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Wednesday 1st January 2003
A slow start to the morning, with everyone enjoying a sleep in for New Years Day.
 Col, Lucas and Liz jumped in the truck to go and pick up one of our donated cattle just after lunch. It wasn’t until after 1.00pm that Jenny, Bruce, Dan, Ian, and Bek headed back across to the Upper Horton Rodeo to do some more fundraising. Just as they left, rain began to drizzle down – keeping the teams record of rain in every town since Dulacca (Queensland) intact!
The rodeo crowd had dwindled a little due to the rain, but the action continued to be spectacular.
The rain had made the bullride a lot tougher, and one rider suffered what appeared to be a serious neck injury after falling awkwardly. He was flown to Tamworth Hospital in the Westpac Rescue Helicopter.
The local saddle broncs proved very difficult to ride as well. Many of them had absolutely brilliant sidesteps and many experienced riders were unceremoniously dumped before the eight second whistle.
When the riders did make time, the pick-up riders did an absolutely brilliant job in taking the riders off safely. This was never more evident than in the bareback event, when two riders got "hung-up" in their riggings. The pick-up men were very quickly to the heads of the bucking horses, slowing them down, and allowing the riders to free themselves, with nothing more serious than a strained arm.
 Jenny and Dan did a lap of the grounds, selling tickets in our Bates saddle raffle and accepting donations, whilst Bruce set up at the exit gate, accepting donations as people left the rodeo. One kind donor wrote a cheque on the spot for $200.00! Ian, Bek and Barb looked after the merchandise stand, although business was very slow today compared to yesterday. Meanwhile, Lucas had been very busy, spending the day travelling the back roads, asking farmers for cattle donations.
At the completion of the rodeo, everyone helped pack up the stand and headed back to camp, with Dan taking charge of Jenny’s "surfie-chick van".
It was raining steadily when everyone arrived back in camp, so Bruce, Bek and Ian set to putting up a tarpaulin to provide shelter for the swags, should the rain continue throughout the night.
Just before sunset, a car arrived, the horn tooting like mad. Dan’s Dad, Warwick, sister Tammy, uncle Mick and Cousin Jess had arrived on yet another surprise visit! Dan, as usual, was almost speechless upon their arrival.
After catching up with the crew, Warwick had more good news – it had been raining all the way since Holbrook! We are now all very hopeful that the unseasonal rains will lead to unseasonal grass growth, hopefully providing good feed for the cattle all the way back down to Albury.
It turned out to be quite a cool evening after the rain during the day, and everyone was looking forward to a nice dry bed for the night.
Thursday 2nd January
A stunning morning greeted the camp, almost winterish in its appearance. At dawn, the sun rose over very heavy dew, with a thick mist softening the light to a hazy glow through the campsite. The mist probably rose to about thirty to forty feet above the ground, with clear blue skies above.
The trees glistened with the fresh dew dripping from the leaves and any spider webs were clearly visible with the water droplets formed in their intricate designs.
The camp will stay where it is for tonight, although the cattle moved on to the next reserve. We have seen first-hand that the area ten kilometres each side of Barraba has not yet had a decent amount of rain, and it is imperative that the cattle get some good grazing time in before we walk them through the area that has currently got very little feed.
Colin and Warwick got the cattle mustered out of the reserve and headed their noses toward Bingara, with tonight’s destination being a reserve about eight kilometres closer to home.
The cattle were gently pushed along the roadside to a reserve at the top of Ellis Mountain, which at 663 metres, is the highest elevation that the team has been at since leaving Darwin.
Warwick, Mick, Tammy and Jess headed into town and gathered a number of donated items for a charity auction, to be held at the Commercial Hotel tomorrow evening, from local business houses, whilst Lucas went searching for cattle donations.
Ian rode straight through to the reserve and grabbed a lift back to camp with Bruce and John Windle, before heading into town with Bek to buy some overdue necessities. Barraba is a lovely small town that oozes the character of days gone by, although it does sport a new heated pool complex and ambulance station.
Two carloads of the crew and visitors headed into town after dinner, to finalise arrangements at the Commercial Hotel (and make the most of some hot running water) and returned about 11.00pm. Col grabbed his truck and headed up to the reserve to be ready for an early start in the morning, whilst everyone else turned in.
Friday 3rd January
Col was out of the cot early to get the cattle moving down the road. The rest of the crew is really impressed with Col’s ability to keep backing up morning after morning – he is incredible!
