New South Wales - Byron Bay archive

Recently we drove down to Maclean and had a wonderful paddle and picnic with the Treasure Chests and unlike some of our previous ventures not a drop of rain fell.

It was fun to paddle on their section of the mighty Clarence River and try out their boats – a 20 seater and a 10 seater. We were very impressed with the smaller boat and now have a 10 seater boat on our Santa wish list!

We are looking forward to the Christmas break and to having fun paddling with you all in 2008. We wish all clubs, regional reps and Michelle and her elves a very merry Christmas and a safe and happy holiday season.

Rainbow Dragons Paddle Abreast Of Cancer Support (right - Byron Bay Echo p76 - click on image to enlarge )

We are still reliving the Caloundra experience and telling stories to those who couldn’t come. It was a wonderful occasion we will never forget.

Since then we have paddled in the Jacaranda Regatta at Grafton and did some of our best ever paddling, coming third in the open heats to qualify for the semi-finals.

Also in October we took our boat to market – to the Lennox Head market where we raised awareness of our club and breast cancer and also raised a few dollars with a raffle. The locals were keen to meet us as they had seen the pink paddlers on the lake on Sunday mornings.

Are you suffering from the drought? Do you need rain? Just invite us to come with our boat and we’ll bring the rain with us. Seems like every time we plan to go for an “adventure” paddle it pours – so we figure we must have special powers!

We are planning a trip to Maclean in December for a fun paddle with the Treasure Chests so let’s hope for fine weather.

Not long till Christmas but we are still paddling hard, signing up new members and planning next year’s regattas – starting with Chinese New Year.

Congratulations to our sweep Lindy McCollum who now has her Level 2 accreditation.

August 2007 newsletter - click for printable version

June 2007 newsletter - click for printable version

May 2007 newsletter - click for printable version

March 2007 newsletter - click for printable version

November 2006 newsletter - click for pdf version

Rainbow Dragons Launch New Boat

newspaper article on the launch (click on image to enlarge)

June 2006 newsletter

Our members come from all over northern NSW including Lismore, Ballina, Ocean Shores as well as Byron Bay. This area is sometimes known as the Rainbow Region, hence our name. Since we formed in November 2004, we have grown to over 40 members.

We have had a busy year so far. A few months ago we heard the very exciting news that the Lennox Head Lions Club had convinced the Lions Northern NSW Community Trust to make a $15,000 grant to enable us to buy our own boat. After some research we have commissioned a boat from Geelong-Pont in Newcastle and hope to take possession of it in a few weeks. That will definitely be a time for celebrating so watch this space!

Up till now we have been paddling in our boat hired from DBNSW and you can see us every Sunday morning at 8am on beautiful Lake Ainsworth at Lennox Head. On the first Sunday of every month we have a Come and Try day where newcomers and members of the public are welcome to come and paddle and share coffee and goodies afterwards.

In February, twenty of our members travelled to Sydney for Chinese New Year and had a great time. Some people even won medals! The Mum in a Boat race was the highlight for some of us who persuaded our kids to join us in the boat. We are looking forward to paddling at Ballina and Grafton regattas again this year.

Fundraising has been fun with a Pink Trivia Night raising $1000 for DAA. Our recent raffle of donated goods has raised funds for our club and we are planning a sausage sizzle at Bunnings later in the year.