A big crowd gathered at the Custom House Quay in the Otago Harbour Basin today to watch the colourful spectacle of dragon boat racing. The event, organised by the Otago Museum to celebrate having the prestigious exhibition The Emperor’s Dragons – Precious Collectionsfrom the Shanghai Museum, featured crews from the Dunedin City Council, Otago/Southland members of the N.Z. Chinese Association, the Pacific Islands Centre, the Otago Museum, Aoraki Polytechnic and a local business house Deloittes.
Scroll down for more photos from the day....
The Pacific Islands Centre crew (top left) have a last minute team talk before getting out on the water. A local fishing off the wharf, unperturbed by all the commotion going on around him, landed a 8kg salmon much to the delight of the crews and watching crowd. The paddles are all stacked up ready to go as teams go through some last minute coaching tips.
Crews line up for team photos before launching - the Pacific Islands Centre crew (top left), DCC crew (bottom left) and the Otago Museum crew (top centre). Local surf life saving members were on hand to provide cover for any emergencies that might occur out on the water and Dunedin mayor Peter Chin welcomes the crowd and officially opens the festival.
A section of the big crowd gathered to watch the racing on the water.
Following Otago Museum Chief Executive Shimrath Paul’s opening of the festival, Mayor Peter Chin officially got proceedings underway by ‘dotting the eyes’ of a carved dragon boat head with a brush dipped in red paint – a ritual known as ‘Awakening the Dragon’ where the sleeping dragon’s spirit is re-energised for vigorous racing then the boats head out on to the water for the first races.
