Saturday May 7th to Friday May 13th, 2011
Now that I'm back in Darwin and the wet season is pretty much over and I'm back working I had to find some new ways to entertain myself. Lucky for me not long after I returned from my holidays the Arafura Games started. The Arafura Games are a multi-sport, multi country event that is held in Darwin every 2 years. They have some familiar sports like swimming and track and field and volleyball and boxing (and so on) but I also got to check out a few new sports that I had never seen before.
The Games started in a familiar way with the opening ceremonies. Not sure how Debi and Scott ended up coming with me. Not sure they really knew was was included in the opening ceremony of an event such as this. I am all too familiar with the parade of athletes and the speeches and the oaths of the athletes and officials. But I was super surprised with everything else that was also on display on opening night.
A look at the RAAF Roulettes who were flying over head before the start of the ceremony.
A pretty elaborate stage set up. I really was not expecting all this.
One of the LED thunder sticks that were given to every one who attended. Yes Debi and Scott were irritated with them within minutes. I thought they were fun. As you can see, the Arafura games also included the Oceania Paralympic Games, which is qualifying event for the World Championships. It meant I got to see some great Paralympic action at the track all week long.
A member of the Larrakia nation welcoming everyone to their land. She actually sang Waltzing Matilda (an Australian classic) in her traditional aboriginal language.
A short video I made of some of the show. Really so much more than I expected. If I remember correctly there were about 4,500 athletes competing from around 40 different countries.....mostly from Southeast Asia.
One of the highlights was a performance by Jessica Mauboy. She won one of those talent shows (Australia's Got Talent or Australian Idol) and now has a big record deal and has recorded songs with Snoop Dogg and people like that. She is from the Northern Territory so people are always excited when she comes back.
Jessica with her dancers. A little disappointed that she sang to a backing track and not a band but I guess I can't have it all. And just in case you are wondering...thanks to this show, I now know 3 Jessica Mauboy songs.
The rest of the week I spent watching as much as I could. They set it up really good so lots of events didn't start until after I got off work. I missed all the swimming (it was at a totally different venue) but I caught a bunch of other things. Here are some pictures and video.
A little sepak takraw action. Seriously the greatest sport ever.
Also known as foot volleyball, the rules are pretty similar. You're allowed to hit the ball on each side of the net 3 times (and from what I can tell the same person can hit it all 3 times) however they can only hit it with any body part.....other than their hands.
Look at that flexibility. I dragged Deb and Scott out to watch some of it and I think they enjoyed it......even Scott and he seems to hate anything organized sport related.
Yes, those guys are jumping higher than I am tall. It was so much fun to watch.
A little video I made of the action. If you ever see a sepak takraw tournament or game advertised.......totally go watch it......if only for a minute.
This was a great volleyball game between the boys from Papua New Guinea and the boys from East Timor. At first it appeared it was going to be a Papua blow out, but those East Timor boys stormed back. In the end I honestly can't tell you who won but it was some great volleyball.
The action was really fast paced so honestly I don't really care who won. In the end however, Papua New Guinea won the Gold Medal.
I loved these uniforms. These are the girls from The Torres Strait Islands (part of Queensland). They played a really good game.
Ahhhhh, steeplechase. My favourite. Yes I did in fact spend at least some part of every evening watching track and field action. If I had thought about it a little bit more I would have volunteered but this way I got to watch a whole lot of everything.
Some paralympic high jumping. This is Iliesa Delana from Fiji. He was a lot of fun to watch. Jumps higher than I ever did.
Debi is slowly working her way up to having a camera lens this big.
110 metre hurdles. Always one of my favourites. Sadly only 3 competitors in the race but these 2 were pretty good.
Some of the paralympic shot put. I don't remember watching as many paralympic events in the past but it was all really good. There was a large group from Fiji and also a large group from the Australian Defense Force (wounded sailors, soldiers and airmen) who competed in many events. Some of the forces guys had recently returned from California where they competed at the Wounded Warrior Games at Camp Pendleton.
This is the East Timor soccer team. I don't think I have watched an entire soccer game before but I met these young guys on the bus home from the games one night (they were staying at the hotel just down the street from our apartment). They were all 16 and 17 and just the nicest group of boys. So excited to be in Darwin and getting to play soccer and meeting new people. Reminded me what playing sports was all about.
I watched a bunch of the boxing as well. It was a great set up with an outdoor boxing ring. You could sit up on the hill and watch all the action. There was some pretty good action too.
Another new sport for me (well kind of) was Muay Thai kickboxing. I've never really been a fan of kick boxing but I liked the atmosphere of this. There was a whole show to put on.
A little video I made. I love the music that gets played while the guys kick the crap out of each other.
Eventually the games came to an end. The closing ceremonies were by invitation only so lucky for Scott and Deb they didn't have to check those out too. A great week of sports action though.
Julie
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