The cattle were pushed slowly today to make the most of the patchy feed on the sides of the road. Roadside water for the cattle to drink was also a little difficult to find, with only one reasonable hole about a kilometre from the destination lock-up which, in turn, is about three kilometres from Barraba.
It was Dan’s turn to ride through to tonight’s camp at the showgrounds, so that he could organise the next permit to travel from the Tamworth Rural Lands Protection Board office. This was a little difficult, as the local inspector will be away on leave until late Sunday afternoon.
Dan also ensured that our guest auctioneer, Charlie Hart, was available to conduct the charity auction, and verified everything was in place with our hosts for this evening, Neville and Sue, at the Commercial Hotel.
Lucas was on the trail again, visiting local farmers asking for donations of cattle to our steadily increasing mob. Harvey White and his son-in-law Michael, arrived in their truck with a huge cow late in the afternoon. The cow made every other animal in our mob look positively small, and she happily settled in with the rest of the cattle in no time.
The rest of the team stayed busy with reloading the vehicles and relocating camp to the Barraba showgrounds, which will be the stop for the next three nights.
Bruce, John Windle, Ian and Col took turns of “shaking the bucket” with passing motorists who were slowing for the mob. The days tally for roadside donations was again excellent, around another $500.00.
After pushing the horses into the small break that Bruce had constructed, Col took a brief run with one of the local drovers to check tomorrow’s route around the town centre. Ian kept an eye on the cattle until Col’s return, which was the perfect time to push the cattle up to the lock-up for the night.
Liz and Bek had arrived with a vehicle to run Bruce, Col and Ian into Barraba, but it would have been very squeezy with all the gear in the car as well, so it was smiles all ‘round when Warwick arrived with a couple of extra seats in another support vehicle.
It was almost time to head into the Commercial Hotel, and all the visitors and crew (now totalling around 15) made a beeline to the shower block to spruce up for the night ahead.
We were pleasantly surprised at the crowd waiting at the Commercial, and even more surprised by the self-cook $10.00 char-grill. The feed was absolutely first-rate, and the social aspect of a shared grill was a little unique on the journey so far. After a quick dinner, Dan fired up on the guitar and did a few numbers for the growing and appreciative crowd.
It was soon time for the charity auction, the highlight item of which was a rare Year of the Outback flag, signed by the Year of the Outback Chairman, and Senior Australian of the Year, Bruce Campbell. The flag sold for $550.00 and now hangs proudly on display at the Commercial Hotel. All up around thirty donated items were auctioned, and buyers realised some genuine bargains.
After the auction, Caroline ran Col and Liz back out to the lock-up, so that they may get an early start in the morning, and returned in time to hear Dan play a few more numbers.
The evening boosted the amount raised thus far by than $4000.00, a great effort indeed for a small community. Dan played a couple of more sets before the night concluded at midnight, a great night all round and again thoroughly enjoyed by all those who attended.
Saturday 4th January
Col was joined around 6.00am by Jan and Rose, who assisted in moving the cattle along the stock route around the edge of Bingara, toward the town sale yards. They also pushed the horses along with the cattle, leaving two of Ian’s horses at the reserve for him to collect later.
A little after 7.30am, Ian grabbed a lift with Bruce out to the reserve to grab the horses, and Colin had already moved the cattle around to behind the local tip, which was the stock route through town. Unfortunately, not having much local knowledge, Ian overshot the laneway that is used to access the stock route around town, and was almost in the town proper by the time that he realised the oversight. After continuing on to the showgrounds, he could see the mob on the rise behind town, having already crossed the river.
Colin, Jan and Rose had made really good time getting the cattle around the route, and this would mean that Colin, Bruce, Dan and Lucas would have plenty of daylight at the saleyards to drench, brand and tag the newer arrivals to the mob. The cattle were kept in the yards overnight, and given some bales of hay for sustenance.
Yola and John returned to the camp at the showgrounds, after Yola had ridden her horses down from Warialda over the past few days. Caroline, Liz and Bek had been busy in the back of “Moby” (which doubles as a kitchen most days) preparing a great meal which was enjoyed by everyone.
