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Thursday 1st August
The crew from the Hotel last night found it very hard to rise from their beds this morning, in complete contrast to Col, John and Yola, who enjoyed an early night and quiet sleep. It is Bekky's birthday and despite paying a visit to EUROPe last night to see RAALPH, she is looking reasonably composed. Today we will complete a 27 kilometre ride into Daly Waters, all looking forward to the day off tomorrow.
For the first time in over 600 kilometres, Ian will not ride either Matty (due to injury) or Megs (due to fatigue). Danny's horse "Snort" has drawn the short straw for carrying Ian today. He is a ripper little horse with a heart of gold (although he tends to pull a bit for the first couple of kilometres!)
The day goes by reasonably quickly and we make camp at the Rodeo grounds close to the pub before 2.00 pm. We are all keen to go and have a quick beer and enjoy the shade of the verandah. The pub is, as always, full of tourists and a couple of locals. Bruce and Andrea run a top pub, with a top chef, great food, and heaps of different entertainment. Bruce is a regular participant in the Variety Club Bash's in the Territory, in his '67 Pontiac Parisienne.
Bruce and Dale drove into camp later in the afternoon, after having enjoyed a ten day break in Katherine as guests of Leigh and Bernie of Katherine Small Engines fame. They are both looking fit and refreshed as opposed to our mildly jaded and road-hardened appearance.
We set up a merchandise table at the pub and ran another two raffles. The CD's are really starting to move now as people hear the songs or recognise the names in the playlist. The number of golden guitars won by the artists on the album must be huge, as most of them are multiple winners of the awards given in Tamworth each year.
As everyone in Bekky's family new that she would be a the pub for her birthday, the phone at the pub was tied up by one phone call or another for most of the evening. In fact, Ian had to drag Bekky away from the phone so she could be embarrassed.
Ian had organised a surprise birthday cake at the pub, and is was brought out to the main meals area so EVERYONE could wish Bek a Happy Birthday!
After the formalities of the singing and cake cutting were out of the way, the crew each enjoyed a really nice slice of birthday sponge, especially prepared by the chef, Andrew. Andrew has cooked all over the world, and specialises in Asian cuisine, and has even won a gold medal at an international level for his culinary skills.
Friday 2nd August
Today is a designated day off! Aside from attending to horses feet and injuries, catching up on journal entries and appreciation certificates and manning the stall at the pub, everyone gets the chance to take a little time for themselves - most spend it napping if they get the chance to!
We all went back to the pub to conduct another raffle and Ian, Dan and the crew were asked to autograph the copies of the album by a number of the buyers. As people were hearing it being played on the pub sound system, they were keen to add it to their collections.
Big Dan from Maryfield was back again to see his girlfriend and catch up with his sister as well. He was on for a game of pool or two and so were our Dan and Lucas. Needless to say, it turned out to be a very long and big night for Lucas and Dan, which should make for an interesting day tomorrow. The rest of the crew filtered out to bed over the course of the evening, aware of the fairly long ride again tomorrow.
Saturday 3rd August
Bruce and Dale stayed back at Daly Waters to continue selling merchandise at the Pub whilst the rest of the crew rode about 30 kilometres down the road.
For the first time, the campfires banner was erected at the roadside, letting passing motorists know exactly where we were camped.
Everyone except Ian returned to Daly Waters to continue fundraising with raffles and merchandise sales, whilst he kept an eye on the horses.
John, Yola, Col, Liz and Bek came back to camp a little earlier than Dan and Lucas – and John and Yola played a little trick on the boys. They took the banner down, and of course the boys missed the turn into the campsite – and continued about 10 kilometres down the road before they realised that they had overshot the turn!
Sunday 4th August
Dunmara Roadhouse today, which is an easy 20 kilometre ride. This gave us plenty of time to talk to anyone who wanted to pull up for a chat.
When we arrived we were pleasantly surprised to find a nice paddock at the rear of the roadhouse, as well as a nice camping area, hot showers, swimming pool and free washing machine!
Lucas borrowed Dan’s car to run back up the road to Daly Waters to pick up Rochelle from the bus. We originally met Rochelle in Darwin, when she served Ian as he was selecting his new boots. The next time the team caught up with her was Katherine show and rodeo, and as she was coming through to Mt Isa at the same time as we planned and is handy with horses, Rochelle was invited to share a ride.
All the horses are travelling well at this time – including the "babies" Reg and Bundy from Bunda Station. Dan has been doing the roadwork with both the horses. Matty’s leg is responding well to the water treatment and the course of penicillin has done its job.
Met a lovely couple from Warrnambool, Victoria, Alan and Chris. Alan is a foundation member of the Longreach Stockman’s Hall of Fame. They bought a copy of the "Trail of Dreams" CD and got it signed by the entire crew. They mentioned they may catch up with us Mt Isa Rodeo…
The riders had a quick photo shoot at the windmill across the road from the roadhouse on dusk – the pictures came out pretty good as well!
Monday 5th August
Early start this morning as Tony Moran from the DPI was arriving at dawn to spray the horses for tick. Once the spraying was out of the way, another thirty-odd kilometre section was embarked upon.
The destination was a roadside camp on Hayfield Station. Very sandy track into camp, and no water, but good shade and plenty of firewood.
Bruce and Ian went out to see if they were able to knock a ‘roo for dog meat as there were quite numerous tracks about, however, there were none to be found – maybe another day.
Dan, Col, Lucas and Rochelle headed back into Dunmarra to do some more fundraising, and returned a little worse for wear… A fair amount of singing took place at 2.00am – with Col leading the way!
Tuesday 6th August
A bit of a shock for Ian this morning, finding that termites had been working under his swag during the night. This explained the odd noises he had heard when he rolled over to the left during the night!
The riders covered about 30 kilometres to the first campsite on Newcastle Waters Station. Newcastle Waters is owned by Consolidated Pastoral Company (one of Kerry Packer’s many companies) and is 10,000 square kilometres in size. For those used to working in acres – 2.2 million acres!! The station has some 40 full time employees, ranging from the manager, to stockmen, governess’, mechanic, bore runners and ringers.
The bore on which we camped had a large turkeys nest that was full of water and one old (and now unused) windmill. There was plenty of pick for the horses on the turkeys nest and of course plenty of nice drinking water therein.
John and Yola went to organise the agistment of the horses for the next four days, as we had planned to drive the 900 kilometres to Mt Isa for the rodeo on the weekend. Upon their return the news was quite good. We could use another bore on the property, and we would need to rely on our generators for power. Bruce and Dale would be left to feed and care for the horses whilst the rest of the team did the run to The Isa.
