|
Sunday, 1st December
Everyone was up at 5.45am this morning, making the most of 2 and a half-hours sleep.
After what seemed like the longest thirty five kilometres of the ride so far, we finished up at a campsite at what appeared to be a deserted property called Willara, after locating the owner (who lived at the adjoining property) we set up camp at the stockyards with owners consent, although his cows made pests of themselves, as with all the movement around the yards they were expecting a feed.
Dan, Col and Lucas returned to Miles to fix up the drinks bill for the concert at the Queenslander Hotel and then returned to Condamine Hotel for our function and fundraiser night. Yola, John, Ian and John Windle were waiting when the boys arrived back and chipped in to help Dan set up his gear. Dan did a show that had many of the locals that had come in to support us up and dancing; some had even been in Miles the night before and seen Dan play at the concert!
Whilst at the Hotel, we met Richard Miles, who grew up in Tumbarumba. It turned out that Richard knew Yola but when he and Ian went looking for her, they discovered that Yola had left for the evening and had headed back to camp. More proof that it is indeed a small world!
After a long, looong day, the team hit the sack at about 3.00am for the second day running.
Monday, 2nd December
Everyone was up and on the move at 6.30am, and most were noticing the lack of sleep a little at this stage.
Today was a very long and tiring day for Dan, Col, Lucas and John Windel. After completing the 35 kilometre ride and setting up camp at Ian Cameron’s property Boongalla, the boys set of to Dalby to collect a couple of pallets of donated feed from down south. When they arrived, they found SEVEN pallets of feed weighing in at close to 5 tonnes – way too much for them to pick up with just the Patrol and float. After filling the float and loading another 300 odd kilo’s on the roof, the lads set off back to Miles to pay any outstanding accounts for Saturday nights function.
They stopped in for a while at the Condamine Hotel and again enjoyed the convivial atmosphere that seems to saturate the place, and finally returned to camp at about midnight.
Pip Cox’s friend Carmel arrived in camp this afternoon after driving all the way across to see us.
Ian had just finished helping feed the horses for the final evening feed when Ian Cameron drove up in what appeared to be the worlds oldest Land Rover (and sounded somewhat like it as well, with a massive exhaust manifold leak making the vehicle sound like a antique two-stroke Victa at full noise).
Ian C asked if Ian J wanted to give him a hand mustering a few head in the adjoining paddock, to which Ian declined the use of a horse as the cattle appeared to be very spooked by the mere presence of the horses in the paddock next door. It transpired that the cattle were on agistment from Birdsville and had only ever been mustered using choppers, motorbikes and four-wheel-drives.
Ian J jumped in the old Land Rover and spent the next hour being entertained by the sheer tenacity of the cattle for running in every direction and their ability to not see open gateways! Ian C did some fancy dodging of melon-holes and scrub, and by the time the sun disappeared, the cattle had been successfully moved across two paddocks. Ian invited the team up to the homestead after dinner, but most of the crew had turned in (or not returned from Condomine, as the case may be) by 8.30pm, so Ian ventured up as the sole representative.
There turned out to be a fair representation of nationalities at the homestead dinner table – François from Canada, Tim from Chicago, "Red" from the UK, Tina Cameron, Ian’s daughter and her friend Tiff’ Xavier, who was on holidays from Brisbane. Mick, the local track driver responsible for moving large bins of wheat from the property, was also in for dinner.
The Canadian and US connection were kind enough to make a $20 donation, which was fantastic. As a bizarre coincidence, Ian had been trying unsuccessfully to make an appointment for a massage since Mt Isa. Unbelievably, Tiff was a qualified masseuse, who had even bought her table out from Brisbane. Out of the blue, Tiff offered a massage, which Ian accepted immediately, knowing how hard they are to come by out this way!
Tuesday, 3rd December
For those who were not awake when Dan, Lucas, Colin and John Windel arrived home from the round trip to Dalby, a surprise awaited in the form of a huge amount of bagged feed that had arrived as donations from "Down South" – around 2.5 tonnes to be precise, which had to be moved from Dan’s car and the horse-float, into one of the trucks.
It was all hands on deck at dawn, shifting the bags, on what was already a hot and humid morning.
Yola had got away early not realising that the boys would be somewhat delayed by the reloading process, and was probably about eight kilometres up the road before Col, Ian and Dan rode out.
As the sun was already quite high, and the humidity was high as well, it was difficult to control the horses sweating, and they all had a mighty drink at the water stop about 15 kilometres along the road.
Unfortunately for Colin, today heralded another fall from his mount. Bub had a large tumble whilst cantering, somersaulting over Colin and resulting in a few bruises to both horse and rider. Again Dan was present to see the action, but did not have the opportunity to capture the image on camera for posterity! Col was pretty keen to have a lay down and rest for a while, but as he and Dan were only about an hour from camp, he decided to tough it out.
Upon arrival in Moonie, Col was spotted thigh deep in cool water, relieving the swelling that was starting to build up in his leg.
We were surprised to see a massive transformer weighing about 400 tonnes, being transported by road train. The load was so massive that three 600 horsepower prime movers (two pulling, one pushing) were required to move the transformer at 40 kilometres per hour! The special low-loader had some 160 tyres in contact with the bitumen at any one time, and each pair were hydraulically controlled! The transformer was manufactured in Brisbane, and was being transported to, of all places, Wodonga!
Dale and Bruce have recently acquired a maximum-minimum thermometer to keep track of the temperature ranges that we encounter along the ride. We had a reading today of 42 degrees Celsius, and it is quite humid as well (maybe a barometer would have been a good acquisition as well!)
Dan, Col and Lucas committed themselves last night to returning to brand the wall at the Condamine Hotel for posterity, so they set off as soon as the horses were fed, hoping to return in time to get an afternoon siesta. As it turned out that they arrived back just in time for a very late afternoon nap!
As it was so hot, Yola, Pip and Carmel headed over to the swimming pool for a dip. Ian joined them for a half-hour or so and the water was wonderfully cool and relaxing after the humid heat of the day.
More electrical gremlins have crept into Dan’s truck, as the CD player and UHF fuse has begun to blow with monotonous regularity. No real time to look at it today, but we will have to make time in the near future.
John has traded his Land Cruiser Troop Carrier in on a horse truck capable of towing a gooseneck, and has set about in earnest removing all the accessories from the Troopie before it heads back to the dealer. It was a big job, as some of the bits and pieces, such as the winch, took a fair amount of time to remove.
Wednesday 4th December
The team rode to Eric and Leigh Glasser’s property, "Belvedere", accompanied by Leigh’s daughter, Kate. Kate rode her chestnut thoroughbred and met us a few kilometres from their property and shared probably the hottest part of the day to ride…
We could smell molasses as we rode into the property and it seemed that the smell was coming from two very large plastic tanks near the machinery shed. The team learned that Eric is an agent for an animal nutritional supplement called Ani-Pro, which because of the drought, is in very high demand – and this is what was causing the aroma.
Leigh made us all feel right at home and arranged a BBQ meal later in the evening for those that would be in camp for tea.
We had some very threatening weather, but not quite rain, this afternoon. The sky was black and the wind blew up a huge amount of dust around the place – but not even a solitary spit of blessed water!
Ian and John Windle headed back up the road to Moonie to attend the local school musical night. It was a great opportunity to meet with many of the locals, with the added advantage of a home cooked supper – and can’t some of the ladies around here cook! A number of people grabbed tickets in the Bates saddle raffle, and several bought the Trail of Dreams CD as well as making very generous donations to our cause.
