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Who would have the chutzpah to jump off a platform into the Yarra River, clad in a rocket costume, or dressed as a caterpillar? With TV cameras recording every move?
Ann Hansen, that’s who.
For most of the year she works as a veterinarian, but during the Moomba Festival, Hansen willingly jumps off a four-metre-high platform into the murky waterway, as an entrant in the Birdman Rally.
In her four previous entries, Hansen has tended more to sink than fly in craft such as a hang glider made of paper coffee cups.
But she’s raised more than $16,000 for Guide Dogs Victoria, and aid organisation Tearfund Australia.
And after conquering her initial fear, has thoroughly enjoyed herself.
Victorians love to slag Moomba, which is on this year from Thursday to Monday, as being expensive and frivolous. But others beg to differ.
Hansen loves crafting her costumes for the Birdman Rally and uses it to promote causes such as recycling.
Of Moomba, she says: “It’s lovely to be a part of a free community event that brings lots of people together.”
Members of the Colombia Dance Au dance group, most of them immigrants from Colombia, took part in their first Moomba Parade last year and will be back in the 2026 parade on Monday.
Its director “Yayo” Miranda said the dancers love expressing their culture and wearing their yellow, red and blue costumes, the same colours as the Colombian flag, in such a major Australian event.
Migrating had given them opportunities, “but they leave behind a lot of traditions”, Miranda said.
After last year’s parade, dancers gathered at Colombian bars, enjoyed Colombian food and beer and cried tears of joy watching footage on TV.
Simon Shao, co-owner of the Twistto food truck, says Moomba is the business’ biggest event, bringing in 10 per cent of its annual income in five days. “It’s very important,” he said.
Shao will work up to 18 hours a day at the Twistto stall on the Palm Lawn, helping make the Korean-style spiral-cut, deep-fried potato snacks. But the rewards were worth it, he said.
It’s the first Moomba Festival that nine-year old skateboarder Sage Dean, of Boronia, has attended and she says she is nervous but excited to compete in the Moomba Street Championships at the Riverslide Skate Park off Boathouse Drive.
Sage’s mother Tracey Dean said she and her husband, Nick, daughter Willow, 11, and son Oak, 6, will cheer Sage on.
Dean said it was good that Moomba was close to public transport and that many of its events were free to access.
Dean, who went to Moomba with relatives as a child, and also as a teenager with friends, is a fan of the festival. “I think it’s a lot of fun,” she said. “It’s exciting, and there’s always lots of action. It’s good to be amongst it.”
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