Sunday 5th January
Col hunted the cattle out onto the road reserve near the saleyards and left them behind tape not far up the laneway. One Murray Grey cow had jumped the fence into the paddock next door, and a Murray Grey steer had disappeared entirely! After spending a couple of hours searching for the beast, Col and Luke found where it had made its way. It turned out that the steer had travelled about three kilometres through five fences to another mob of cattle. Since the steer was actually quite close to the destination, it was decided to collect him in the late afternoon when our mob passed the paddock he was in.
Dan, Col, Luke and Liz went with the Rural Lands Protection Board ranger to examine the route and water situation between Barraba and Tamworth. Upon their return the news was encouraging again on the feed front, although the water situation will have to be watched closely as there is very little roadside water between Manilla and Tamworth, a distance of around forty-two kilometres.
Bek and Ian pushed the cattle down the road to graze around the defunct wheat silos, whilst Jan and Rose manned the buckets, gathering donations from passing motorists. After bringing lunch down to the crew on the road, Bruce and Dale took over the collection buckets for the afternoon. A new record for roadside collections was set at $1,135.00 today.
As the afternoon turned to evening, Bek and Ian moved the cattle down toward the creek, where all the cattle managed a drink from a small pool of water under the bridge. Dan and Col arrived soon after with the horses, and after retrieving the wayward Murray Grey steer (and getting another donated cow from the owner of the property, whose name was Phil), they moved the stock a further four kilometres to the reserve at Black Springs Creek.
Monday 6th January
When Dan, Ian and Col arrived at the reserve, they immediately realised that the new Murray Grey Steer that had escaped the previous night, had done it again! After a quick search of the surrounding area, no trace of the steer could be found.
Dan rode on ahead to the next reserve, after which he, Caroline and Luke headed some 500 kilometres down the road to Bathurst to do a reconnaissance run for that leg of the cattle drive.
Col and Ian received two more donated stock, as they pushed the cattle a distance of twelve kilometres to Tarpoly Creek reserve. “Charlie”, a small black baldy steer was donated by Kacey and [], who run a helicopter contracting business, along with their farm. A hereford cow (that looked a little on the wild side) was also donated by Red Hill Lands.
“Charlie” was earmarked and tagged in the crush before he hit the road, and was no problem at all.
The cow, on the other hand, bolted on Col and Ian at the end of the day, as they tried to push the mob down a steep decline onto the creek at Tarpoly. The hereford returned some four kilometres to her home paddock at a rate of knots. Ian headed out to bring her back, but she jumped a fence, and by the time the pursuit had finished, she was clearly knocked up and very keen to have a go at the horse… We will return another day to pick her up.
Dan, Caroline and Lucas headed for Bathurst around 11.00am. En route they organised functions in towns, which the team would be riding through, together with meeting local rangers at each of the Rural Lands Protection Board Offices to discuss the issues of feed and water. Once in Bathurst, the trio split up to do the banking, and organised meetings with the Council, Stock and Station Agents, and the regional tourism group to make preparations for our arrival. After a long and hot day, they rolled their swags out at 10.00pm at the Bathurst Showgrounds.
Tuesday 7th January
Today was nominated as a “day off” last night. This meant a day off from behind the cattle, but other matters still had to be attended to.
Ian, Bek, Bruce, Dale, Col, Liz, Rose and Jan went to cattle sale at Gunnedah to see the first six donated head sold, which realised a gross of just over $2,800.00 at the conclusion of the sale.
Prime television and the local newspaper were in attendance to cover the sale and this proved to be good publicity, covering the cattle drive section of the ride.
Gunnedah, being a fairly large town, provided the opportunity for those who made the trip across to do some shopping and experience the “bustle” that we had noticed in Roma and Goondiwindi before now. One thing evident on the trip has been the direct relationship between the size of the town and the pace of activity around it.
Another thing that is becoming obvious is the weariness of all the team members. Any time there is a road trip, it is almost inevitable that everyone bar the driver will be asleep if the journey is longer than around twenty minutes. This again was the case with the ride back from Gunnedah.
Around 9.00pm Ian and Bek returned to Commercial Hotel to brand the rafter over the main bar, which Lucas had organised but was unable to do because he was busy collecting cattle with Colins truck. Ian and Bek finished up staying the night as guests of Neville and Sue, as it took so long for the combustion heater to heat the brand up (just over two hours!). The end result was a neat brand that will remain for posterity, as it will in a few select locations along the route.
The evening saw a few storms around the area, with heaps of wind, lightning and almost no rain… a few millimetres here and there, but no rain in Barraba where it is desperately needed.