Col, Luke and Dan headed into Goondiwindi to collect feed from Elders, but first they had to drop off two of the injured horses at Col McTaggart’s paddock. The lads caught up with Col and organised their entries for the rodeo draw and some other details relating to the rodeo on Saturday.
After collecting the feed, they headed out to the cattle holding paddock to feed the newly acquired mob. Col, Luke and Dan arrived back in camp around 10.00pm after a long day.
Neil and Merv from Mataranka Grains, who are sponsoring our ride through their Copra Cool Fuel product, dropped in to the Glasser’s place to pay us a visit and we were very pleased and excited to meet them. They reckoned that the horses looked in excellent shape, given the miles that they had covered, and were very happy with our testimonials to the value of Cool Fuel.
Thursday 5th December
Neil and Merv had to head back to work first thing this morning, vowing to return to the ride and spend some time in the saddle with us.
It was another warm day again, and had two more riders join us today. Sally and Paige Burey met us along the way and were great to ride with. Sally used to be a member of Young Pony Club down in New South Wales a few years back. Unfortunately, Sally’s horse was not content to walk at all, and jig-jogged the first 20 kilometres or so. Paige, who is seven, put in a marvellous effort and rode the whole way on her stunning grey pony.
John Williams was due to trade his Troop Carrier in this afternoon on the horse truck over at Chinchilla. Murphy’s Law struck again – Pip was driving the vehicle after John had removed the heat exchanger for the shower, and did not notice a small water leak starting to make the engine hot. The engine blew up right next to the riders as Pip pulled up to offer drinks! It turned out to be a major engine failure, with about $5000.00 damage being caused.
The dealer was very understanding, and the exchange was made at the halfway point between Goondiwindi and Chinchilla. John Windle towed John William’s car across, where they met the dealer and the dealer then towed it back home to have the repairs effected. John Williams immediately took the new truck for a run across to Toowoomba to pick up his daughter Sandi, who is staying with us for Christmas.
Renowned Australian artist, Peter J Hill arrived this afternoon to spend a few days with the riders, gaining an understanding of the ride, so that he may do a painting or two of the riders and team. Jenny and Dave came out to camp with Peter on the creek bank.
Peter is a terrific bloke and can tell a yarn or two. His works are in demand both locally and overseas. Peter’s Australian landscape paintings are absolutely brilliant, catching many of the minute details that are easily overlooked.
Camp was set up on a creek about 20 kilometres north of Goondiwindi, which is a great spot for photo’s. The horses had to be secured so that they could not eat any of the Mother of Millions plants that proliferate the area. Mother of Millions is an extremely toxic plant to cattle and horses, and it works by breaking down the stomach wall over a period of a couple of weeks.
Dan, Lucas and Ian spent the afternoon in town putting out fliers for the rodeo and chasing sponsorship from local businesses. Mandy, Colin’s daughter, arrived in town after driving up from Albury with her two young children, Emma and Aidan. She was pulling off a surprise visit for Col’s birthday, which is on the 9th of December. Col was gobsmacked when they arrived, as it was the first time he had seen his grandson, who was born a couple of months back whilst we were on the road.
It turned out to be a late night in at Goondiwindi for Dan, Ian and Lucas, waiting for Caroline Clancy (Dan’s girlfriend) to arrive. Her bus had been delayed by a couple of hours, so it did not arrive until nearly midnight. The engine in the first had blown up, so the passengers had to wait for another bus to collect them and continue along the ride. Caroline had managed a bad day with almost every leg of her trip from Albury being delayed by some hours…
Friday 6th December
The team rode into Goondiwindi today – not too far from the border now!
The weather was much cooler today and this was a real godsend. Peter Hill occupied the team early this morning with a photo shoot around the creek-side campsite, which will hopefully yield some pictures worthy of immortalisation in paint.
We were able to make some very impressive times today, as it was only a 20 odd kilometre ride into town. The horses, as it was much cooler, cantered the best part of the first fourteen kilometres, covering the distance in around 40 minutes flat!
The team were actually playing catch-up to Sally, Paige and Kate, who had set off earlier, not quite expecting us to be quite so long with the photo’s. We all had to take our hats off to Paige, who put in two really big days for a very young rider, and did so without a single complaint – tough kid! Again Sally’s horse jogged and jogged making a less than comfortable day for Sally as well.
We had a much drier camp at the show grounds than we had the last time we stayed in Goondiwindi (on the way up to Darwin), but with the threat of rain around, most of the vehicles were placed undercover, so that camp would at least be dry if we did have a serious downpour. As it turned out, forward planning is a good thing!
Luke, Ian and Jenny spent the afternoon seeking donations from local business houses in support of the rodeo and charity auction.
Ian left Luke and Jenny doing the rounds and along with Bruce spent the remainder of the afternoon driving every street in Goondiwindi spruiking the rodeo tomorrow – hard work on the vocal chords – Dan must have a fair set of chords to keep the songs flowing when he is playing!
The team must thank everyone at Goondiwindi Communications, who loaned a small 12-volt public address system for two days; they were a great help!
Saturday 7th December
Saturday is the big day for the Rodeo in Goondiwindi. Col McTaggart had done a superb job with the arena preparation, and all the boys from the team had the early job of erecting the marquee, which would have been a very interesting exercise had the wind been as strong as yesterday afternoon!
Yola, Pip and Carmel were busy with horse washing duties in preparation for the street parade at 11.30am, and our guest riders Kate Glasser, and Paige Burey arrived and were saddled and ready to ride in plenty of time.
Col, Dan and Lucas headed out to the dipping yards to make sure that the cattle were well fed, and arrived back to do some last minute fine tuning to setting up their bucking saddle for the open saddle bronc later in the afternoon.
After the initial photo session, the street parade went very well, with the local scout group leading the way, and many of the locals coming out of the shops to offer their support and donations.
After the parade, it was all hands on deck to organise the catering for the rodeo. Jenny, Dave and John spent a large amount of time in the refreshment area, serving soft drinks and cooking lots of snags and steaks to feed those hungry members of the crowd, whilst Yola and Sandi worked feverishly on the gate, selling entry passes and raffle tickets.
Tania Kernaghan put in a special guest appearance to sing the national anthem. Most of the team had a chance to speak with Tania, who was lovely and only too happy to help us with the cause. Her true professionalism shone through when her wireless microphone failed in the middle of her performance – she simply got Guy McPhee (the commentator) to toss his microphone to her – and picked up where she had left off. Tania also signed a couple of our ride shirts for auction later on down the track.
Dan, Col and Lucas were occupied with getting everything in order for their respective rides. Ian recorded some images for posterity, hanging around the back of the chutes with the video camera, getting footage for the boys to review later, and hopefully good enough for the documentary.
For the record, Col got a re-ride after a poor performance from his first draw, and rode time on his second ride, scoring 46 (good enough for seventh place). Dan’s first drawn horse tried to climb out of the chute, and put on one heck of a show, without even getting out on the arena. It managed to turn itself around in the chute and had to be let out.
The next horse that Dan drew up on was one of the best horses of the day and he stayed on for four good bucks, before parting company. In the surprise of the day, Lucas made five seconds on a hard running and bucking horse, and was fortunate not to have been injured after the horse bucked back over him as he was lying on the ground.
