The first ever Australian Red Bull Flugtag was a huge success and local team the Flamin Galahs had a great time.

“A wheel fell off when we were about to launch down the ramp, so that made things interesting. As soon as I was over the edge, it went down fairly quickly,” Ben Johnstone said.

Before take off, the teams had to do a 20 second dance routine.

“The Galah took up so much room that we couldn’t position ourselves like we wanted to. It was a lot of fun, that’s for sure,” Ben said.

The “Flying machines”, as they were euphemistically called, ranged from a Lego bi-plane, to an ACME rocket and giant box-kite, which predictably plummeted into the Harbour to great cheers from the crowd.

Flamin Galah pilot Ben Johnstone thought the giant bird would fly a little better than she did.

“As soon as I was off the ramp the Galah started to go upside down. I ended up on top of it and as I crashed to the water I totally smashed it.”

Flamin Galah team mates got into the spirit of the day. Two dressed up as giant eggs and two in bird costumes.

While there were some spectacular falls, there were also some flights of fancy, including Sam Becomes A Man, who glided to 18.2m beneath a tarpaulin wing, and Eagle Boys, a giant pizza slice (with extra cheese) that reached 13.7m.

Although Australia’s premiere event fell short of the 60m Red Bull Flugtag record set in Austria, length isn’t the only thing that matters when it comes to these flying machines. The clever, crafty and downright crazy contraptions were judged yesterday on their creative merit, with Temora Supermariners impressing the judges the most with their mean looking Grey Nurse WWII omber.

While it looked like Sam Becomes A Man were going to be hard to beat, a motley crew of mullet-wearing fishermen reeled in a victory with their giant flying flounder. Although the fish swam better than it flew, the flounder proved to be an all rounder and took the crown.