The reconnaissance crew made it back to Tamworth late in the night and decided to make the nights camp there.
Wednesday 8th January
Ian and Bek called into a couple of properties on the way back to camp to let the owners know to keep an eye out for the wayward Murray Grey steer.
Closer to camp, they saw Luke Bowman riding the farm bike along the side of the road; Luke was about to muster the paddock with the Hereford cow that was left in the paddock the night before last.
Bruce rode with Colin, putting the cattle out on the side of the road for some really good pick. Water was close by in the creek, so the cattle were very easy to look after for the day. Rose and Jan spemt some time out on the road with the donation buckets, gathering some more donations to the total.
Dan, Caroline and Luke were still doing a great deal of ground work with Jenny at Tamworth in preparation for the Country Music Festival. Lucas spent the afternoon calling farmers for donated stock.
Ian worked on the journals until the afternoon, before heading out with Colin to put the cattle off the road and back into the reserve.
The recon’ crew arrived back to camp just on dark and sat down to enjoy another great meal (courtesy of Liz) around the campfire. After a busy couple of days, the crew was happy to turn in at a reasonably early hour.
Thursday 9th January
Col was yet again the early riser, getting the cattle out on the road and pushing them toward David Nixon’s yards, where they were to be drafted. The fifty best cattle in the starter mob are to be sold tomorrow in Tamworth, as the prices at Gunnedah’s Tuesday sale had been good.
As Col and Ian completed of the drafting, Dan and “Bundy” arrived pushing the horses, which were placed in the stock reserve, and soon after the cattle not to be sold joined them. Water was a bit scarce, as the trough at the yards was very slow to fill, and the only other water was in an almost dry dam about half a kilometre further along the stock route.
The cattle headed for the sale received priority treatment, being allowed to graze along the roadside, and pushed up to the dam to drink from there, whilst the remaining cattle stayed in the reserve until late in the afternoon, when the sale cattle were returned to the yards. The horses and remaining cattle were then let out onto water, but not before the horses had found some nice mudholes in the reserve to wade into, attempting to roll.
Charlie Hart from Wesfarmers arrived in the late afternoon to do the final selections for the sale, with exactly fifty of the mob heading off to the sale tomorrow.
Friday 10th January
An early start for Dan and Col, as they headed out to David’s yards early to ensure the cattle were all loaded at 7.00am for trucking to Tamworth yards and the sale there.
Afterwards, Dan headed to Tamworth for the sale, whilst Col and Ian pushed the cattle over some fairly poor roadside pick toward the Manilla River, until finding good grass about half a kilometre from the bridge. The cattle had walked really well, but they were thirsty and the leaders were very keen to get over the bridge and down to water on the far side. They were held at the approach of the bridge until the tail caught up (another steer had gone lame over the past few days and was having a lot of trouble keeping pace with the other cattle).
Col, Bek and Bruce helped get both the horses and cattle over the bridge, and after a really big drink of the cool, running water, the cattle and horses feasted on the long green grass growing on the river flats. The tucker was so good that the mob spent the whole day within about 700 metres of the bridge, and the cattle were then placed in an electric break that Bruce had erected under the bridge, allowing the cattle to be on water the entire night.
Luke took Colin’s truck and the trailer to pick up a Murray Grey Bull and two heifers that John and Cath Hickey had donated the previous day. This donation was the biggest one to date and was extremely generous, as the bull was a very large beast, and both the smaller heifers were in excellent condition. Because the cattle were in such great nick, it was decided that they should go straight into Tamworth for the sales today as well, so Col, Luke and Liz jumped in the truck and transported them to market.
After the sales , Dan stayed in town to finish of some jobs there, and get his two dogs checked over by the vet. Col, Luke and Liz returned to the camp, and Col immediately grabbed the car and headed up to do some work with two new horses that he had also picked up from John Hickey. Both horses are full brother and sister and are big, solid buckskins. Evidently, neither has done much work, so Col expected a bit of a tough time with them, but this turned out not to be the case.
As today was Ian’s birthday, he and Bek headed into Manilla for dinner at the Chinese Restaurant at the RSL Club. They were a bit grubby from the road, so dropped in at the River Gums Caravan Park and were greeted by Françoise Pernoud, who with her husband Eric, operates the park.
On arriving at the RSL at 7.30pm they were surprised to see Dan’s four wheel drive parked outside, and after wandering in discovered that Dan had passed the hat around on his way back from Tamworth, and received $500.00 in donations from patrons at the Club.