Unfortunately, the attendances for the rodeo were a little disappointing, although the action was thick and fast. Events included a junior bullride, open saddle bronc and open bullride. Grant Richardson (who kindly donated his time to come up and support us) and the Dan Mureau band did not disappoint with the after-rodeo entertainment either, which continued well into the night.
Sunday 8th December
Today was clean up day after the rodeo. All the chairs and tables were stacked ready to go back to the hire firm that donated them, and the grounds were looking spotless in no time at all.
Ian, Dale and Yola manned a food stall at the antique auction being held in one of the larger pavilion’s in the showgrounds. It was an awfully hot day slaving over the BBQ in the shed, the day was very hot and humid, just like a tropical build-up, but without the rain at then end of the day.
Once the antique auction was over (and the last of the buyers and auction staff were fed), the BBQ was closed so Dale and Ian could assist with packing the unsold auction items onto the transporter. This action resulted in another $100 donation to Campfires.
Dan and Jenny spent the afternoon with Col McTaggart finalising the bookwork for the rodeo and making sure everything was squared away.
Monday 9th December
The rain returned with a vengeance today – storms and gusts of wind blowing right through the pavilion where we were camped. We were glad the rain arrived today rather than Saturday, as it would have completely ruined the rodeo.
The storm caused water to leak into some stores in the main street and caused havoc with the footpath signs and anything else that was not bolted down! The locals were glad of the rain, but not really impressed with the wind as it made a mess of the whole place.
Most of the team headed down the street to do their last minute Christmas shopping which, of course, is never easy at the best of times!
Final arrangements were made for the commencement of the droving tomorrow – we are in the fortunate position of being allowed to use the stock routes that are presently closed to anyone else. As our mob is quite small by comparison to most, our impact will be minimal. Almost miraculously, there has been rain along our proposed route – all the way to Tamworth! All we hope for now is continued rains further south to Albury… fingers crossed…
Tuesday 10th December
The team rode out of Goondiwindi this morning, straight over the border to the sale yards on the New South Wales side of the McIntyre River. Dan, Ian, Col, Yola, Liz, Lucas, and Sandi rode out with the cattle, so there was absolutely no risk of them getting away. The destination was a travelling stock reserve on the south side of Boggabilla.
Bruce and Dale set up a stall at the BP service station on the edge of town, and will stop in Goondiwindi and man the stall at different locations around town until Friday, when they will join up with the rest of the crew again.
As some of the horses had been left at the yards, it was decided that some of the riders should let their horses go and catch a lift with Bruce back to collect the remaining steeds. Yola, Ian and Sandi volunteered for the job, which entailed a ten-kilometre ride from the sale yards back to the reserve. Just as they were unsaddling and preparing to head back, the riders and cattle got hit with a deluge of rain, which thankfully did not have too much lightning associated with it.
The sight of a tree that had been hit by lightning and literally disintegrated, right near the reserve where the stock would be camped for the night stunned the team. There were pieces of timber the size of sleepers thrown about 30 metres from the tree, in what appeared to be a very recent strike.
Col, Liz, Luke and Dan got the cattle to the reserve without any problems. Yola, Sandi and Ian finally arrived at the stock reserve just as the others were heading back to town in one of the support vehicles, and there were no seats available. Yola called John to organise a lift back to town. John was busy working on the new truck; getting a few of the accessories in place and doing a few minor repairs, so would therefore be a while.
It turned out to be a better than two hour wait, in damp clothes and strong winds. Ian and Sandi hunkered down for the duration in their Driza-BonesÒ , in the only spots to be found out of the wind – beside the pile of saddles and gear – whilst Yola fed and watered her horses on the roadside.
Just as we were about to give up, John arrived, and moments later Dan as well! Talk about it never rains! It was great to get back to town and grab a long hot shower and a hot meal – great stuff.
Wednesday 11th December
After driving out to the reserve and getting the cattle on the road, it turned out to be another cold and windy day, which saw Col, Dan and Ian, push the cattle almost 16 kilometres to the stock reserve near the corner of the North Star-Yetman intersection.
It was a pretty uneventful day behind the cattle and everything went as planned, getting into camp in the afternoon. The cattle grazed for a while on the road, before being placed into the lock-up for the night.
Yola commenced riding ahead to Warialda, where she and John will assist Jenny in organising activities for the towns ahead of us.
Thursday 12th December
Col and Dan rose at dawn to get the cattle started on the road, headed toward tonight’s camp, not far from where the road crosses the railway line on the North Star road.
Again, the cattle moved quietly along the road, and ate extremely well. We have been amazed on how much the cattle seem to have improved in their condition since leaving the holding paddock four days ago. Their bellies seem much fuller and even the thinnest cattle are looking better.
Jenny came out to visit the camp in the evening and outlined the activities for the next few days. We discovered that the weekend, from Friday to Sunday, is jam-packed with functions that we will be attending, including James Blundell in concert near Croppa Creek.
Friday 13th December
An early start this morning for the push into North Star – again a long day in the saddle and roadside water was not at all plentiful.
Dan, Col and Lucas returned to Goondiwindi for the cattle sale to buy some more cattle. Luke had the mission of seeking donations of cattle from people attending the sale. Col and Dan returned with the news that they had bought an additional forty-two head, mostly from the same Birdsville station as the initial mob, as well as getting two cattle donations from people at the sale.
The cattle had a good drink in a waterhole caused by leaking Council main, right outside the stock reserve. There was a good trough and tank on the reserve, so the cattle would have plenty of water close at hand during the night. The fences were a little insecure along the boundary with the local golf club, so a good amount of time was spent making the fence more cattle-proof, delaying our departure to tonight’s function.
We were able to use the facilities at the North Star Sports Club, which is a great venue, now acting as the local watering hole as well, since the closure of the pub a few months ago.
Bruce and Dale arrived from Goondiwindi and stayed at camp, whilst the balance of the crew and visitors headed across to Ferg and Kath Walkers place at Coolatai for a Christmas fundraiser party being held in our honour.
There was about 40 kilometres of dirt road on the way across to the Walkers’ place and Ian hit two kangaroos on the way across. Dan was following behind, so he took the lead when Ian managed to overshoot one of the turn-offs. We were all amazed by the number of cars parked at the property when we finally arrived about two hours later than expected.
The Walkers were great hosts, and a great night was had by all. About eighty locals joined in the evening’s entertainment. Dan played a great show again and was joined on stage by the local bush poet, Marion Fitzgerald, who entertained with her unique delivery of very humourous poems.
It turned out to be a pretty late night, with the crew arriving back at North Star at around 2.00am.
Saturday 14th December
The cattle were a little late hitting the road proper this morning; Dan had the cattle in the lane leading out to the road at 5.45am, and as the feed was pretty good, they were allowed to stay there for a few hours before moving on.
Ian stayed behind at camp to get some more of these journals written, whilst Dan, Col and Bruce went out behind the cattle. The cattle were as well behaved as ever and moved steadily for the ten-kilometre trip to tonight’s camp. As the reserve had no easy parking for vehicle’s, it was decided that Bruce, Dale, Ian, John and Barb stay at North Star Sports Club, whilst Liz and Col camped with cattle at the reserve 10 kilometres down the road.
Dan, Lucas and Caroline set up a camp at the next night’s reserve, some six kilometres further on.
All returned to North Star for a quick shower before Dan and Caroline headed south into the street party in Warialda, where Dan met Jenny, John, Yola and Sandi manning a street stall and gathering donations. Dan played for the gathered crowds.
