Archery is the national sport of Bhutan, but that wasn’t the only reason I wanted to try it while I was living there. I’ve loved the stories of King Arthur, Robin Hood and the Three Musketeers since I first heard them decades ago so I have always wanted to try fencing and archery. I looked into learning fencing while I was living in Europe, but the training centres were in inconvenient suburbs and I couldn’t justify buying a car solely to get to lessons. Bhutan might have been my chance to learn archery, but I only ever saw people shooting the full 150m distance to the target and there was very little room for error. I decided that the safety of onlookers was more important than my desire to try my hand at a bow and arrow.
Nathan Ward, an American friend in Bhutan, and I did try in his back yard one afternoon. We’d bought traditional equipment from the Thimphu markets and aimed at plants on the side of the hill from 5m away. I missed every shot by about a metre and then found that the tips had come off my arrows and lodged in the dirt. Bhutanese friends had told me to attach them with melted sugar and even then I wondered if they were having me on.
My wish came true four years later. Fiona gave me lessons as a present last christmas. It’s turned out to be a great sport for us to do together as it has no gender bias. Accuracy is more about balance and co-ordination than strength or speed. Last weekend, after a few lessons, we both passed our qualification test. We had to score 450 out of a possible 900 points by shooting ninety arrows at a target from 20m and we both cracked 600. Now we can practise whenever we like. Since neither of us are really into team sports, this is another opportunity to join the Aussie outdoor sporting culture in our own way.