Donna, wife of the station mechanic, had offered to come and ride with us to show us the way to the next bore, which was a comfort, as we would be riding across the huge paddocks of the property to get there. Donna looks after the recreation area at the station, looking after the social aspects for visitors to the station, and also the station staff.
We got some good footage of the scenery around the bore and some of the wildlife that is found in the immediate area.
Wednesday 7th August
A little late in heading out this morning. Donna arrived with her two little boys, which Bek looked after with her usual aplomb, whilst Donna acted as guide.
What an amazing ride and an eye opener this day turned out to be. Most of the roads in the Northern Territory are built on the watershed. This is a rocky and generally wooded escarpment that runs down and across the Territory, and is what most tourists see for the long drive between Alice Springs and Darwin. Amazingly, there are massive tracts of black soil plains, with grasses growing waist deep, at times only one kilometre from the road!
Donna guided us first to one bore, then to another, and finally to our destination bore. This time there was no turkeys nest, only a tank and diesel powered water pump from the bore. The bore is known as Spell Bore, and this is where the Newcastle Waters Campdraft and Rodeo is held. There are toilet and shower facilities here, great yards and even two bucking chutes!
The Isa was not waiting for anyone, so the crew heading across piled into the two four wheel drives and struck out on the 1800 kilometre round trip. As we were leaving late in the afternoon, we were going to be pushing to make it to Isa before midnight.
As it turned out, by 1:00am everyone was pretty much exhausted by the time we reached Camooweal, so the decision was made to unroll the swags at the racecourse and sleep for what remained of the night – ready for an early start to The Isa first thing in the morning.
Thursday 8th August
Bruce and Dale busied themselves back at the Spell Bore, cleaning refrigerators, making a temporary shower at the borehead (the water coming out of the bore is quite warm), feeding the horses, catching up with the stockmen at the yards, fixing rugs and observing the birdlife around the bore.
Meanwhile, the crew in Mt Isa were hitting the telephones, streets and stores, all seeking information and people who could help with events in Mt Isa when we return in late September. Permission also had to be organised to fundraise at the different rodeo venues, such as the showgrounds proper, and at the bullfighting arena (more on bullfighting later).
Without the assistance of Russell Green, the whole exercise would have been a much harder task. Russell was able to guide us to the correct people to speak to with regards to the rodeo and also undertook to give us a hand with the publicity side of things over the course of the rodeo.
We picked up the waiting shipment of merchandise that Warwick Phegan had organised from Albury - Lucas controls merchandise orders and was really sweating on this one, as most of the merchandise had been sold and we had brought what little was left with us from the Territory.
In the evening we decided to get some video of the "Mailman Express" an event named after Wally Mailman, a famous horseman, drover and stalwart of the Mt Isa Racing Club. The Mailman Express is a 200 metre sprint from a running start, open to non-thoroughbred horses, run through electronic-eye timers, one horse at a time.
It was an event that turned out to be huge, not so much for fundraising, but just the sheer number of spectators. The locals told us that there were more people at this event than would turn out to any normal raceday! About 40 horses were entered in the winner-take-all event, mostly from quality quarterhorse stock (although the breeding of some of the starters may have been a little dubious).
All in all, it was a great evening’s entertainment, with the serious contenders covering the 200 metres in the 11 second range. The final winner covered the distance in an astounding 10.7 seconds, some 0.3 seconds faster than the next quickest horse!
We adjourned to bed for the evening, planning the next days activities for fundraising at the Mardis Gras street parade event tomorrow night.
Friday 9th August
Bruce and Dale, still at Spell Bore, fed up the horses and headed up to the old Newcastle Waters township with a small amount of merchandise, hoping to do a little fundraising. Before they headed back to camp they did a quick run into Elliott to get some fuel for the generator, as the supply was running a little low and the fridge's definitely needed to be kept cold.
Back in Mt Isa, things were moving fairly quickly as time raced by. We managed to arrange appointments with the mayor, Jim McCollough, to discuss the likelihood of a street parade and civic welcome, and we also caught up with Oliver at the Irish Club, who should be able to assist us with a suitable venue for a live show on our return.
During all the running around, Mardi Gras was catching up to us fast. We had to get the float and merchandise stand set up early, as the road through town was going to be closed and vehicular access restricted to the area we needed to be. We had a great spot that was easy to find; right under the Royal Flying Doctor Service plane that can be seen from the bridge coming through town.
We also had permission to collect during the Mardi Gras Parade, which basically closes down Mt Isa as throngs of people gather, both locals and visitors, to watch the colourful and entertaining floats pass. The crowd was huge, and we wouldn’t have been surprised if there were more than 20,000 people in attendance.
The Patrol was set up to do the parade and Bek drew the short straw to look after the stall, whilst Rochelle got the job as driver in the parade. Dan, Barto, Yola, Colin and Lucas all shook tins along the parade route and Ian jostled with the crowd at the corner Barkly Highway corner taking video of the parade.
After the parade finished, everyone headed to the stall area, with the exception of Ian and Bek, who headed to the bullfighting to deliver the pre-written spiel to Russell Green, who was already getting fired up. Russell was not really in the mood to receive urgent messages, delivered at great risk by clambering up the outside of the scaffolding supporting the announcers box. Still, it was a great spot to pick a space to video the bullfights from, and within minutes a vantage point was taken with an excellent view of the proceedings.
Bullfighting in Mt Isa is undertaken by the best rodeo clowns in the country, and they each have around 70 seconds to demonstrate their daring, skill and control in "fighting" a bull which would normally be used in bullriding competition.
The bulls are released from a normal bucking chute, with bucking rope in place, onto the arena where the bullfighter awaits. A couple of the ranker bulls needed no provocation at all to attempt to run down the bullfighter, whilst a couple of the other bulls were simply not interested.
Some daring techniques were displayed throughout the night, with only one real casualty, when one of the more senior bullfighters was cleaned up and knocked unconscious by the rankest of the bulls.
Saturday 10th August
No wind at the Spell Bore today so Dale and Bruce had a good chance for doing the washing, and cleaning the dust out of the van that had accumulated from the stock being mustered nearby, and the non-stop wind. A little later, a couple from Elliott arrived, along with another couple from Port Lincoln; they had come for a look at the bore and after they had talked a while about the ride, made a $50 donation. Yet another willy-willy, just before dusk, put dust throughout the van all over again...