Col, Liz, Ian, Luke and Bruce headed out to the James Blundell concert near Croppa Creek. James was playing a benefit night to aid the local Taloona Pony Club at their grounds.
As they drove out they were treated to THE most spectacular sunset. Bruce and John Windle, who are both in their 60’s, agreed afterwards that it was the best that they had ever seen. A huge storm in the west just on sunset caused an exceptionally red sunset, and the rain falling from the clouds made the sunset look like a huge fire with "flames" reaching right up to the sky. The lightning in the storm provided a contrast to the northern side of the sunset – a truly spectacular phenomena that lasted the best part of forty minutes!
As we approached the concert, it became apparent that we were driving right into the storm! We pulled into the gateway, just in time to see a couple of people struggling with pulling down a marquee in the wind and rain.
We were introduced to Charlie Holcombe, who is the organiser of the whole fundraiser, who in turn, introduced Ian to James Blundell. James is a very nice bloke, true to his art, and loyal to his craft.
Charlie turned out to be one of our best helpers yet – After speaking with Col and Lucas, not only did he donate a steer to our cattle drive, but he also agreed to call his friends and neighbours and encourage them to do the same. He also volunteered to transport any donated cattle down to wherever the mob was at the time. Champion bloke! Meanwhile, Luke was busy jotting down the contact details of potential donors and anyone else who could help us. Col also arranged two further donations of cattle to the cause.
The stall and donations from the Warialda Christmas Party raised about $600.00. John, Yola, Jenny, and Sandi stayed in town while Dan and Caroline made the 50 kilometre drive back to camp at 11.00pm.
Sunday 15th December
Col got the cattle moving single handedly this morning. Dan joined him soon after and Ian headed out from North Star late in the afternoon to catch up the 16-odd kilometres to where the mob was. Although it was a short day for the cattle, only six kilometres or so, it did not stop a minor hiccup late in the day.
Our cattle got boxed with about 50 head of John Mills’ stock, after John’s cattle broke through a fence to join our cattle on the road. At the end of the day, when everything was sorted out, one steer was missing, which we tried very hard to locate, but could not find.
The camp today was by a small running creek, adjoining a sorghum plantation and a stand of thick scrubby trees. As the cattle were being hunted up to the reserve, it became obvious that a large storm would soon be upon us. The cattle were run into a small break formed by electric tape, and the horses were placed in a similar small enclosure, so that they did not have too much area to rush around in.
The storm was a good one, dropping a solid half-inch of rain onto the black soil around the camp, making things a little sticky underfoot. The black soil tends to build up on the soles of one’s boots (and the horses feet) quickly turning a pair of RM’s into an exquisite pair of platforms, until the wearer patiently removes the black masses to start all over again.
Cleaning of the horse’s hooves becomes a priority, as often as needed if the soles aren’t cleaning themselves as you ride along. If the horses stand overnight and the mud dries out, it easy to get a blister from the hoofpick as the mud sets so hard in and around the sole of the hoof.
Monday 16th December
Another short day today of about six kilometres toward Yalleroi Hall today – a very nice campsite on the banks of the creek, and a hundred-acre stock reserve for the cattle to pick in.
The feed along the road today was wonderful, and all the cattle had a really good pick. It transpired that one of the cattle in our mob belonged to someone else! Apparently it was in John’s paddock and as it was not one of his when they were drafted out, it ended up in our mob. The rightful owner was passing through and organised to have the beast left in some yards further down the road tomorrow evening. He apologised that he wasn’t in a position to donate the beast, as the drought had knocked him about this year.
A TV crew from Prime TV came out to do an interview for the evening news and interviewed Dan and Col. The news crew was then treated to a live conversation with Lucas on the phone to someone who had called to donate a steer. Unfortunately, the crew will miss the interview as the TV reception around here is not that good without a really good antenna.
Dan, Lucas, Col and John Windle headed out to deliver letters to surrounding farms and visit Stuart McWilliam’s place to have a look at some more horses. Meanwhile, Ian and Bruce returned to the scene of the escaped steer, trying unsuccessfully again to find the beast – there were tracks indicating that the beast had been there, but once the tracks hit the scrub, they completely disappeared.
A little later Bruce’s cousin, Ray Spackman and his wife, Hillary, dropped in to say hello and catch up on how the ride was progressing, before heading back home to Warialda.
The grass must have been very sweet where the camp was, as the horses were in a small break and overnight thoroughly ate it out.
Tuesday 17th December
Today was a somewhat frustrating day behind the cattle. Lucas and Col mustered the cattle out of the big holding paddock and pushed them down to water, where the cattle hung around the sweet grass on the creek flat.
It was obvious that the cattle, being mainly from Birdsville, had not seen too many hills before. Rather than walk straight up and over the hills, the cattle were quite content to walk four times the distance by walking backwards and forwards across the hills. It was almost 10.00am before the cattle got over the first hill! The same exercise was repeated going up each hill for the rest of the day, although if there was a decent fence it was not too much drama to push them along the fence to get them over the hill, and then left them drift down the other side.
The horses are normally put out on the road around lunchtime, and routinely they pass the cattle later in the day and are first into the yards. Today was no different. Dan, Col and Lucas headed back out in search of the wayward beast and returned with good news that the beast had been sighted in one of the paddocks with John Mills’ cattle.
A couple of the mob had become quite lame, and arrangements had been made with Murray Woods to place the lame steers in the yards that were beside today’s route. It was decided to push the mob into the yards, give them all a drink, and draft out the lame animals at the same time as the one to be returned to its owner.
Because the day had been a long one, Ian did not get the cattle in until just on dark. They were very thirsty and sought out the trough to fill their bellies with water. The horses were placed in an electric break again tonight around the trough so that they could drink at any time, whilst the cattle had the run of the paddock (which followed the road for a distance of nearly two kilometres) in the hope that they would walk down the paddock toward the bottom gate, making it a shorter droving day tomorrow.
Wednesday 18th December
Col awoke early this morning to get the cattle on the road, and discovered that the plan from yesterday evening had worked perfectly. The cattle had indeed wandered down the paddock and it was no effort to put them out the gate and onto the road. A smaller complication today as we had to pass another drover, Mark, who had his six hundred head of cattle in an electric break a bit further up the road. The feed through this area was not very good as Mark had been forced to hold along a short section of road due to the stock route closures, so Col had little trouble in keeping our cattle walking straight past those in the break.
Dan and Ian brought the horses up a little later on, but this was not without dramas. After pushing the horses through the reserve and successfully getting them out on the road, Dan and Ian watched in disbelief as Ian’s horse "Meggs" did something unbelievably stupid. The horse attempted to walk across a culvert, on the outside of the armco railing. The only problem with this was that the concrete was on a 45-degree angle, right up to the road, and it was some three metres to the bottom of the culvert. The horse managed to get about four meters across before slipping and falling to the bottom of the culvert, resulting in a nasty gash to the inside of his upper foreleg on the corrugated iron lining to the culvert. Thankfully there was not much blood, but no doubt the flies will give the wound merry hell over the next few days.
Once the horses and cattle got up together it was all plain sailing, and the animals arrived at the next camp early in the afternoon.
Col, Lucas, Dan, Liz and Caroline headed off to get some more donated cattle, and pick up the two lame animals left in the yard last night. Mark, the drover, had kindly offered the use of his tandem stock trailer to pick up the stock, so at least the transport would be a little easier.
