Autumn Festival Parade

Festival Parades are an odd business. Throngs of people line the streets to watch cars drive slowly by and various people waving from the backs of small lorries (called 'floats'). Odd. Oh well, the streets of Arrowtown are pretty at the moment, and this is what folks do round these parts to kick off their festival.

'Noah' on this ark is a local primary school teacher whom I know from shows. As he cruised past in his 'ark' I asked him for his best Noah wave. He smiled beatifically and said, 'Ha, ha, you're all going to drown'. Now, that's not very Christian, is it?





Some of the Arrowtown Entertainers



And some more

This bloke on stilts with a gun was chasing a woman dressed as a bunny rabbit - also on stilts. You might have thought this might upset the children, but no, they were all highly amused, having been brought up by their farmer parents as vermin-haters. They breed them tough in Central...

There is something strangely appealing about a person dressed up in an animal costume, and I still haven't quite worked out what it is, but they always seem to want to dispense hugs.



These are the mini belles - trainee can-can girls, not small French cheeses



And this is the adult version

The Scout group claim that they have a lot of fun, and I must admit that abseiling, hanging from a flying fox and toasting marshmallows over the campfire does look fun. When I was in Brownies all we got to do was polish our shoes, knit blankets, and dance around a plastic toadstool.



These people are far too young to have beards

Next was the Art To Wear promotion, which is a rip-off of the World of Wearable Art spectacle. The lady at the front  is modelling 'Cage Free', the winner of last year's organic category and the people's choice award. Unsprisingly, her appearance attracted a lot of attention, and this was a popular float.



Would you like a sweetie little girl?



Thankfully the streets were not alive... I think I am the only person in the Wakatipu Basin who dislikes this musical, although Fee and Dave are both lovely

The 'what breed am I?' part of the parade is always popular as the good folk at Remarkable Vets encourage their clients to lead their dogs through Arrowtown. I didn't have the heart to tell the girl at the front that donkeys don't count as canines.