At The Isa, the rodeo was getting into full swing with the second go around for most of the events, and a couple of the finals being run. Bek, Ian, Dan, Lucas, Col, Yola and John shared the load between shaking the tin at the entrance gate, manning the merchandise stall, and selling stubby holders and caps around the arena. At different times, Dan, Ian, Bek or Rochelle shot off to take some video or digital shots of the rodeo, especially some of the more spectacular events. If anyone reading this has not seen a "Wild Horse Race" then you have certainly missed out on one heck of an event. Basically, a team of three men attempt to hold, subdue, saddle and ride a wild horse, once it has been released from the bucking chute. This is one event not for the faint hearted, as more than one cowboy has copped a kick or strike to some critical part of his anatomy during the process!
We met Alan and Chris from Victoria again, just as they had promised us a few days ago at Dunmarra - they were looking for some apparel in sizes that we did not have at Dunmarra, and thankfully, the new shipment included exactly what they were after.
Amazingly, we sold almost half of our new supply of vests after the sun went down. The cooler night time conditions meant that some spectators were looking for a little extra warmth, and we had just the ticket!
Once the rodeo had concluded, the team enjoyed a couple of refreshing drinks at the Ute Show, which featured two great live bands, and proved excellent entertainment.
After a long, tiring and apparently successful day, everything was packed up into the horse float and the team put their heads down for a well earned rest!
Sunday 11th August
The team at Mt Isa did much of the same as yesterday - rising reasonably early, setting everything up, selling merchandise, shaking tins at the gate of the rodeo and doing the rounds with stubby holders, vests and caps. Again there was little doubt that this one was going to be another successful day! As the supply of stubby holders dwindled, the team knew that this had indeed been an excellent exercise, well worth the long drive to and from.
Russells partner, Wendy carried the Akta-Vite Campfires Against Cancer flag in the Grand Parade, and it was awesome to see it flying around the arena in front of such a huge crowd, at such a prestigious event.
At the end of the evening, Dan shot over to Fred Brophy's Boxing Tent, to video the proceedings both outside and inside the tent. Surprisingly, the crew in the tent were more than happy to let the video be shot and even offered Danny one of the better spots to see the action. Dan reckoned the best part was the heckling from the mainly indigenous crowd. Calls such as "Aim for the middle one"... and "That's it ..punch him in the foot" and "You ain't gonna get your girlfriend back fightin' like that...now she comin back!" were favourites, especially when the challenger was on the receiving end of a bit of a flogging.
Fred's Boxing Tent is the only one left in the world, and only tours the top end of Queensland and the Northern Territory. There used to be a number of touring troupes such as Jimmy Sharman's, that used to travel to all the country shows, but these have long since become a thing of the past. If you ever get a chance to see the tent, make sure you do - it may be the only chance you get!
The team enjoyed a dinner "out" at the local services club, and then headed back to Russell Green's camp for a singalong around the campfire. Peter and Debbie Sutherland helped out with the entertainment, with Debbie performing her own rodeo songs to the delighted audience.
Back at Spell Bore, Bruce put some new shoes on the Black thoroughbred that Colin got donated; he was a little jumpy without the other horses in sight, so Matty was dragged in to keep him company.
Monday 12th August
A huge day today for the return trip to Newcastle Waters. First job was to get the float packed for the return journey, making sure all the merchandise and feed would fit was a job that only Col could do so well. He managed to get things to fit where no-one else could. Next job was to take the money for the weekend to the bank - it took about three hours to count all the notes and coins. Bek and Ian shot back to the campsite at the Showgrounds to pick up the float for the horse feed to be loaded into. By the time everything was said and done, we managed to get away from The Isa about 1.30pm, which was late considering we were supposed to meet Steve Sullivan 1000 kilometres away at the Buchanan Highway and Stuart Highway intersection at 9.30pm! Steve had arranged the donation of a slaughtered beast from Moolooloo Station where he works - which was excellent as the meat supply had almost run out.
As we had a long drive ahead of us, Danny kept the pedal down the whole way. Yola and John were left in the wake of the flying Nissan and fell a fair way behind. We stopped at Camooweal to refuel prior to heading off across the Barkly, and when we stopped again at the Barkly Roadhouse we struck another drama. Danny went to refuel his car and was chatting to the tourist at the adjacent pump - not realising he was filling his diesel tank with unleaded fuel! - It took nearly an hour and the removal of 80 litres of fuel to get the tank clear before he could start refuelling (this time with diesel) again.
We made as best time as we could, and it looked pretty grim for making the deadline for meeting Steve, so the decision was made to drop the float and feed from off the roofrack at the entrance to Spell Bore and leave Lucas, Ian and Bek with that, whilst Colin and Dan continued up the road for a further 90 kilometres to the arranged meeting point, as fast as the car would go (remembering there are no speed limits).
Meanwhile, Yola and John were having an eventful journey of their own. The strap holding the bags of chaff on their camper trailer broke. This caused three bags to fall to the roadway over a distance of about 5 kilometres, and necessitated the retrieval of the bags by turning around to find them all. They also came across a hapless motorist that had run out of fuel, and had run them to town and back again so that they could be on the road again.
As the night was getting long for all concerned, Yola and John pulled over at Renner Springs at about 2.00am for a sleep, and would make the final hour or so to camp in the morning. As they were setting up, they saw an incredible shooting star that burned right across the sky, leaving a trail of smoke and dust particles behind it.
Dan and Col had finally found Steve and were just loading the car with the donated beef when they saw the very same shooting star from about 200 kilometres distant to Yola and John! Steve had been driving up and down the Stuart Highway, keeping his eyes open for the Akta-Vite livery, whilst the boys had been doing the same thing looking for Steve.
As it turned out they ran into each other, albeit about 5 hours later, at the pre-arranged spot anyway. Steve is such a great bloke - he was going to drive the meat down to Newcastle Waters Station to get it in the coolroom there, if he had not caught the boys at that time. This would have meant a round trip of some 700 kilometres from home - and almost the whole night - talk about a champion bloke (he is originally from Wodonga too!).
It should be noted that Dan drove the entire 1000 kilometres after a full on weekend of fundraising, and in the teams exhausted state, some of the things he "saw" had us all in stitches. At one point, he was convinced he'd seen a school and church hall (actually a clump of trees) and various roadworkers undertaking duties such as manning the stop/go lollipop and rolling 44 gallon drums across the road. They reckon fatigue is as bad being DUI or under the influence of drugs - all those in the car with Dan agree.