John and Cath Hickey were guests in camp for dinner tonight, and enjoyed a great night around the fire with the crew, Dan and Lucas taking turns on the guitar. Luke attempted to sing some great songs…
Saturday 11th January
Camp was moved from Manilla River to Manilla Showgrounds. Col and Dan started the cattle off and they again moved quickly away from the river.
Later, Dan, Caroline, Lucas and Ian headed to town to do some canvassing for auction items, only to find that the Lions club had already beat them to it the day before, so Ian got the public address gear set up in the support vehicle.
Luke and Dan drove about town spruiking over the public address system now residing in the four wheel drive, about the street parade and evening activities being held in association with the Lions Club. Bruce and Bek also came in to see the local farrier, in an attempt to get some very large sized shoes for the new horses.
Dan and Lucas would be a while, so Ian hitched a ride back to camp with Bek and Bruce, so that he could push the horses along to catch up with the mob. By this time the leaders of the mob were almost at the reserve, so after consulting with Col (who was bringing up the rear), Bruce turned them back.
Peter and Ken Towle from Tamworth called into camp, after seeing the entourage parked on the side of the road. The team will be riding past Ken’s place on the way into Tamworth, and he let us know that there are camels on his place, so we will have to be a little wary of the horses reactions as we pass them.
Ian and Dan brought the horses up, which seemed to take no time at all, and all the stock got a great drink from the river just at the back of the reserve. The reserve is a popular destination for locals to have an angle, swim or paddle.
A local lady, Brenda, who is closely involved with the Manilla Lions Club, had done a great job organising a parade through the main street of town, as well as putting together a combined fundraiser, benefiting both “Campfires” and the local swimming pool. The parade was excellent, all the horses performing very well with a full complement of team riders and visitors. The reception from the public was magnificent and all the riders enjoyed the applause that followed the horses up the street. Dale, John and Barb walked the street with donation buckets, collecting coins and notes from the spectators.
After the parade, Dan fired up the amplifier and speakers in the main street and belted out a few songs, before the charity auction, and then performed quite a few more songs at the completion of the bidding. It was the first time he had seen locals doing “The Chicken Dance” across the main street of their town. Bruce and John Williams put on a couple of demonstrations of horse shoeing for the gathered crowd.
Ian and Bek had a chance meeting with Diana Wallis, a local artist who took their photo whilst they were standing on the street just outside her home. After seeing some of the work that Diana had done with the local paragliding area, Ian mentioned that he would like to take a tandem flight. Diana told him to head back to the River Gums Caravan Park and see Eric, as he could probably organise a flight with a couple of his visitors without a problem.
Sunday 12th January
Col and Ian headed out early this morning to bring the cattle and horses in from the reserve, about seven kilometres from town. They allowed the cattle to graze on the adjoining road and one end of the showgrounds for the remainder of the day.
The horses were placed inside an electric tape at the showgrounds overnight and cleaned up a good amount of the long grass close to the pound yards, whilst the cattle were pushed out onto the adjoining campdraft grounds for the night.
Dale, Liz, Bek and Caroline took advantage of the fine and windy weather to do an absolute mountain of washing that had accumulated over the past couple of weeks.
Bek, Ian and Liz went to see Eric at the Caravan Park about the possibility of a paraglide, but as it was going to take some time, he offered them the use of his hire kayaks. Late in the afternoon, the three kayaked about six kilometres from last night’s reserve into the low level bridge in town, down the Manilla River - which was an experience! All of them managed to capsize the vessels underneath trees, filling them with water and getting thoroughly drenched themselves. It took a little over an hour to make the trip down to the pick up point, and Eric was on the spot quickly to pick up the kayaks and return the paddlers to the camp.
Dan and Lucas spent the afternoon collecting a number of donated cattle from around the district.
Monday 13th January
Morgan McIlrick, an eight year old local rider, and Merel Purmer from Holland, joined the riders for the day, and were ready to go nice and early. They joined Col, Bruce, Jan and Rose, taking the cattle out on the road this morning, heading for a reserve about nine kilometres toward Attunga.
Col returned to camp fairly early, and together with Lucas, Bek, Dale, John, Barb, and Dan, headed up into the hills to watch Ian and Liz take their first ever paraglide, which Eric from the River Gums Caravan Park had organised. It took a little while for the winds to subside to a launchable speed. Whilst everyone was waiting the national champion, Rhett, turned up for a fly. Luke was ready to catch any slip-ups for “Funniest Home Video’s”.
