We arrived to Darwin at about 2am on Saturday night. After getting securely anchored, we had a little champagne to celebrate and a great night of sleep. When we finally woke at about 10am, we heard and saw quite a commotion on the beach. All we could see through the binoculars was a lot of people and a huge blow-up Carlton beer can. We figured it had to be something good.

We took the dinghy in to the sailing club and walked down to Mindil Beach to find the Annual Beer Can Regatta. The beach was full of people enjoying all sorts of competitions, and of course, beer.

The actual beer can regatta was hilarious. The boats were made completely out of beer cans and the teams had to round several buoys before returning to the beach. The rules were simple -- 1) the boats needed to float using beer cans alone and 2) the participants needed to drink beer.

Aside from the competitions, there was live music, food stands and arts/crafts. Chris really enjoyed this band called Raw Didge, which featured a guy playing the drums and another guy on a digeridoo. It was kind of like trance meets the outback.

We had a great meal of bugs (aka lobster) and prawns, and of course, a beer. Or two. It was quite a nice welcome to Darwin.