Col and Dan finally got to sleep at Dunmarra Roadhouse, 90 kilometres north of Newcastle Waters, at about 5.00am - a huge day indeed.
Tuesday 13th August
One of the stranger days of the ride so far - not part of the norm at all.
Ian, Bek and Lucas awoke on the driveway into Spell Bore, Yola and John at Renner Springs, Danny and Col at Dunmarra, and Bruce and Dale at Spell Bore proper - making the entire team spread out over 200 km's. After the events of the previous night, and communications being the way they are in these parts, we managed to get ourselves on track reasonably early.
Dan and Col awoke late (due to their early morning from yesterday), making Lucas, Bek and Ian think that something may have gone amiss. A quick check with some passing caravanners indicated that the boys were most likely still in Dunmarra, so it would be at least another hour before they showed. Lucas volunteered to jog into the bore and get Bruce (approx 8 km's) to drive out with his car to grab the float. He was lucky enough to get a lift from a road train heading in to pick up cattle from the Spell Bore yards, so four kilometres of exercise was all he got!
John and Yola had picked up Ian at the float on the way past, as they had made good time from Renner Springs and were not far behind Lucas' departure.
Needless to say, Bruce and Lucas went and picked up the float, chaff, and swags, and had returned with a full load a little while before Danny and Colin arrived belatedly.
After everyone had either eaten brunch or lunch, the riders saddled up to ride into Elliott. Most of the ride was through Newcastle Waters Station, so Dan and Col decided to let "Pherkin" and "Prince" run loose, whilst Ian opted to let one of his dogs (Missy) run for the day. All went well until "Prince" decided he would like to go back to the campsite after he had already gone about ten kilometres! The team was cantering at the time and "Prince" fell back through the mob and wasn't noticed turning until after he was out of sight! After checking with Lucas and John on the UHF, Col had decided that he would ride back and find the wayward animal.Just then - the horse appeared as a black dot in the shimmering mirage of the horizon. It took about ten minutes for the horse to make his way back to the riders at the gallop - so we could only guess how much territory he had covered since doubling back...
We rode on following directions given by Brett Craft, the manager of the station, and admired some of the stockhorses that had just come in from the cattle camps, as well as some of the Brahman calves, which would have to be some of the cutest calves out.
We were almost at Elliott when we bumped into a Toyota ute towing a set of portable yards. It turned out to be Stewart Austin and a couple of workmates from Newcastle Waters. Stewart is from Albury and was equally happy to see Yola and Dan especially. We were happily talking away when Bek had to break up the meeting. The tick sprayer had to spray the horses this afternoon rather than tomorrow morning, as had been previously arranged. We had to canter the last couple of kilometres into town to our campsite - which turned out to be the local school. It was a great place to camp - warm showers, green pick for the horses and nice ground to kick the swags out on. Only one small catch - automatic sprinklers - which gave us an interesting game of hide and seek as they cycled through their program, we were busy covering or diverting the sprays so that horse feed, rugs, vehicles, washing and swags didn't get soaked!
One of the highlights of the day for Lucas was giving a local indigenous student, Harry Francis, a truck ride in 'Mobey'. This proved to be a highlight of Harry's young life, which was confirmed with his smile from ear to ear.
Wednesday 14th August
A cold, windy and interesting start to the day today. As we were camped in the school grounds, students started arriving just before we were about to saddle the horses. Most of the boys and girls at the school are indigenous Australians, and were immensely curious about the horses and our ride. The kids were great, although the Bunda Station horses, both being youngsters, were put off a little by all the attention!
Bek had the opportunity to present to the students a talk about the ride, its aims and progress so far.
The team got away at almost 9.00am and faced a dusty headwind of at least 20 kilometres per hour. This made for hard riding, trying to juggle reins, lead horses and hats wanting to part company from heads.
One of the more humourous moments of the trip thus far for Ian (and he was the only witness to this) was when nature called and he dismounted for "number ones". Whilst going, Ian's mount proceeded to follow suit and then to his amusement (and amazement), so did the horse he was leading. Imagine if you will, the three of them lined up going at once...
Anyone that says that riding day after day into a icy headwind is enjoyable has got some issues to sort out with themselves... Anyway - we made good time, covered the thirty odd kilometres and arrived at camp in the early afternoon.
Almost immediately, Colin, Dan and Lucas headed back to Dunmarra to collect Colin's new horse - another buckskin that he has had his eye on for a little while. Ian had some computer work to get caught up on and Bruce busied himself around the camp attending to horse feeding and watering, as well as making sure the generator was run for at least part of the day.
Bek and Dale tidied up after lunch and managed to get a snooze in during the afternoon, whilst John and Yola headed out to Lake Woods to enjoy the sunset and wildlife that Colin, Dan and Lucas had seen last night.
Once the Dunmarra crew got back to camp, Danny immediately got busy sourcing video footage that may be used in Sara Storer and Martin Oakes' upcoming filmclip for "Trail of Dreams" - the producers are going to have a look at whatever Danny can supply and see if they can make use of it - it would be good to see a couple of shots at least thrown in. Dan finally called it a night at about 2.00am
We look forward to another two 30 kilometre days to get us into Renner Springs for Friday.
Thursday 15th August
A really cold night with strong winds. Even the water in the tanks was considerably chilled, making those who were mixing the horse food suffer aching hands - it seems we are no more immune from the cold than those down south at the moment. Ian rose late this morning, as he has a dose of a fairly nasty cold, and was late leaving camp, in the wake of Dan, Yola and Col.
There was little respite from the wind again today, and everyone riding had to hold onto their hats at least some time during the ride today. The wind gets a really good head of steam up across the open, tree-less plains, and makes riding a little less of a pleasure than it normally is.
Col's truck stopped again today - turned out to be the points, and it was fixed in good time with Bruce and John carrying out repairs (after a quick diagnosis from Ian when the riders caught up with the vehicles).
Dan, Lucas, Col and Bek drove into Tennant Creek to post the video down to Sydney, and Bek went to pick up the papers for her licence - unfortunately, there was no way she could get her NSW renewal completed before it expired, so she applied for and obtained a Northern Territory licence - with her place of residence as "Renner Springs Roadhouse, Renner Springs". It made everyone a little jealous, as she is now an "Honourary Territorian". Bit of a laugh really - and something of a souvenir of the journey!
