Henley on Todd

What do you do if you live in the desert where the river rarely runs but you want to raise money for the community? You have a charity boat race...of course!

I attended the 55th Henley on Todd, in Alice Springs, with a few thousand other townsfolk and tourists. There were 'boat races' of all sorts from single person kayaks, canoes, rowing boats, small sailing boats up the the combative finale between the Vikings, the Navy and the Pirates.

 The whole event had the atmosphere of a family sports day. Anyone could take part in the races with all classes of 'water' conveyance. 

The battle was wet, floury, dusty, smelly and very noisy.

The winners of the battle, decided by crowd enthusiasm, were The Navy