Not long after they left, the horses (who had been quietly grazing) decided to head back to Mark’s camp, where they knew there was a supply of oats (which they had discovered on the way past). Ian was at the far end of the mob and had not noticed the horses slip away until it was too late.
After a good gallop down to Mark’s camp about four kilometres back, the horses were rounded up from inside his break and hunted back to the cattle.
It did not take long after that for a storm to brew up again, so Ian decided to run the cattle into the break early (about 5.00pm). The threatening clouds arrived as a dust storm just as the last of the mob were heading into the break, and thankfully the count was spot on. Dan, Col, Lucas, Liz and Caroline had arrived during the yarding process, and unloaded the four cattle from the trailer straight into the break. The cattle settled well despite the storm, and the horses received a good feed, as there was little pick around the area.
Dan, Ian, Lucas and Col headed back to Mark’s camp to drop the trailer back, and enjoyed a well earned ale in the much awaited rain shower – at least the sticky humidity was forgotten about for a while…
Thursday 19th December
Col and Dan were up again early as usual, pushing the cattle out onto the road around 6.00am. After being locked on the water last night, they were all keen to have a graze, although the feed for the first kilometre or so was very average.
After the mandatory sign run, Col, Dan and Lucas returned to camp for breakfast, where the horses were still camped on the water trough. The rest of the team had finished breakfast, and Ian was saddled ready to push the horses after the cattle.
Col rode out to catch up with the cattle, whilst Dan and Ian headed out not long afterwards and "Snort" again proved that he does NOT like trailing along behind the other horses. He gave Dan a shocking ride until he was up near the head of the horses, when he decided it was then time to settle down. The horses were quite content to walk out and caught up with Col and the cattle pretty quickly.
David, the local Rural Lands Protection Board inspector, dropped in to say g’day and gave Col and Ian a mudmap of the next three days reserves and preferred routes. Dan had ridden on ahead to the campsite, as there were a heap of calls to make and much organisation to be done for the upcoming weekend.
Bruce and Dale passed the cattle and riders en route to Warialda, where they will be running a merchandise stall today and they will then take a short drive across to Inverell and run a stall over the next few days in the main street. We are hoping to capitalise on the Christmas Shopping rush, so we will wait and see how that pans out.
Dan, Lucas and Caroline headed out to talk to nearby farms about our "cattle for a cure" campaign, and dropped off lunch to Ian and Col. Afterwards, they headed into Warialda to catch up with Jenny, and re-supply the pantry.
All else went pretty much to plan on the road, until "Matty" – in another display of complete uselessness – decided to attempt walking across a cattle grid, almost breaking his previously injured hind leg. The end result was another lot of severe lacerations (to the bone on the rear cannon bone) and a categorical win as the most accident-prone horse that anyone in the team has ever seen!
A matter of minutes after this escapade, the weather changed for the worse with a large storm passing directly overhead. The cattle turned and headed back in the direction of a clump of trees for shelter and nothing Col or Ian could do was going to stop them! As the storm came overhead, releasing a torrent of rain on everything in its path, two REALLY close lightning strikes had Col and Ian bouncing on the adrenalin rush.
After the storm passed, everything was fresh and clean and the cattle relished the now wet grass.
It was only a kilometre or so camp, but as luck would have it, there were two small dank waterholes in the dry creekbed adjacent to the gate in to the reserve. It was all Col and Ian could do to drive the cattle past the rank water and up to the bore-fed trough only 200 meters away.
We discovered the true "beauty" of black soil at the reserve. After dismounting, it was only moments before Ian and Col had "grown" ten centimetres, with the mud caking on the soles of their boots, with the horses fairing much the same. Not only that, but the mud drops off, usually somewhere in a vehicle or living area.
Ian decided that discretion was the better part of valour and opted to roll out his swag in what little space there was in the horse float – there was nothing but black mud to roll out on outside, and the clean-up would have been terrible to say the least.
Liz had prepared a wonderful roast meal, which after a long day in the saddle tasted absolutely magnificent. Col, Liz and Ian had just finished eating when Dan, Lucas and Caroline arrived back in camp. They almost looked like the odd ones out, being freshly showered and Lucas sporting a new haircut!
We discovered that we had only seen a small and somewhat quieter part of the storm. Dan, Caroline and Lucas had heard some stories in town about locals that had hail and severe winds. One story that a fellow had five dogs tied to separate dog kennels and all were blown away. At that stage he had found three kennels with deceased dogs still attached, and was still searching for the remaining two kennels.
It also transpired that a severe storm had lashed the Warialda showgrounds last night, where Jenny had set up her camper. The tempest ripped the camper top off the body, so some running repairs were in need.
After an exciting day everyone was dead tired, so the lights were all out by 9.30pm.
Friday 20th December
After the fun and games of the storm of yesterday, we had a relatively short eight-kilometre day to the next reserve, which should not have been much of a drama. However, things were not to be as they seemed.
Charlie Holcombe arrived from out at Croppa Creek with eight donated cattle on his truck. He had done a superb job rallying his neighbours and we were ecstatic with the kind donations. It was decided to drop the cattle off straight into the walking mob, where hopefully they would settle in well.
Lucas went with Charlie in his truck in what turned out to be one of the scariest rides of his life when the brakes failed as the truck was headed downhill through the mob of cattle! Thankfully all the cattle were missed but a white post did not fare so well…
When the cattle were unloaded, four of the eight were content to stay with the mob, whilst the other four opted to jump the nearest fence and get in with the neighbours cattle.
Col and Ian stopped to talk to one of the locals, Athol Plain who, along with his brother, donated two cows. Athol also told us whom to contact about our wayward cattle.
Col was able to get in contact with the owner, Paul Kush, via the UHF and he was happy for us to go in and get the donated cattle out. Paul came down the road and met us close to the paddock, and happily donated a big Santa/Hereford cross steer – provided we could get him out of his mob!
Well… what a day… the four cattle concerned were not happy being removed from their mob and we had a wonderful few hours chasing them across paddocks, rocky outcrops, logs, and fences. Col had to change horses as "Bub" had thrown all four shoes pursuing cattle through the rocks on the hilltops, and had bruised one of his feet. "Prince" was brought into service, and today turned out to be a baptism of fire for him as a stockhorse.
One little steer in particular gave everyone some form of grief. He knocked up and lay down after jumping a fence back to our mob, and then jumping the fence to get away from them again! Dan left him for 15 minutes whilst he cut out another couple of our beasts. Dan came back later on and the steer had not moved, so he dismounted to check on the beast’s condition. Dan’s feet had no sooner hit the ground, than the steer jumped up and lined Dan up. Dan thought that the steer would go the horse, so he took a couple of sideways steps, but the steer changed direction and knocked Dan down instead, and sent the handheld UHF flying!
A couple of minutes later, once Dan had recovered and remounted, he pursued the steer again, and this time the steer turned on the horse! Col went down to help out and the steer took to "Prince" as well!
Eventually the steer was weeded out again and Col and Ian managed to bluff him for a while with two horses. They had reached a bit of an impasse, when as luck would have it, Mal, a neighbour, brought down another donated steer which Lucas had organised earlier in the day.
Thankfully the troublemaker buddied up and started to head in the right direction, so Ian and Col tailed them toward the mob. The little bugger jacked up again… Spun ‘round and made a beeline straight for the horses again, heading for Col’s horse and then changing direction into Ian’s. Col came in from the side and knocked the steer down, and he stayed that way for a while, during which time Dan had brought our own mob closer up the hill to encourage the steer to join the herd.