Friday 16th August
Thirty kilometres into Renner Springs today. The ride was uneventful, apart from the last 200 metres, as there was a donkey in the paddock adjacent to the Roadhouse. For some strange reason, horses not raised with donkeys or mules, really have a strange aversion to them. Colin, Dan and Yola all had a bit of a moment with the horses they were riding and leading. Ian was pretty thankful that his horses didn't notice the donkey standing in the paddock.
When the riders arrived at the roadhouse (horses still trembling in some cases) we were told that the yards were a further 400 metres down the road. The yards are owned by Jack Chambers, a sprightly fellow almost eighty years of age. The yards feature a row of three graves close to the road, just as you ride into the yard. There are some interesting stories associated with Jack, and also with how one of the fellows, Albert Giles, came to end up in one of the three graves. The stories are many and varied, and it is a little hard to sort fact from fiction. If you want to know of any of the stories that have been relayed to us, feel free to ask Ian, Dan, Col or Lucas about old Jack at Renner Springs!
Lucas and Dan (and later Col) spent the entire afternoon into dusk helping Jack and Jack's Grandson Morgan (and his mate Tom) brand, dehorn, mark and tag about 100 head of cattle. Certainly a highlight for them doing some station work in the Territory.
For travellers reference, Renner Springs has a great little roadhouse, with good meals, facilities and some excellent history about the place scattered around. One can even take a short walk to see the actual Renner Springs that gave rise to the settlement.
Saturday 17th August
We leave Renner Springs in the knowledge that we have only 136 kilometres to go until we turn left at Three Ways and head for Queensland! Bek and Dale stayed behind at the Roadhouse and sold a fair amount of merchandise to the Army personnel who are currently based there as part of a large transport exercise between Darwin and Rockhampton in Queensland.
After the days ride, Lucas and Dan made up for a little lost time, Dan giving Lucas guitar lessons in return for Lucas teaching Dan how to become fluent in speaking Polish. It would appear that Lucas' lessons are going a little better. Whilst Ian spent a little time walking around checking out the area around the creek, especially the waterholes, where the tracks of the local animals are most prominent.
The camp was made at South Tomlinson River some 30 kilometres south of Renner Springs, where Dave and Andy came to visit for tea and a yarn. Dave and Andy work on Helen Springs Station and were full of tales of the way things were in times gone by.
Dan, Bruce and Lucas returned to Renner Springs, to relieve Bek and Dale at the merchandise stall. Yola and John headed back into Renner Springs before dinner to continue fundraising, whilst the rest of the crew yarned around the fire with Dave and Andy.
The wind came up very strong during the night and blew the campertrailer and swags around enough to disturb the sleeping occupants.
Sunday 18th August
Today we are looking forward to a 30 kilometre ride (again into a strong, cold headwind) to one of our favourite campsites so far - Banka Banka Station. Banka Banka was originally settled by Tom Nugent, the leader of the infamous "Ragged Thirteen". Tom Nugent died in 1911 and his grave is just west of the Old Telegraph Station at Tennant Creek. The station is now owned by Stanbroke Pastoral Company (a subsidiary of AMP), which also operates the adjoining stations of Helen Springs and Brunchilly. The three stations cover an area in the vicinity of 12,000 square kilometres.
The ride was a nice one, with changing landscapes from plains to the watershed, with small, jagged escarpments becoming more the norm.
The riders were treated to a spectacular display of mustering using a light plane. In the rough, yet open country, a plane can efficiently muster large numbers of cattle by swooping low over the mobs and sounding a horn or siren, pushing the cattle in the general direction of the yards, and to waiting stockmen on motorbikes or horses. In this case the motorbikes were jockied by Zac and Mandy and later Col and Danny joined on horseback - another highlight indeed, as neither Col nor Danny had experienced a large NT station muster.
Bek and Dale returned to Renner Springs to set up the stall again, but unfortunately the passing trade was a lot less than the previous two days - so not as much money raised.
Just as they returned, Janet and Graeme Whitsed from Albury arrived to catch up with us again - brilliant timing!
Our hosts for the evening, Ross, Mariann and Madelyn Morrish made us more than welcome again. A bit later in the evening the campfire was kicked into life, the guitars brought out from the truck and a great night was enjoyed by the team, caravanners, Brunchilly stock camp, Big Dave from Helen Springs and our hosts. Everyone sat around the fire enjoying singing by Dan and Janet, throwing in a few numbers that were good singalongs. Zac, one of the stockmen from Brunchilly, told a couple of good yarns, and Ian finally got a handle on the poem "I'm the Man", a parody of The Man From Snowy River.
Banka Banka has been operational as a camping ground for around twelve months. The site boasts great hosts, grassed camping grounds, some of the purest spring water in the Territory, clean and hot showers, a small kiosk, scenic walks and a waterhole, and welcomes controlled pets. The only minor drawback is the lack of powered sites! At present, the orgininal mud brick homestead is being rebuilt to house a small museum, licenced kiosk and shaded eating area beneath the old verandah.
A great place to stay if visiting the Tennant Creek area.
Monday, 19th August
Another 30 kilometre day today from Banka Banka to Attack Creek - where Stuart's first north-south crossing attempt failed. Stuart was a tenacious fellow, as his second crossing attempt also failed - this time near what is now Daly Waters. It wasn't until his third attempt that he finally succeeded; as they say, "If at first you don't succeed…"
The first job for the day was to cut up and pack the meat, kindly supplied by "Dave the Butcher" - it arrived "bush killed", complete with gum leaves as packing!
Janet Edgar joined the ride today, riding "Toppy", whilst her husband Graeme and the kids followed in the car and caravan. The scenery today was outstanding, with rocky outcrops and open plains visible throughout the day, with the ride following the road in between.
Just as the ride was finished, Donna and Mark from Newcastle Waters pulled in to say G'day. They were en route to Tennant Creek to a dentist's appointment. No sooner had they stopped, and Ross and Madelyn from Banka Banka pulled up with the soon-to-be emu enclosure on the back of their truck. It really is great up here, friends to be found almost anywhere!
Dan and Lucas went for a short drive in the afternoon to check out "Churchill's Head", one of the more photographed points of interest in the area, especially during the war. It is a rock formation with a similarity to the former British PM's profile - with a tree growing horizontally from the middle, looking remarkably like a cigar! The boys were a little disappointed, as they reckoned it needed a fair amount of imagination to see Churchill…
On their way back, they came across a road accident, yet another rollover, not far from camp. A coach was stopped and nobody was hurt so they continued on, finding Ian walking his dogs down the road. Dan said, "Go and have a look if you want - it's only about 500 metres back". As Ian was headed in that direction, it seemed reasonable to go and see what had happened - only one small problem - it was more like 5 kilometres than 500 metres… Needless to say that after about 20 minutes of walking, Ian had noticed the lights around the scene in the distance and decided that it was not that important to investigate.
