroll riverside. Well it wasn't exactly quiet as the Alcoa Head of the River fund-raiser for United Way was on with a thousand people, stalls, dogs, boats and rowers in a variety of strange get-ups. Not the professional looking elite school-boys this time from the Grammar schools but local businesses. A Rotary friend we met there told us he was a coach and the groups had four weeks preparation and coaching, many amateurs, some experienced. A few photos give a glimpse of the slack time before the afternoon races. One of the Fijian guys at our Fiji Day party last night (see the babasiga blog for pics) had told us he was rowing today and that had surprised us. It has been a sunny day and good luck for the event organisers as three weeks or more ago the river here had been severely flooded.