Saturday the 10th of March is the beginning of Labour day weekend in Victoria, and the Moomba Festival in Melbourne. The city seizes its oppertunity for a 3 day party, focussed in and around the Yarra river near Southbank, the botanical gardens and Flinders street.

Moomba's name has some rather humerous origins, explained well on wikipedia (see - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moomba), but to summarise - "'moom' (mum) means 'buttocks' or 'anus' in various Victorian languages and 'ba' is a suffix that can mean 'at', 'in' or 'on'. Presumably someone has tried to render 'up your bum' in the vernacular."

The festival has a set of common events that take place every year - waterskiing, birdman, the parade. In addition, a range of concerts are put on for adults and children, a fairground is put on (much like the Hoppings in Newcastle) and a selection of world foods is available to buy. All three days of the festival, fireworks are put on at the end of the day, and I was looking forward to seeing them.

I got up and headed out for about 11am, and walked down to Southbank following the Yarra river. It was the first time I had walked the entire length of the river from South Yarra to the city, and it ended up being the fastest and most enjoyable route I have taken thus far. The river was very calm and serene all the way up, and as you round the bend past the Swan Street bridge the Melbourne skyline looks impressive set as a backdrop to the botanical gardens and the Yarra.

I walked past the launch being used for the waterskiing and headed all the way up to the main event, before finding a seat on the banks of the river to watch the events. I watched slalom and tricks (tricks was very impressive), before it reached 4pm and I had yet to eat. I headed back to the house for tea, and returned at around 8pm to watch the fireworks. They were very good, and I have uploaded some photos and video.

Ian.