Tuesday, 20th August
Today is the day we go for the daily distance record. Three Ways (where we turn left to head towards Queensland) is forty-seven kilometres distant, and we aimed to cover that, backing up after several thirty kilometre days.
The plan of attack was to ride one horse until lunchtime - about 27 kilometres - and then change mounts to a fresh horse and complete the final 20 kilometres. The plan worked without a hitch and the horse riders enjoyed a big but rewarding days ride. The vehicle crew did not have such a great day, with Col's truck providing quite a few minutes of grief with fuel problems (a job for Ian to have a look at tomorrow).
The reason for making a quick push to Three Ways is to allow Colin, Lucas and Dan a chance to zip down to the Devil's Marbles and Uluru (Uluru is a two thousand kilometre round trip from Three Ways) to see "The Rock" and promote the ride through the red centre, whilst Bek, Ian, Bruce, Dale, John and Yola will stay and take care of the horses and do some fundraising at the Roadhouse and caravan park.
There will be a chance for each of the crew remaining in Three Ways to do a bit of sightseeing when not otherwise occupied, so Tennant Creek will be on the agenda as the prime destination!
The boys headed off before sunset to try and knock over a few kilometres toward the rock so as to maximise the time they had to see the sights. They made about 100 kilometres south of Alice Springs and pulled up for a kip about 2.30am!
Wednesday, 21st August
Everyone remaining at Three Ways enjoyed an overdue sleep in this morning. After the horses were fed, Bruce, Dale, Ian and Bek headed to Tennant Creek to pick up a shipment of merchandise that had just arrived from Albury. It was also an opportune time to check for expected mail and track down a few odds and ends that had broken or worn out since Katherine.
At the freight depot, they were amazed to see a long-billed Corella, who was very proficient in the English language, and very tame to boot. "Otto" had been hanging around the yard for quite a few years and evidently is very friendly with one of the dogs there as well (they used to share a pen together, so the dog was out of the way of all the freight trucks!)
It became more apparent, as time went by, that Kay Eade from Telstra had been doing a mighty job in promoting the Telstra function at Three Ways on Saturday night. Almost all the shopkeepers in town knew of the event, and welcomed the Campfires crew with open arms.
After lunch at the Memorial Club (RSL), Bruce, Dale, Ian and Bek took in a mine tour at the Visitors Centre. Their guide, Colin, was well versed in the mining industry, as he had been mining in the area since 1963! He originally came to the Territory as head stockman at Dunmarra Station in 1959, bringing with him a string of horses from Queensland. He later married, and he and his wife moved to Daly Waters, where his wife managed the Post Office.
John and Yola had a good day at the merchandise stall, raising around $300.00, and looked forward to their day of sightseeing tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Dan, Lucas and Col continued on their journey, turning right at Urldunda Roadhouse and deciding then and there to take an alternative return route to take in the breathtaking King's Canyon. Never one's to miss an opportunity, they booked in for a scenic flight over Mt Connor, Uluru and the Olga's at Curtin Springs Roadhouse.
They arrived at the rock about 1.30pm and had to make quick time to the top so that they could be back to catch the scenic flight. The advice given at the bottom of the rock is to allow two hours to climb the rock and take at least two litres of water. The road hardened boys managed the climb in forty minutes, consuming one can of diet Coke each!
Dan carried his two good stockwhips to the pinnacle cairn, stood on top and did quick rendition of the "Sydney Flash" (a whip trick NOT performed naked). Col and Lucas followed suit - they all now have something to tell their grandkids, although Col will be the first to do that!
After "dismounting" the rock, the boys headed back to Curtin Springs for their flight, and enjoyed an hour and a half of awesome scenery including the impressive colour changes of the rock during sunset. Dan even had the chance to take the controls of the plane and fly until the last moments of final approach to the landing strip.
After a very exciting day, the boys made it back to Curtin Springs for camp and had a bit of a sing with fellow travellers around the campfire.
Thursday, 22nd August
Yola and John headed into Tennant Creek today and enjoyed the day of sightseeing. Bruce, Dale and Bek set up the stall.
Ian, as promised, went to work on Col's truck, finding three problems contributing to the fuel starvation issue - all electrical… As he was getting close to finishing, Liz Copeman from Darwin arrived with some signage for the vehicles, a flash new price-list, and a neato sandwich board for the roadside.
Liz and Bek manned the stall in the afternoon, with Ian lending a hand at the last after sorting out the truck problems.
Lucas, Col and Dan had an early start and made tracks toward King's Canyon, which they also climbed. Col would not go within Coo-ee of the edge, but Dan and Lucas made very careful progress toward the ledge and peered over. The drop is actually an overhang, making doubly as scary to anyone with vertigo or a fear of heights. It was at this time that Col decided it was all too much for him and left Lucas and Dan to their own devices for the next two hours. Upon their return, Col was making up his swag in the carpark.
They left the canyon, and had to traverse a fairly savage track across Aboriginal land, to head back to Alice Springs. During this time they spotted some wild camels (Australia has the biggest population of wild camels in the world), hit four kangaroos (the second taking out the air conditioning), completely blew a tire, and almost collided with a brumby that crossed the road from the scrub right in front of them. After all the wildlife adventures, the boys made it to within 200 kilometres of Three Ways, before calling it a night.
Friday, 23rd August
Bek has decided to return home, due to personal reasons. Ian accompanied her to Tennant Creek to organise a bus ticket and to take in the Old Telegraph Station, prior to returning to pack. The bus is scheduled to leave at 10:45 pm, so there is plenty of time.
Bruce and Dale were reasonably busy at the merchandise stall, where CD's were the flavour of the day, in contrast to the previous days, when apparel seemed to be the more desired items.
Dan, Lucas and Col visited the Devil's Marbles and were suitably impressed by the rock formations, before knocking over the last 100 kilometres to Three Ways. However, they managed more bad luck when they ran out of diesel just 20 kilometres south of Tennant Creek, after managing three thousand kilometres in three days (not on a single tank though!). As luck would have it, Dan called Ian as he was on his way to town with Bek, so arrangements were made to pick Dan up at the service station and run him back to the stranded vehicle.
The vehicle was quickly refuelled, but refused to start due to an airlock. A couple of quick turns with a spanner on the injector pump (and an acid burn on Ian's arm), the car was happily running again.
