Moomba

Everybody Moomba!  But no, it is not a dance although it involves a lot of dancers.  Moomba is Melbourne’s Labor Day Weekend festival, started in 1955 and drawing a million visitors or more.  It is centered on the Yarra River waterfront. 

We missed the water skiing competitions but saw a little bit of the Birdman and Penguin rally.  In this event people dressed in elaborate costumes jump off a 4 meter high platform into the Yarra River to raise money for charity.  They are penguins if they don’t jump far, birds if they do. The person who jumps the furthest wins more money for their charity.  The folks we saw didn’t seem to be making much of an effort with their costumes to jump far.  There were a couple people with capes and one in a gorilla suit with a wedding dress.  Also a Godzilla costume made of cardboard, pictured here.  There are a lot of tall people in Australia and I couldn’t find a spot with a decent view to stand so this is as good as the photos get for this event.

You may be able to see Jake waiting for his mussels in the blue baseball cap

There were lots of carnival rides and food booths.  I got a deep fried crispy crusted vegetable samosa that sat atop a spicy chickpea masala for a snack.  Jake waited for the Mussel Festival at the South Melbourne Market for his lunch.  Sigh - why can’t we eat more?

Monday morning was the Moomba Parade featuring a lot of dance groups and cultural associations as well as one (yes, only one!) fire truck.  The parade goes along the St. Kilda Road a fairly short distance.  We sat right near the start on a grassy hill overlooking the parade.

Exotic flower dancer?

The recycling monster!  The accompanying dancers wore outfits made of paper

Very realistic looking elephant float.

The koala version of Godzilla

pirate ship with a live figurehead