The steer decided he was going to stand up and have another go at Ian’s horse, so the stirrup iron came off the saddle and was applied several times with some force across the head of the steer, to which he eventually backed off. Once the mob was close by, he decided that it was time to walk as part of the mob and gave no further trouble for the day.
The remainder of the horses still had to be brought up so Col and Dan continued on with the cattle, Col leading Ian’s horse, and Ian headed back with Caroline to get the rest of the horses from the previous reserve.
Col’s horse "Prince" took ill very suddenly and collapsed just shy of the reserve. It appeared as though he had been poisoned as he began frothing at the mouth, had diarrhoea, was sweating, and very unsteady on his feet.
Once Ian arrived with the other horses, "Prince" seemed to be happier standing on his feet rather than lying down, and he moved off with the other horses for a drink. Col thought that the Mother of Millions plants may have poisoned the horse plants a couple of weeks ago – which was not at all unreasonable. It was a matter of wait and see…
Lucas and Ian had to depart as early as possible (7.30pm!) to get to Inverell for a function being held at the Aussie Hotel. Neither had the opportunity to shower before heading off and both were sporting about five days worth of road grime and whiskers. After getting to Inverell at 9.00pm, it was into the hotel for a quick shower and then full steam ahead for the evening.
Dan, Caroline, Yola, John, Jenny, Barb and John headed into Warialda for a function at the Royal Hotel. Dan played very well again and the evening went fairly well in terms of fundraising. They made it home to bed by 2.00am.
Lucas and Ian had a great evening, raising $1000.00 in merchandise, raffles and donations. Before they knew it, it was 1.30am and time to head back to Warialda. It appeared that the other team members had beat them back and they turned in at 2.30am.
Saturday 21st December
After a 6.00am rise this morning, the team was happy to see that "Prince" looked a little better this morning, although looking listless, he was upright and appeared reasonably comfortable. Dan decided that it was a better option to truck the horses not being ridden today, as most of them were carrying an injury of some sort and "Prince" was of course quite ill. The plan was to get the cattle up to the Three-Mile Reserve and let them graze along the good feed on the side of the road for a few hours, before moving the cattle through the reserve to the far side for the night.
Col and Ian had only moved the cattle about a kilometre before the troublesome steer from yesterday departed the mob, through the electric fence on the roadside. Dan and Ian were glad to see the back of the rotter, and by chance it was Athol’s paddock that the steer went into. One quick phone call and arrangements were made for the beast to be sold the next time Athol takes stock to market, and he will forward a cheque to campfires.
Charlie Allen, who owns the cattle on the reserve at the moment, came and gave us a hand to push the cattle through the reserve, as he knew it like the back of his hand. It was just as well, because the scrub is very thick, and it would be very easy to loose a beast amongst it.
John Windle did a marvellous job erecting a electric break in the scrub at the far end of the reserve, and the cattle were pushed into the break after they had enjoyed a big drink at the dam about 800 metres further up the reserve.
The horses would be staying in a lush green paddock with a dam and nice shade trees just on the outskirts of town and the humans camped about two hundred metres away at a roadside campsite.
Sunday 22nd December
Today was an interesting one to say the very least. The aim today was to move the cattle from the Three-Mile Reserve to the far side of Warialda Rail, a distance of about nine kilometres.
When the boys went to catch the horses, "Prince" was lying down again and looking very ill. Col decided to call Mrs Walker, the local vet, to come and have another look at the horse, but it would take a little while for her to get into town from out at Coolatai. Col decided to wait with the horse until the vet arrived so Dan, Ian and Charlie headed off to take the cattle around Warialda.
The first obstacle was a steep descent not far from the centre of town. Being flat land cattle, the whole mob jacked up would not go over the edge. No matter how hard we tried and techniques we used, they would not budge. To make matters worse, there were three strands of barbed wire from a decrepit fence laying on the ground, which Dan’s mount, "Bundy", unfortunately caught her hind leg in, resulting in some nasty lacerations.
Col arrived just in time to assist with moving the cattle along an alternative route, which took us along the side of the golf course, and through the edge of town.
It was about this time that John Williams came on the UHF and said that Prince’s condition had deteriorated, so the decision was made to put him down, as he had been suffering for nearly three days.
The cattle spent most of day down on the creek flats near town, where the feed was lush and green, before Jenny, Yola, Col, Ian and Dan moved them on across the main road toward Warialda Rail. It was an interesting exercise for Dan, Ian and Col, taking the cattle through Warialda Rail, as many of the house blocks are not fenced.
Camp was set up about four kilometres out of Warialda Rail at reserve on top of the hill. Dan, Caroline and Luke headed off in the direction of Moree with Yola, Jenny and John to attend a BBQ with Belinda Williams, a prominent artist, and her friends to raise money, and discuss some up and coming art festivals featuring paintings of the ride.
A couple of local girls, Molly and Squirt, rode with Col and Ian in the late afternoon and helped push the cattle into the reserve. A big storm brewed up just as the cattle were heading down to water at the dam. The dam was a bit of a concern as many of the cattle ended up swimming across the dam due to the bank on the approach side being very steep below the water level. Thankfully none of the cattle got stuck or drowned, although Col and Ian were concerned they may have had to go for a swim to pull out a couple of stragglers.
Col and Ian put cattle in to the lock-up with the storm literally all around. There were lots of lightning, thunder and a tiny amount of rain.
John Windle had come out from Warialda to drive the boys back into town to pick up Colin’s truck and the horse float. It was raining lightly still and Ian got the "dogs seat" on the back of Johns ute… Not the driest place to be found.
After a warm shower, Col, Liz and Ian headed back out to camp, beating Dan, Caroline and Lucas back from Moree by only a few minutes at 11.00pm.
Monday 23rd December
Col and Dan had the cattle on the road at daybreak, and got them moving along the road toward the next reserve. Liz, Caroline and Ian went back to Warialda to pick up Christmas presents, mail and food; and do five loads of washing through one machine!
Col and Lucas went to pick up a couple of donated horses from the McWilliams’ so Dan was stuck out in the humid heat for most of the day alone.
Ian arrived with the mob about 2.00pm, so Dan rode ahead to put up a break at the reserve. Ian continued to push the horses and cattle alone on to the reserve.
Upon arrival at the reserve, a storm started brewing in earnest again and by the time the cattle had been watered, there was a fair bit of lightning and thunder around. The cattle settled in a different spot to where the break was erected, and as the fence energiser was in Col’s truck back at the previous camp, Dan and Ian decided that it would be easier to fence the cattle in where they sat and use the existing electric fence on one side to power our break.
Dan did not reckon the existing fence was powered at first, until he brushed up against it, started singing like a canary in a pet shop, ran about three steps in the opposite direction of the fence and said, "YEP…She’s on!" It was dark by the time the fence was in place and the storm was very close by now.
Dan’s horse, "Bundy", who was tied to a tree whilst the break was being erected, took exception to the lightning, thunder and rain and pulled back, breaking the bridle, and took off into storm. The saddle was still in place, along with a full saddlebag, so Dan donned the Driza-BoneÒ and headed out into the night to find the missing horse. Meanwhile, Caroline was doing a mighty job in the back of the truck, cooking up some dinner by torchlight. The trailer and generator had not yet reached this camp so we had no power for lighting.