Kay and Stewart from Telstra arrived in the afternoon, and busily set about getting things organised for tomorrow evenings entertainment.
Yola, John, Dan, Lucas and Col headed to town to do some fundraising in the local hotels, and indulge in some Chinese food (a VERY rare thing in this part of the country!).
Ian ran Bek into town to catch the bus, and Dan, Col, Lucas and Liz came to see her off in the best fashion. It was very sad to see her leave, and the team will miss her contribution sorely.
Saturday, 24th August
The camp seemed somewhat quieter without Bek around.
The main jobs today are to get everything in place for the Telstra function this evening. Signage needed to be placed, barbeques and bar set up, seating arranged - all the usual stuff for a band, drinks and entertainment.
Col, Lucas, Liz, John and Yola manned the stall at the front of the Roadhouse and sold a fair amount of stock.
Kaye had done a fantastic job organising the night, the band "X-country" from Alice Springs, were first rate and put on an excellent show. The numbers of patrons were down a little on what was expected, with only about fifty people coming (we understood there was about three competing functions in Tennant that night, which would explain the low patronage), however, we still managed to raise $4000.00. The charity auction went along way toward that and Col probably got the buy of the night.
He managed to secure (for his grandson) a Gray-Nicholls cricket bat, signed by … wait for it … the entire Australian, New Zealand, and Sri Lankan cricket teams from the 1987-8 Benson and Hedges One Day Series. The price - dirt cheap at $312.00!!
Heaps of merchandise sold at the stall - adding to the total, with vest being very popular as the cool wind came in again and made the campfire the centre of attention later in the evening (or was that earlier in the morning?)…
Sunday, 25th August
The team's last day at Three Ways, before striking out across the Barkly…
First job of the day (after the obligatory horse feeding) was to clean up the mess from last night's function, mainly cans, bottles and plates. Bruce attended to the collection and stacking of the hay bales, and by 11.00am all was looking as though the function hadn't been there at all.
Another one of those strange moments, when a reality check really takes place, occurred later in the day. Bruce, Dale and Ian left to take in a couple more of the sites around Tennant Creek and stopped to take in the old overland telegraph station. As Ian had already visited a couple of days previous with Bek, he busied himself with fixing a car speaker and sending some campfire emails. It is interesting to think that only seventy years prior, the overland telegraph was the main link for Australia to the rest of the world (14 hours for a message from England to Australia); and here was Ian sending messages via a mobile telephone, almost instantaneously, to the rest of the world.
Dan took Les (who works at the Roadhouse, and was previously working at the Blue Heeler, Kynuna when we were on our way up!) and Lucas for a ride to the dam which supplies the water for the roadhouse. The ride was around 20 kilometres - the longest that Lucas has ridden so far. Needless to say, he was walking in a fashion to the late and great John Wayne (not to be confused with the still living John Wayne Bobbit…)
Yola and John went exploring and saw some really beautiful country. One of the local lads, Wylie, (who is currently battling leukemia), took Col and Liz mud bashing in his very modified Jeep. Col reckoned that had never seen a vehicle get so bogged in his life! We had met Weule (Wylie) at the function the previous night, and he wanted the last belt buckle we had for display purposes. Needless to say, he could have it no worries. The team wishes Weule all the best for his treatment and a very speedy recovery.
Monday, 26th August
Col woke up early this morning - so early that everyone reckons he mistook the full moon for the sun! Bruce met him in the shower just after 6.00am, and was really surprised to find that the horses had already been fed. Yola got out of bed, and half-asleep, started mixing horse food - before she realised that the horses were about to be fed for a second time!
"Take the first left!" - Our next leg of the ride sees us travelling east across the Barkly Highway toward Queensland. The sign on the left said "Camooweal - 460 kilometres"… something to look forward to!
There are two recognised centres between Three Ways and Camooweal, Barkly Homestead - some 187 kilometres distant, and Avon Downs, a further 215 kilometres after that! Even more impressive is that there seems to be only about a dozen small hills in the entire journey!
Another 30 kilometre ride today, and Yola elected to let Lil go without her Old Mac's boots. Lil's feet are so hard from not wearing shoes that there was very few signs of wear on her hooves afterward.
After lunch, Dan, Lucas, Col, John and Yola headed into Tennant Creek to organise the food (both horse and human) for the trip across the Barkly Highway. Our new pledge pamphlets were also mailed out, before Liz was farewelled on the bus headed back to Darwin later in the evening.
Tuesday, 27th August
The roadside vegetation is dry, although the local wattle is blooming - the scrubby bush has a charm all its own. The thirty kilometres today was long and straight, with only the odd rise and fall in the road to ease the monotony.
Col, Lucas and Danny returned to Tennant Creek this afternoon after another of John's great lunches, so that Colin could officially gain his Northern Territory truck drivers licence. Lucas had to get busy beforehand though, making sure that all Colins truck lights were functional before fronting up at the Department of Motor Transport. Col got his licence! The boys were a little late to get back (after almost forgetting to fill the water tanks on their way out of town), and missed out on a camp-oven roast chicken dinner.
Wednesday, 28th August
Today was the dogs day out! Col let his Coolie-cross "Barra" out for a run, as did Ian with "Red", his heeler. Both of them had a great run until the forty-one mile bore, where they returned to the relative comfort of the trailers - then it was "Tammy's" (John's Kelpie) turn. This was a bit of a mistake as she got tired very quickly and was difficult to coax along. We suspect that her speying has caused the lack of motivation. The Army came to the rescue in the form of a six-wheel landrover. A couple of soldiers, seeing the distressed dog (and the equally distressed Yola) stopped and gave her a lift to the new campsite. It turned out that the soldiers are from the same company as Dan "Diesel" O'Neill, Tammy Phegan's (Dan's sister) fiance in Darwin! - Yet more proof that the world is indeed a small place!
There was a little trouble with the trucks and big trailer at camp, as the soil was very sandy once the hard crust was broken, resulting in Moby getting bogged, along with the trailer. Shortly after Moby and the trailer were extracted (using John's troopie and Dan's Patrol), Col became stuck in his truck as well! Just as well, as we could get video of this extraction in process…
Dan and Lucas had to head back to town to post some more pledge brochures, and managed to make it back for tea this time!
Thursday 29th August
A beautiful start to the day this morning - only a hint of a breeze and nice, cool air. Today is yet another 30 kilometre run, as camping areas big enough for the Campfires outfit are few and far between, and we don't readily want a repeat of yesterday afternoons shenanigans.
