June (Winter) Fun

Winter in Alice Springs is a pretty amazing time.  The weather is pretty awesome (warm days and cold nights).  The Northern Territory is also called the Festival State, so its no coincidence that the winter weekends are filled with fun and quirky festivals.

So, in addition to the boys' birthdays, we have had loads of fun at the Finke Desert Race and the Beanie Festival.

Finke Desert Race is the Australian equivalent to Baja 1000.  It hasn't quite reached the same level of international prominence, but it is getting bigger and bigger.  Last year it had about 400 entrants and this year was over 500.  It'll be interesting to see how it continues to grow and it is definitely good for the town.

We didn't get too adventurous with our Finke watching, we just spent the morning at the Prologue.  Prologue is the time trials for each class of vehicle to determine the starting positions for the actual race. 

On the first race day, cars are first to tackle the 230km track with the first car getting underway usually at 7.30am. The first ten cars take off one at a time at one minute intervals. The rest of the field then start two at a time at one minute intervals. Bikes follow later launching off 11.30am with the 10 fastest bikes (as determined by prologue) starting in rows of two bikes, at one-minute intervals. The remainder of the field will start in rows of up to ten bikes at one-minute intervals.

There is a time limit of 4 hours to complete the first 230km leg of the course. If competitors do not make it down to Finke with the 4 hour time limit they are out of the race and do not start day two as they are out of time. The Clerk of Course has the right to stop any competitor and prevent his/her continuation in the event if it is deemed impractical for that competitor to complete the course within the required time limit.

Competitors must pass through each of the 4 checkpoints situated along the track. There are 3 designated fuel stops also dotted along the track for the bikes; however, the buggies do not stop to refuel. Once competitors get to Finke they must sign off to let officials know they are alive and well so we don’t send out a search party for you in the early hours of the morning. Any competitor who fails to complete the course must notify one of the Official Sweep Vehicles as soon as possible!

After the excitement of Finke, we opted for a more "sedate" event.  The Beanie Festival.  Beanies in Australian lingo refers to knit hats and they get quite creative.  The Beanie Festival was originally founded about 15 years ago to provide Aboriginal women a place to sell their beanies.  In an effort to help them become more economically self-sufficient and teach new skills, local women taught the Aboriginal women how to knit.  Then they needed to find an outlet for them - hence the festival.  It has grown considerably in that time and now has a competition, a gallery, a hall of fame, sales, music and more...There are a few pictures on the website that show some of the more creative creations (http://www.beaniefest.org/), but here we are modeling a few (we actually bought the one Gavin is wearing).

The stage is wearing a beanie.