About 9.00pm Jenny and John arrived out from town to catch up with us, and it was now raining buckets. Jenny had seen one of our cattle still out on the road. It was one that had been lame and it had lain down about two kilometres back up the road; Ian had missed it when he had pushed the other cattle up. As it was a black cow, it represented considerable danger to passing motorists. As it was his responsibility, Ian saddled up and rode out to drive it off the road at almost 10.00pm, the storm still hanging around. A different day at the office that’s for sure.
Tuesday 24th December
Col went out at 5.15am this morning to track down the wayward cow from last night. After searching for a while he tracked her down and hunted her back to the rest of the mob.
A long and humid day in the saddle followed, after the 30 plus millimetre fall of rain last night.
Ian had some early trouble with the two lame cattle from yesterday. The cattle had been allowed to string out over several kilometres in the morning, and as Ian went out to bring the rear up, missed them; they had found a nice secluded spot hidden by fallen timber at the base of a tree not far from camp and settled in! Col pointed out the fact that they were missing when he caught up to the mob a little later – as it was yet again Ian’s SNAFU – he rode back and searched meticulously until the pair or miscreants were found, and then hunted them up to the mob.
Col rode one of the "new" horses, which did the job very well. A little way along, Rose Reading had organised lunch for us – steak and kidney with dumplings mmmm… Rose and three of her friends will be riding along with us from Bingara to Tamworth in a couple of day’s time.
Ian was minding lead of mob when a ute pulled up with ladders on the roof. It turned out to be none other than Peter Towle from Tamworth, who Ian had met through camel racing years before – they had toured the United Arab Emirates together as part of the first Australian Camel Racing team to compete overseas. It was good to catch up after four years, although Ian had intended catching up with Peter whilst in Tamworth.
Dan took a turn at driving Col’s truck, and discovered that there was a distinct lack of fuel to make it to Bingara – so it was a mad rush to get it filled up before 5.00pm. A small problem arose in that the truck ran out of fuel at five minutes past five - about five kilometres out of Bingara, so an urgent call on the UHF had Caroline on the road to the rescue.
Liz and Caroline did a wonderful job of decking out the back of the truck with Christmas decorations – after so much of the festive season not really feeling like it was Christmas, it definitely does now!
Dale and Bruce arrived back in Warialda from Inverell, having raised around $1000 for the few days they had the stall set up over there.
Dan had the honours of playing a Christmas Eve function at the Commercial Hotel in Warialda, and had to head in fairly early to get set up. Rose Reading was kind enough to wait around the campsite for Ian, Col and Liz to finish feeding the horses and securing everything, before giving them a lift into town. It turned out to be a great night, with many of the locals, and the campfires team, kicking on until "stumps".
Bruce, Dale and Ian stayed in town as their Christmas dinner is at Ray and Hillary Spackman’s place tomorrow. The rest of the team headed out to the campsite, where a festive feast has been planned as well.
Wednesday 25th December
A fine morning greeted everyone, regardless of where they were camped, and the celebration of Christmas day started in earnest fairly early. John and Barb Windle headed out from Warialda at 6.30am, with John bedecked in his Santa suit; the jolly red man driving a motor home must have bemused the locals. John and Barb arrived out with the rest of the camp at 7.00am.
Today was also Dale’s Birthday, a bit of a bummer really, only having one day to celebrate Christmas and birthday combined…
The James clan enjoyed a sumptuous lunch at Ray and Hillary’s. Hillary’s son and parents were also there for lunch. Trent (Hillary’s son) works for CGU insurance in Goulburn and was up for a visit, and Hillary’s parents had come across from Inverell as well.
Dan, Caroline, Lucas, Col and Liz shot into Bingara for early Christmas Mass before returning with John, Yola, Pip (who returned late yesterday), Sandi and Jenny to celebrate Christmas at the main camp. John, Yola, Pip, Sandi and Jenny then headed back to Bingara.
The Christmas Camp was on the banks of the permanent Myall Creek, where the cattle and horses had the day off to wander and graze at their own discretion. It was a terrific day, a memorable Christmas and one thing is for certain – everybody made the most of their day off, as it is the only scheduled break until the completion of the ride!
The day would not have been complete without another storm in the afternoon, and we were not disappointed. A marvellous light show followed by more rain in the early hours of the morning completed what will be a Christmas etched forever in the memories of the whole team.
Thursday 26th December
Boxing day and it was back on the road again. The cattle were in the stock reserve with another drover’s stock, sectioned off by electric tape. We had learned that the other mob were headed in the same direction as us, and as we had the smaller number of cattle, it would be better for us to lead, leaving uneaten feed for the larger mob.
Col again started the cattle, and he was soon followed out of camp by the other mob, which numbered about 450 head. Dan pushed the horses along after both mobs of cattle, and Ian left late, catching up to Dan and the horses just before they hit the larger mob of stock. It was an interesting few minutes as the horses in our plant and the horses from the other drovers plant decided to let each other pass and not join up together…
Ian continued on to Bingara to catch up with some more computer work and left Dan to poke the horses along to catch up with the mob. Col had made excellent progress with the cattle and was waiting on the hill just north of the Bingara Bridge over the Gwydir River, when Ian caught up. It is a major exercise to cross the river as the bridge is quite long and very narrow – so no traffic can get across whilst a mob is on the bridge.
Lucas, Caroline, Bruce, Dale and Liz moved the camp into Bingara and set up at the showgrounds, about two kilometres from the centre of town.
The bridge crossing went very smoothly, with most of the team assisting, and recording the crossing on film and video. The cattle were spending the night at the cattle yards on the southern side of town, so there was an opportunity to use the yards to make sure all the donated cattle were correctly tagged, ear-marked, bobbed and drenched the same as the rest of the mob.
The campsite was one of the best so far, as Bingara has had a really good amount of rain for the past few weeks - lush green grass everywhere and everything looking a picture.
Friday 27th December
The team was greeted by an absolutely glorious "spring" morning – dew on the grass, a cloudless blue sky and cool morning air.
Ian was "locked-up" again to keep plugging away on the website updates, whilst the rest of the boys headed out to the yards to move the cattle on, and do some tidy-up work on the horses feet. Rose Redding who has signed up to join us for the ride into Tamworth, and her daughter, Laurel, helped push the cattle along the road toward our next camp.
The cattle were moved about eight kilometres today to a reserve on the Barraba Road, which was another spot for fantastic feed. The cattle are looking magnificent at the moment, having been on excellent feed and good water since we left Boggabilla. Even the few cattle that were underweight are picking up and looking much better for being on the road.
Once the cattle were secured, the team headed back to camp at the showgrounds in town.
Not long after their return, Bek Grove arrived back in camp for a visit after hitching a ride up from Albury with Ian’s mate Steve Dickson. "Dicko" had driven straight through in about eleven hours. Ian was excited to see Bek again, since it had been four months since she returned home to Albury from Tennant Creek.
Bek will be staying with the team until the end of the Tamworth Country Music Festival in January, and will head back home after that.
Dan, Col, Lucas, Liz and Caroline headed out to Inverell, where Dan was playing at the Imperial Hotel. Inverell again showed great support for Akta-Vite Campfires Against Cancer, with a good turn out and approximately $1500.00 raised. It turned out to be a very late night for the crew, not returning to camp until 3.00am!
Saturday 28th December
Dan and Col headed out to the reserve at 6.15am this morning, accompanied again by Rose and Laurel. Rose was not riding today, but Laurel spent the day behind the mob, along with Lyn and Jan, a couple of other locals who were joining us for the day.