Ian was a little late leaving camp as Meggs was slow in eating his feed. This turned out to be a good thing, as Ian found Dan's sunscreen that had fallen out of his pocket a little way down the road.
Ron, who had seen the team at Mount Isa rodeo, pulled up with some travelling companions and shot a little video and made a kind donation - including some delicious home-made biscuits.
What little breeze there was earlier, quickly disappeared. This meant that the horses would not cool as quickly and therefore sweated more obviously. Everyone took things a little easier today than the past two, due to the absence of the cooling winds. It is not at all hot yet, so the summer further south will start to test our mettle a bit.
Col had a minor oops today when he was almost to the new camp (there has even been a poem written about it!) He was leading Bub by the end of the leadrope, allowing both his ridden horse and Bub to graze, some way out into the roadside scrub. As he was walking along, Bub went the opposite side of a tree to Colin, causing Colin to drop the rope. As he gained freedom, the horse whinnied to no-one in particular. By chance, Ian was riding along the road not too far away, and his horse returned the whinny.
On hearing the reply, Bub took off, leaving Col to gather his reins and set off in pursuit on Prince (the former Darwin racehorse). Meanwhile, Ian was walking along on Meggs, leading Reg, oblivious to all that was happening, until he saw Col and his horses tearing out of the scrub. Bub did not see Meggs, but turned onto the roadside clearing about 20 metres behind him - and immediately turned and galloped in the direction of last nights camp - followed closely by Colin…
As Ian realised that there was no way his mount could keep with the quickening pace shown by Bub, he sat and watched as Colin took a little over two kilometres to close the distance and finally catch the wayward Bub. The road here is straight and flat, so until the rider disappears into a mirage, one can see almost everything.
A little while later, Colin caught up to Ian, thanking his lucky stars that he had a horse quick enough to run down the tall and powerful buckskin. Both horses were well and truly lathered in sweat - and Colin thought it only fair that Bub carry him the rest of the way to camp, seeing that he was so full of energy!
Col's oops was only small compared with that evidenced by the skid and scrape marks on the bitumen not far from camp. Apparently (from the wheel tracks) an eastbound road train driver had gone to sleep and veered off the left side of the road, waking when he hit the first table drain the rig came to. This was enough to jolt him/her to their senses and hit the skids, causing the whole outfit to slide across the road, swapping ends and rolling the prime mover! It is pretty scary to see a second set of skid marks (one of the trailers) about 30 metres after the first set!
This campsite has much more solid footing than yesterdays, although the entry is narrow, there is plenty of pick for the horses and a little shade to keep them out of the afternoon sun. The advance party did well to get everything set up before the riders arrived.
Everyone is pitching in to re-organise the storage of horse feed and merchandise this afternoon, after John spent a heap of time in Dan's truck yesterday, putting the food and utensils in a better storage order. Dan had his tools out, replacing both batteries on his truck, as one in particular had been giving some starting grief for quite some time.
Friday 30th August
We set off this morning on what will probably be our last "late" start. The days have become significantly warmer over the past three or four, and the wind far less cooling.
It is almost time to rise really early and be on the road by about 4-5.00am to keep the horses comfortable more so than the riders. The horses perspire a lot to keep cool, and with no drying breeze, they sweat and get very wet during the day, especially those with heavier riders.
It is difficult to find roadside camps along this section of the Barkly, so instead of our scheduled twenty-five kilometre days, we have been covering thirty, as it appears that the best spots to get off the roadway are exactly that far apart.
All the warnings given to motorists about outback travel seem to be well warranted. It is truly amazing to see how many sets of skidmarks leave a perfectly straight section of bitumen. Another grim reminder passed us today on the back of a tow truck. A four wheel drive and caravan, obviously much the worse for wear after a roll-over, were on and behind the tow truck, and the people at Barkly roadhouse told us they had been out to two roll-overs on the highway just two days ago!
John, Yola and Lucas headed the forty odd kilometres into Barkly roadhouse to do some fundraising amongst the caravanners and folks passing through. After quite a successful evening, they raised just on $600 for their efforts. Col and Dale filled in as camp cooks tonight and produced an excellent meal.
Saturday 31st August
A hectic day for the crew today as we are approaching Barkly Roadhouse. Bruce and Dale, after locating a suitable place to stop for lunch, continued on to set up the stall at the Roadhouse. Meanwhile John and Lucas prepared a nice lunch for the riders, who arrived in the heat of the day at about 12.30 pm. Dan, Col, Ian and Lucas headed into the roadhouse to measure the exact distance to make a final decision on whether to stay put at the current site, or to ride on later in the afternoon to Barkly.
Given that it turned out to be just 17 kilometres, the decision was taken to head out on the horses again at about 3.30pm, so the riders would make their destination before 6.00pm.
Upon arriving back at the roadside stop, the boys found some visitors speaking with John and Yola. Tim, Rachael, Sam and Josh had called in en route from Tennant Creek, where Sam had just been released from hospital after being a bit crook. Tim and Rachael head up a contract mustering outfit presently working on Mittiebah Station, northwest of Camooweal. They had just given a generous donation and were heading off back to Mittiebah, electing not to stop at Barkly for a 21st birthday party, as Sam was still a little ill.
The riders saddled up and made good time to Barkly, although the horses again sweated easily due to the warmer conditions.
There was a group of travellers camped at the roadhouse with various veteran and antique cars, including a Morris Ute and an FE Holden - to the teams surprise, they all came from down fairly close to home; places like Wangaratta and Jerilderie!
After getting freshened up the crew went into the roadhouse to do some fundraising, and were very surprised to meet up with Tim, Rachael, Sam, Josh, and the remainder of the mustering team! Rachael and Sam were very keen to organise a few people from surrounding stations to come and ride into Camooweal with us - which should be fantastic.
After explaining the ongoing predicament with Matty (and his injured leg), Rachael and Tim offered to loan a horse to Ian for the remainder of the ride. They are also happy to take Matty and look after him until Ian is able to return and exchange horses again after the completion of the ride. Truly nice people!
The twenty-first kicked on late into the night, and the number of people partying was very surprising, given the distances to travel and the remoteness of the area.
It was great to have a long and interesting conversation with three aboriginal workers, also from Mittiebah Station. Darren, and Raphael were brilliant fun and provided willing information on much of their local culture and customs, especially local bush tucker and cooking techniques for bush game. The three unlucky blokes had to make the 330 kilometre return trip to the station in the back of a ute, as vehicles heading back out that way are in short supply.
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