Happy Birthday and get thee to the Lake!

chilli said :

I understand from people who work in the bit of ACT bureaucracy dedicated to the century celebrations that they have been funded on the smell of an oily rag.

So yes, it could’ve been done better but given the funding constraints I think they did OK. And they organised the weather pretty well.

If that’s true, why did Robyn Archer get a tax payer funded round the world trip, along with that historian?

I understand from people who work in the bit of ACT bureaucracy dedicated to the century celebrations that they have been funded on the smell of an oily rag.

So yes, it could’ve been done better but given the funding constraints I think they did OK. And they organised the weather pretty well.

On a different note, in relation to people leaving the fireworks, could I say to the careless morons who were hooning up the grass embankment on the northern bit of Commonwealth Ave bridge to launch themselves through the thronging pedestrians on the footpath to go southward on Commonwealth Avenue, that really you don’t have the right to endanger people because you can’t be bothered queuing towards the exit like all the other car traffic. I’m thinking particularly of you, silver 4WD with an abusive blonde in the front and a couple of scared looking little girls in the back. Hope that the police car leaving shortly after with it’s siren blaring was going for you.

Truly disappointing. A bunch of words in big letters does not a celebration make.

I was at the lake this evening with Mrs LSWCHP waiting for the explosions (god I love explosions), and she reported chatting to a young couple who’d arrived here from overseas about a year ago. It was a long chat, because she was waiting in the line for a bite to eat for 30 minutes, but that’s a different story.

The couple had arrived from Paris, although the woman was originally from Italy. They said that life in Paris was great if you had a huge fortune that could shelter you from reality, and it was a fantastic place to visit for a while, but if you had to live there long term on a moderate income it was pretty sh*t, with poor services, lack of work, racial disharmony, insane traffic and a wide variety of other unpleasant stuff happening.

These two people, veterans of an extended period of day-to-day life in Paris said that for them, Canberra was an absolute paradise, and they adored it. They couldn’t imagine wanting to live anywhere else other than our beautiful, happy, prosperous, peaceful home in the country.

After spending most of the afternoon milling around the edge of our beautiful lake among thousands and thousands of my happy, smiling fellow Canberrans without hearing so much as a raised voice, I couldn’t agree with them more.

Happy Birthday Canberra, and best wishes to all the Rioters who were out and about today. It was good fun.

helium said :

The gourmet food might have been OK, huge queues and sold out food, around the lake not much happening in the afternoon other than the lightly attended music gigs.

They needed way more food stands, ice cream and drinks (on a hot day..), especially around Regatta point (which had a Regatta !!)

Long queues for the ferry shuttle and the bubbly bars, mmm took up a lot of space in the most narrow part of the lake. There were thousands just walking around, probably trying to figure out was was going on… answer not much..

There will be plenty of people disappointed by the event ….

The gourmet food might have been OK, huge queues and sold out food, around the lake not much happening in the afternoon other than the lightly attended. They needed way more food stands, ice cream and drinks (on a hot day..), especially around Regatta point (which had a Regatta !!)

Long queues for the ferry shuttle and the bubbly bars, mmm took up a lot of space in the most narrow part of the lake. There were thousands just walking around, probably trying to figure out was was going on… answer not much..

There will be plenty of people disappointed by the event ….

I’ll add another word that describes the day.
Unorganized.

I donned the bright yellow hat and volunteered today.
I got told to meet at stage 88.
OK, they wanted me on the other side of the lake.
20 minutes later..nope they want me on the other side again!
At about this time, I was about to throw in the towel and just give up, but I got there.
Got told that they needed as many volunteers as possible, to stop the kids (and adults) from pretty much destroying the balloons that spelt out welcome.
Someone hadn’t thought that through! Wind makes big balloons ..not stay upright.
(OK I could also say the general public made it even trickier as well!)
Got given other job, as other people were going home and I was told I’d just be doing it for 10-15 minutes or so.
1 and a half hours later, I was still there. I needed a hand as it was pretty out of control. I couldn’t find anyone around that knew what to do, or how to contact the people in charge of the volunteers.

Also waiting in line for 20 minutes for an ice cream is just ridiculous.

expected more, got way less.

food on the regatta pt side was inadequate. $20 for 3 ice creams and 2 drinks was a bit cray cray. expected to see more going on around the lake and especially on the lake. The fireworks started verrrrrrrrrrry lamely but ended on a high. People actually got up and left half way through because they thought it was done. the symphony was a giant snooze fest.

One highlight was The Church but they didnt play for long enough. I would have thought Paul McDermott could have done more of his comedy shtick between bands or at least have a sing with the gladflys.

It just didnt deliver what it promised. The organisers needed to get down to moomba and see how its done.

