Bird-women take to the sky for Moomba

Tuesday 8 March 2011, 2:20 PM
By The Team | Posted in Events

Who said Moomba’s Birdman Rally is just for blokes? This year’s Birdman Rally has proved to be a bumper year for female competitors, with three plucky young birds preparing to flap their way to the winner’s podium.

The brave trio are:

• Hayley Cobble in The Safety Bug, flying for the Transport Accident Commission
• Katie Higgins in the Flying Fruit Ninjas, sponsored by Boost Juice Swanston Street
• Tarli Bird in her T-Bird, with a helping hand from her crew (her family members!)

Of course, women have competed in the Birdman Rally before, but there’s been a bit of a drought in the last few years, with no women competing in the 2010 rally and just one woman in 2009.

This year will be the first attempt for all three women, so the competitive edge may come down to the technicalities of craft design, the juice used to power the engine, and the moral support of the crew.

Brave birdwoman Hayley Cobble will take the Transport Accident Commission’s (TAC) ‘How safe is your car?’ message to the skies when she competes in the annual competition this Sunday.

Dressed in a TAC crash test dummy outfit and assisted by a state-of-the-art flying machine, Hayley’s mission is to encourage more Victorians to buy safe cars.

As an ABI (acquired brain injury) support coordinator who supports road trauma victims, Hayley is passionate about the vehicle safety message. “I work with people every day whose lives could be very different if only they had been driving safer cars,” says Hailey.

“I don’t think what I am doing is overly brave – not compared to what some of the clients I deal with go through every day.”

Nineteen-year-old RMIT University student Katie Higgins also has safety on her mind – her own. Katie plans to wear a giant juice-cup costume in a nod to her employer, Boost Juice, which has donated $500 to her fundraising quest – the Queensland Flood Appeal.

She concedes it’s probably not the most aerodynamic craft, but her first concern is surviving the 4-metre drop from the platform. Fingers crossed that Katie’s the got the right juice in her engine when she takes the plunge on Sunday.

Finally, she may not have any corporate backing or sponsorship deals, but if names are all that matter, student Tarli Bird must surely be the favourite to win. Not only is she taking to the skies in her T-Bird craft (which she built in one night), she also has three birds in her support team: Georgia Bird, Emily Bird and Todd Bird. Now with that kind of expertise, what could go wrong?

See all the action unfold on the Yarra, opposite the boatshed, on Sunday 13 March, noon to 2pm.

For more Birdman Rally Information, visit the Moomba website, follow us on Twitter or on our Facebook Page.

Science and faith in Moomba’s Birdman Rally

Wednesday 2 March 2011, 10:16 AM
By The Team | Posted in Events

My name is Owen Grace and here are a few words on why I am entering the Birdman Rally.

As a wide-eyed child of 10 I read a book called The Adventures of Sam Small the Flying Yorkshire Man. Sam woke up one day and realised that all one needed to be able to fly was to have sufficient “faith”, so on finding a suitable take point (ie exposed position), he spread his arms and off he soared.

Now I had an overactive imagination, a 10-year-old’s lack of fear and was well schooled in the power of faith by my zealot parents. So after careful deliberation (and making sure my parents were otherwise engaged), I climbed up on the garage roof, which was about 4 meters high (note: BMR platform is 4m high), duly spread my arms and soared head first into the compost heap. Digging my way out of the rotten vegetable matter I suffered my first crisis of faith and gained a deep suspicion of the author’s motives.

Now some 40 year later, and with some life experience behind me, I am going to jump off again, with a pair of wings this time, to discover whether science triumphs over faith and if the Yarra really does taste worse than compost.

So that was last year. What have I learnt:

• thing are not always as simple as they seem
• one’s imagination and reality are not necessarily the same thing
• a bit of pilot training before takeoff might help, and
• the Yarra doesn’t taste too bad after all!

So the jury is still out on the matter of science, flight, and faith. We will have to wait and see what Moomba 2011 brings.

Craft name: The Orange Peril
Build duration: 3 months
Previous attempts: 2010

For more Birdman Rally Information, visit the Moomba website, follow us on Twitter or on our Facebook Page.

Do we need to spell it out? Moomba is coming!

Tuesday 2 March 2010, 5:40 PM
By The Team | Posted in Events

Do we need to spell it out? Moomba is coming!

You may have seen the lovely old image (below) of the dancing girls parading down Swanston Street, each carrying a giant letter to spell out M-O-O-M-B-A.

Today, that grand tradition was given a modern makeover, as sixteen fabulous performers made their way through the city, carrying giant ‘Moomba’ letters and heralding the arrival of the Moomba Festival this coming weekend.

Commuters hopped off trams to be greeted by stilt-walking tennis players. Acrobatic ‘footballers’ put on a spontaneous show for school children out on an excursion. A bell girl hula hooped about and culturally costumed dancers shone, sparkled and glided with elegance.

Passers-by scratched their heads and then seemed to remember, ‘Oh yes, it’s Moomba time – no wonder these guys are having so much fun.’

Two sunflower girls bloomed about their giant ‘B’, adding some extra sunshine to proceedings. Plus two chefs, celebrating Melbourne’s love of good food, joined in the fun.

A sweet little taster of what’s to come this weekend. Make sure you check out the program, this year’s Moomba Festival is ready to rock and roll.

Moomba Festival: Friday 5 March to Monday 8 March.