This weekend started very early on Saturday morning as I joined Heidi to her Dragonboat Training! I have seen some dragonboat races in Germany but have never done it myself. It actually started with me mentioning that I wanted to see the Adelaide River Dolphins and Heidi said that they sometimes see them during their training. So at 8:30am I had a paddle in my hand, a safety vest around my waist and was prepared to get wet!!!
Honestly, it was very hard work to push a dragonboat and keep in tact with everyone else. Luckily I was placed in the very back of the boat. But the people were all so friendly and it was a perfectly sunny warm day and we saw quite a few dolphins closeby!!!
After the training I could feel my arms... We went for a coffee and after that Heidi dropped me off in Port Adelaide where I entered the Dolphin Cruiser for a 2-hour-tour up and down the river. We saw about a dozens dolphins and some got really close to the cruiser. YEAH! But something horrible happened: my camera broke after these three pictures that I took from the cruiser.
So after the cruise I went into the Visitor Information Center nearby and the man at duty was downright helpful to google camera shops in the area and even phoning them up if they do camera repairs. But apparently they would only send the camera OFFSHORE to get it repaired. WHAT? It would take 3-6 weeks to get it back and it might actually be cheaper to buy a new one... This camera has become an integral part of my travels. It makes all my experiences here in Australia more real. I visit so many cities and do so many things in one single day. With the help of the camera I can reflect on it and show my family and friends what I am up to, so they do not have to worry about me but be as happy as I am (most of the times).
Well, I could not do anything about the camera right now, so I walked over to Semaphore for lunch and a walk on this really lovely beach. For half an hour I collected shells and had a decent pile after that. I would have liked to show you but my cheap mobile phone does not do great pictures either.
The next day I borrowed Heidi's camera for the Dragonboat Competition. About six different clubs competed against each other in different categories. It was very exciting and the people who have seen me the day before at the training were delighted to see me again and wanted me to join their club :-) Heidi races for the Adelaide Sea Dragons.
Every club had their own tent and little trailor with stuff in it to keep cool as it was forecasted to get up to 38 degrees today!
There were also some big pelicans around. Unfortunately the camera of Heidi has also some default as it does not focus when you zoom :-(
Here are the judges of the start line, ready to fire the start of the next race. It was so interesting to observe the organisation of such an event and how different the techniques of the teams were in some instances. I especially enjoined the last two races, the 1000 meter ones.
The race ended 1.5 hours later than scheduled (apparently races never end on time). We drove to Michele who I already met at the training the day before and had a BBQ lunch there. It was such a lovely lunch. I especially liked her two daughters.
As this Sunday started at 5:30am for me (oh lord, why always so early...) I was really downright tired when we got back to the house at 5:30pm. Now we will relax and I will hopefully get everything organised for the next stop the next day: a day as a volunteer ranger at a National Park in South Australia!
Yours dragonboat-training-and-dolphin-watching Stefanie
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Have your say now! Would you do the same thing or would you do it differently? Do you have any travel tipps for me for my onwards travels? let me know!