Ian was first away, climbing into a tandem rig with Frédéric Demarle from France. The launch was quite scary as the wind dropped just as the pair became airborne, resulting in a very near miss with the ground, before lifting off and sailing into the air – unreal feeling but a tad scary… Santiago Ayala from Colombia loaned his tandem rig to Benjamin Staub, a Swiss bloke who was Liz’s pilot. Liz enjoyed a great flight as well, also having a bit of a scare on launch, and getting a little queasy toward the end of the flight.
Tonight’s reserve was located on the old roadside, and the water was in good supply from a bore at the reserve. A local drover had cattle in the reserve, so Bruce erected two breaks, one for the horses and another for the cattle. Col and Ian took the horses out from Manilla to the reserve, and as they had been on good pick, most were very happy to trot the whole way.
Margrit and Nikki Beemster arrived in the early afternoon to take some photos for a story to appear in R M Williams’ Outback magazine. She was very keen to get some photo’s of a “typical” day on the road, including trying to obtain donations and collecting donated cattle. It was suggested that Luke go ahead with the truck and trailer, which already had five head on board, whilst Dan spent some time with Marg, explaining there was no such thing as a “typical” day on the ride, as it had been one adventure after the next. Just as they were discussing this fact, Lucas’ voice crackled over the UHF saying “Dan….I’m in a bit of trouble…I’m stuck”.
It turned out that the one side of an elevated cattle grid had collapsed leaving the truck stuck sideways on a very severe angle, threatening to roll with four tonnes of hay, feed and water on the truck, not too mention two tonnes of water and five cattle in the trailer. It was touch and go for several hours, and it took Col, Luke, Dan and Mick (the property owner) almost five hours to get the truck securely back on it’s wheels without further incident!
Marg got a very interesting first day – just another day at the campfires office…
The cattle moved along quite quickly, but pulled up near the holding yard, as feed was excellent in a gully.
Bruce took one of the support vehicles to collect some more donated bales of lucerne hay, kindly donated by a producer back up the road, and then delivered lunched that Bek and Dale had prepared for the riders on the road.
Ian was quite late in getting out to the break to move the horses, but they moved down the road well and arrived at Bruce’s newly erected break well before dark. The horses have been notorious lately for wanting to run down the middle of the bitumen, but of the most part today, they behaved themselves!
Margrit spent a great deal of the day gethering information and pictures for the magazine article.
In the evening, the entire team gathered for dinner around the campfire, along with the McIlrick family, Merel and her boyfriend Michael from Holland. Margrit took a heap of photo’s of the team around the fire and spoke individually to the crew members about their personal experiences with the ride to date. Dan also pulled out his guitar and sang a few of the team’s favourite songs.
Tuesday 14th January
Colin, Liz, Rose and Jan headed out with the cattle first thing this morning and moved them onward from the reserve toward Tamworth. The road today was wider and a little bit more pick could be found on the roadside.
The lock up for tonight is on a dry creek that has a heap of lush green grass, but sadly no water. The farmer from across the road was kind enough to allow us to water the cattle in his dam, which we will be forever grateful for.
Ian had a few chores to attend to in town, before Bruce gave him a ride out to the yard where the horses were locked up. For the second day in a row the horses went really well and behaved themselves.
Dan (who had covered the days kilometres quickly) Lucas and Caroline went into Tamworth, as they did not make it there yesterday, with all the ruckus caused by the stuck truck! They caught up with Jenny and finalised the arrangements for our arrival and the cattle sale.
In the evening, the entire team (including the Windle’s!) gathered for dinner around the campfire, along with the McIlrick family, Merel and her boyfriend Michael from Holland.
Margrit took a heap of photos of the team around the fire and spoke individually to the crewmembers about their personal experiences with the ride to date. Dan also pulled out his guitar and sang a few of the team’s favourite songs.
Wednesday 15th January
Today the cattle were moved down the road to a lockup on a creek around six kilometres south of Attunga, whilst the horses were left in the lockup back at Attunga for Dan and Ian to collect tomorrow.
Dale, Bruce, Ian, Bek, Caroline, Dan, and Lucas headed into Tamworth to print and distribute posters for the upcoming week’s activities.