Dan finally joined the "one-fer" club, parting company with his mount for the first time on the trip (aside from bucking out at the rodeo in Goondiwindi). He was attempting to ride "Bundy" bareback, and knowing that she is a little edgy bareback at the best of times, made a big leap when mounting so as to land right in the middle of her back. This tactic backfired somewhat as he landed somewhere to the "off of centre". "Bundy" quickly dispatched Dan in the direction he was already heading, and then proceeded to drag him along the ground, still clinging tightly to the reins – she may have got him off, but there was no way she was getting away from him!
 Ian finally finished catching up on all of the computer work and was on the road before lunch, riding from Bingara to catch up with the mob, a distance of around thirteen kilometres. He would take over control of the mob, as nearly all of the team had to make the journey across to Copeton Dam for another fundraising evening on the foreshore.
The guest riders had been doing a marvellous job, collecting donations from cars stopped by the cattle and horses on the road. By the end of the day, just over $500 had been collected from passing vehicles.
As fortune would have it, the cattle would be locked up in a reserve two hundred metres from a stretch of some of the best and most lush feed we have seen to date. Lots of fresh green clover and paspalum for the cattle to chew on! They spent a solid four hours on the strip, moving only about a kilometre and eating the whole time – when it came time to put them in the reserve, they all were sporting tremendous fat bellies.
Tim Phegan, Dan’s cousin and mate, and his girlfriend, Naomi Pickles arrived from Albury, surprising Ian and Bek, who did not know they were coming. Tim and Naomi stopped for a chat, and then headed off in search of Copeton Dam and the crew there. Unbeknownst to Ian, Bek and Dicko, the Copeton Dam exercise turned out to be a relatively small affair and everyone had returned to Bingara before dark! So Tim and Naomi easily found everyone in town. After a couple of welcome drinks, they made their way down to the showgrounds and set up camp for the night with the rest of the team.
Meanwhile, back at the cattle, the horses had beat the cattle into the reserve, and when the cattle were watered and put away in the electric break, Ian tried to find the horses – with very little luck. Dicko and Bek drove up one end of the reserve and Ian rode all but one end of the paddock (which was huge – somewhere around five kilometres long) before it became too dark to see. Only two horses had been found. Since there were cattle already in the reserve, it was fair to assume that the rest of the horses were secure and would be at the unchecked end of the reserve.
Ian, Bek and Dicko headed back to Bingara, looking forward to some dinner and a quick beer before retiring to bed.
Sunday 29th December
Most of the team slept in this morning, as the past few days have been hectic and long to say the least.
Col and Liz had returned to the cattle reserve from Copeton Dam and camped the night out with the cattle. When they awoke, Col discovered some of the horses around camp, but they quickly disappeared when they noticed movement around camp. Col was forced to go searching for the horses – cursing Ian the whole time for not locking the horses up in the break that John Windle and Lucas had carefully erected for the stock!
The Campfires team hung around camp, waiting for Dan to do a radio interview with Colin Munro as a wind-up to the year of the outback. Dan did a great job covering all the details of the ride and upcoming events.
The visitors again had been looking after the cattle on the road and had raised $250.00 of donations for the morning. Dan, Ian, Col, Tim and Lucas had saddled up for the day and joined the visitors on the road around ten o’clock.
The boys took turns in "shaking the bucket" for donations during the day, raising a total at the end of the day of just under $1000.00. One kind donor, who had managed a property back at Bowna, near Albury, made a $100 donation on the way past!
Monday 30th December
Rode from campsite on creek to a new campsite at a parking bay around 29 kilometres out of Bingara. The first part hour or so was spent pushing the cattle up over the top of the ridge, which was quite steep. We are now on the edge of the New England Ranges, and will continue along through the hills until we are well past Tamworth.
John Windle brought his motorhome up from Bingara, and had noticed a burning smell inside the vehicle for some time before he pulled up at the new campsite. He discovered that the smell was coming from some wiring that had burnt out, including the ignition switch itself. It was an almost identical problem to that suffered by Col’s truck on the way up to Darwin – only a few kilometres back up the road at Warialda! The burnt wiring meant that some repairs were in order, which was a shame for John as he was hoping for a ride with the crew today, and Lucas had already saddled "Roma" ready for him…
As it is now between Christmas and New Year, a flying trip to Tamworth was in order to source some new wire and a switch, otherwise it would be a long wait until at least Thursday to get parts. John and Ian took about three hours to make the return trip to Tamworth, and had most of the repairs done by 9.00pm.
It was a big camp by the time they returned from town. Matt and Catriona had made the trip up from Melbourne, Jenny was back with the group after doing a heap of legwork in Bingara and Upper Horton in preparation for New Years Eve, and Rose and Jan were camping out with the team tonight as well.
The cattle and a few of the horses were put inside a roadside break that Lucas had erected about four kilometres further on from camp, and Col moved his truck up late in the evening to camp with the cattle.
Tuesday 31st December 2002
Rose and Jan were on the roadside early, setting up a donation point for passing motorists close to camp.
Colin had the cattle underway, heading for a reserve at Cobbadah Creek, about eight kilometres ahead. We had to make fairly rapid progress with the cattle today, as the team were guests at the Upper Horton Rodeo.
The rodeo was something else. Upper Horton is a tiny town, of which the population swells by about 3000 for the rodeo over New Years Eve and New Years Day. It is probably the only place where they actually charge admission to enter the town, because the only thing happening is the rodeo!
Martin Oakes had made the trip up from further south to sing the National Anthem, and we were very privileged to have Bruce Campbell, Chairman of the Year of the Outback, his wife Beth, in attendance for the conclusion of 2002, Year of the Outback. Their daughter Fiona and her husband, Richard came down to enjoy the rodeo too.
Dan, Ian and Colin rode in the Grand Parade at 6.30pm, on borrowed horses. Lucas was on hand with the video camera to catch all the action. The boys had about twenty seconds on the horses prior to entering the arena, and thankfully the horses were "old hands". The mounts were all pick-up horses for the rodeo and all big strong types as well. Ian had a couple of "firsts" in the parade. It was the first time he had ridden in a western saddle, and it was the first time he had ridden a stallion as well! Both experiences were great…
As soon as the parade was over, it was time for Bruce, Dale, Ian and Bek, to head back to Bingara to set up a merchandise stall and hold a raffle at the Bingara RSL Club. A big thanks must go to Dan and the staff at the RSL for looking after everyone so well on the night. After a good night raising just over $500.00, and seeing in the New Year, the four headed back to camp weary and ready for 2003.
Meanwhile, Dan, Caroline, Col, Lucas, Jenny, Liz, Catriona, Matt, Tim, Naomi, John and Barb continued fundraising at the rodeo, and Dan and Martin Oakes prepared to play for the gathered revellers. The local police arrived and soon put an end to the preparations for New Year. Dan was given half an hour to play a couple of numbers, and the police closed the bar early, so that anyone wanting a drink was forced to head over to the local bowling club. From a crowd control point of view, it was much easier for the two local police to keep control of things if everyone was in one venue.
Rather than stay on at the Bowling Club, the team, the "Clan Campbell", Rose and Laurel headed back to the Cobbadah campsite. New Year’s was celebrated around the campfire to the tunes of Dan and his acoustic guitar, joined from time to time by Lucas and Laurel, and the music continued on until the early hours of the morning. A great night was had by all and New Years was celebrated in true country outback spirit around the campfire, only a stone’s throw away from the horses and cattle.
|
