Chinchilla melons.
After a summer of devastating floods, storms and cyclones it was fantastic to celebrate with other Queenslanders at the mayhem of the bi-annual melon fest. With much of Queensland having had a tough time losing homes, crops and other property it seemed the best way to celebrate was with a bit of melon inspired madness.
The Chinchilla melon fest is one of those typical outback Australian events where there’s plenty of eccentric events and fun to join in. Simply sign up and be prepared to get messy as you take part in anything from the melon dash to melon bungy, melon skiing, melon spitting, melon eating and all things melon in general.
This year’s festival was held from 17-20 February. Chinchilla was affected by the January floods in the state but resolved to continue the festival nonetheless, a wise move as there were plenty of people from affected communities such as Miles, Theodore, Roma, St George and Brisbane.
Locals put on a fine event attracting up to 10,000 people despite the mercury nearing 40 degrees. The next event is in 2013. See www.melonfest.com.au
A parade got the fun started on 19 February.
Little melon girls in the parade.
Events to compete in during the festival.
The melon dash for cash.
Melon-inspired fashion.
This is the way to melon ski on watermelon skins. But there were other methods.
You could ride on your bum or your stomach.
Or even eat melon as you went along.
It's definitely not as easy as it looks however.
The actual melon skis - wholes cut into the melons for your feet.
The melon bullseye event.
There were plenty of melon giveaways.
All you can eat melon party.
The melon bungy event was absolutely unique.
The idea was to collect your melon, if you could reach it.
Or prevent others from doing so.
And the winner gets a melon and glory!
There was a world record attempt at smashing melons - just missed it.
A visiting Japanese game show host had a go too, nowhere near as successful but very entertaining.
The chariot race with teams of three involved collecting melons and transporting a team mate.
The chariot rider had a special head dress.
Melon pip spitting competition. Look closely and you'll just see the pip leaving his lips.
More melon inspired fashionistas.
By late afternoon there was melon everywhere.
Perfect for the last event - the ironman and woman which involved sprinting down watermelon laid beds, collecting watermelons, spitting pips and plenty of sticky tumbles.
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[...] are some images from the weekend. You can read more about the festival and see more images on my Visited Planet photographic blog. The dash for cash. Grab a melon and race it down the street without dropping it. The skiing event [...]
[...] To see more images from the weekend see my photographic blog on Visited Planet also. [...]