I also think this all could have happened on Saturday or Sunday too, instead of today and have to back up for work tomorrow.

The fireworks were great – well worth the wait. Would have been impressive from the Bubbly Bar location.

However, the food stalls were crap with gigantic queues (eg 45 minutes for an ice cream). Supposedly very few businesses were interested in providing food service on the day. They’d have been better off just having the usual suspects do sausage sizzles and drinks – or just ban all food/drink sales to make it BYO.

I can hear the crackers (too busy watching Four Corners Torture Porn to get up and look) and they sound pretty thunderous.

OH, since when have we had a paddle steamer on the lake?

tommo said :

And what was with the turkey noises being made from a woman being driven around the lake in a boat?
Perhaps the fireworks this evening will change my mind…

She was hilarious……..

The kids liked the kite making and the tent thing with the letters.

The only complaint I have is that it was too spread out, we only saw 1 1/4 of it. We rode the pushies around from the Hospice car park and parked them at the Carillion. From there we walked but it was way too far for our 2 (nearly 3) year old. Normally he can go a fair distance but it was just too big for him. There were too many people for my 6 year olds to negotiate with their bikes (as you would expect, that is why we parked them).

I saw a lot of other families with the same issue.

Pity, it could have been really good (cant make it for the entertainment tonight).

After much hunting around, it seems the fireworks will be on at 8.45pm.

What time are the fireworks on?

I so wanted to like this event. Many moons ago I worked for the Canberra Festival for a season (remember the parade and the Food and Wine Frolic – then) and it was an amazing time. I love Canberra but today was really just a nice walk around the lake and not a lot more. The kids liked spotting all the different words but there was not a lot for them to interact with. While the lunch queues were manageable when we were there, there were not nearly enough icecream or drink stalls. Because most people did the whole lake lap, there was a huge section with nothing happening from the carillon to Reconciliation Place. We enjoyed our walk in the sun but can’t say we came away overwhelmed or excited by anything after three hours out there. I suppose the positive was lots of Canberrans sharing time and space with other Canberrans on the city’s birthday and it was a lovely day for that.

And not being a weird stalker or anything because I have never met you but one of the bike riders on the funky bikes looked very much like the posted photos of the illustrious leader here!

I am grateful that I live in Canberra, and, after a very rocky start, I am very fond of it, but that does not mean I am going to an event with huge crowds that would make me feel uncomfortable and on edge.

You can celebrate in your own way, even on your own. I don’t feel I have to join in, which is one of the good things about Australia, not just Canberra.

Like many people, I went away for the weekend and just got back. Doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate what we have here, or that I won’t be going to a lot of events at festivals this year. Just much smaller ones.

I hope people who do go have a great time though.

Mrs Deref and I went to Bunnings By The Lake this morning for the new 1913 exhibition. Sat on the terrace drinking a coffee and eating a slice of passionfruit cheesecake while we watched the veteran cars drive by. Wonderful! I’ll send some photos to Johnboy.

Some words I did not see today are: disappointing, lame, anti-climatic, boring, generic, droll. Perhaps I went to the event too early in the afternoon but these words more accurately express my experience of the event so far. I really love living in Canberra and don’t mean to dampen the celebrations but I expected more for the 100th birthday. I was particularly disappointed in the gourmet food stalls. There were perhaps 20 stalls at the most, many of them simply selling food you can get from typical Canberra eateries (is The London really gourmet?). I expected far more stalls with a variety of products from around the region, perhaps something like the local markets especially since it was listed as “The Gourmet Food and Wine Marketplace” (did anyone see more than the one wine stall?). And what was with the turkey noises being made from a woman being driven around the lake in a boat?
Perhaps the fireworks this evening will change my mind…

gentoopenguin said :

Went to the lake. It was hot, crowded and (as usual) there was one gozleme stand with a line-up all the way back to Braidwood. Is it possible to go to an outdoors event in Canberra and not eat a gozleme and/or undercooked lamb wrap? Bah humbug! 🙁

I ate popcorn and poprocks, because I am a grown up and nobody can stop me. So there!

Doesn’t do anything for me. From the photos I’m seeing online, the crowds look small compared to Skyfire or say, VP day back in 05.

Looked at the program and nothing grabbed me. Play with big letters, listen to occasional music (though no big names) and see a tiny flotilla on the lake tool around for 4hrs. Bit sad really, if only we had a creative director who was creative.

Went to the lake. It was hot, crowded and (as usual) there was one gozleme stand with a line-up all the way back to Braidwood. Is it possible to go to an outdoors event in Canberra and not eat a gozleme and/or undercooked lamb wrap? Bah humbug! 🙁