Col, Liz, Rose and Jan remained behind to push the cattle to their evening’s destination but had a tough afternoon, as the cattle went through an electric fence near where they were to be camped, and then proceeded to run amok for some time. After all the running around and chasing cattle, all four were exhausted by the time they returned to camp with the cattle in the evening.
Back in Tamworth, the new camp for the next ten days had been set up on the banks of the Peel River. Once darkness began to fall, Ian and Bek stayed at camp to catch up on journals and keep an eye on things, whilst everyone else returned to Attunga for a function at the pub. The team raised around $800 for the evening from the small crowd that attended, before Col, Jan, Rose and Liz returned to their camp near the cattle, and everyone else travelled back into Tamworth.
Thursday 16th January
Ian was up early to print off journals before he, Bruce and Bek headed off to the Tamworth shopping centre to put posters up in stores and hand out brochures. They then returned to the main shopping centre and continued doing the same thing. Caroline and Lucas took care of a lot of posters further down the main street.
Col, Liz, Rose and Jan moved cattle from camp along a short cut that followed the old railway line, which saved at least two kilometres of following what was a fairly narrow road, and gave the cattle good opportunity to graze on the way into town. They got the cattle down to the holding paddock at around 2.00pm, and put the cattle onto water straight away.
Dan picked up Ian in the street and went out to Attunga at 12.30pm to saddle up and drive the horses the twenty odd kilometres into the holding paddocks. Two photographers from “The Australian” newspaper, Gloria and Rae arrived whilst Dan and Ian were en route and took photos of them and the horses.
Just as the horses reached the paddock, Bud Hyem pulled up, with a horse float carrying Kibah Tic Toc, Olympic gold medal winning horse, and a Prime TV crew arrived to take some footage of the 23-year-old champion.
Jake of “Shot by Jake” photographic fame also came out to take some supplementary shots for Outback magazine. He is a real character and managed to get some great shots of the horses, riders and their hats! It turns out that Jake is publishing a book of well travelled hats, and took some details of Dan’s and Ian’s now well travelled headwear.
Dan, Caroline, Jenny, Yola and John went out to for dinner with our good friends, Bruce and Nancy Hyman and their friends, where Dan provided some musical entertainment. They arrived back at camp fairly early and turned in preparing for what should be some days to follow.
Making the most of being back in a “big city”, Luke, Col, Liz, Jan and Rose had a meal out at a Chinese restaurant, before all except Rose headed out to the movies. The James’ and Bek stopped in camp and readied merchandise for tomorrow’s stall.
Friday 17th January - Sunday 26th January
Read all about our activities for the Tamworth County Music Festival by clicking here. Tamworth Report
Monday 27th January
It was a late departure for the riding members of the team this morning. There were a number of guest riders joining in for the 35 kilometre ride to Currabubula, including Phil Lammert (Area General Manager for Telstra Country Wide), and his friends Robo, Chelsea, Saxon, Archie, and Liz.
Catriona had a tough day as both horses that she rode gave her some grief in one way or another. “Flash”, Col’s new buckskin, simply did what he wanted to do, as he is so big and strong, and then Col’s black horse threw a tantrum each time a truck went past, saving his grand performance for a passing train!.
Dan had a sad and terrible incident on his mare “Bundy”. He was making his kilometres quickly to get back to town to finish some loose jobs and paperwork when “Bundy” shied near a railway crossing and went through a fallen wire fence camouflaged in the long grass, getting her hind leg badly tangled and severing a tendon in her left hind leg. A rapid trip to the vet resulted in a prognosis that was not particularly good, with at least a year to recover and no guarantees for her soundness after that.
The remaining crew had a huge morning packing up the area where we had been camping for the duration of Tamworth. As it was a public holiday for Australia Day today, all the businesses that we had to returned borrowed items to were closed, meaning that a return trip would be required tomorrow to drop back tables to Coates Hire, keys back to the City Council, the motor bike to Ride! Motorcycles and the marquee together with the extension leads to Country energy
The camp was a little fragmented for the evening, as the horses were being kept in the paddock behind the Currabubula Hotel, where Col and Liz would be stopping to keep an eye on them. Bruce and Dale had a breakdown with an electrical gremlin, also at Currabubula, and set up the van just up the road from the hotel. Meanwhile, the rest of the team, along with the visitors, were camped further up the road at the Werris Creek Equestrian Centre.
All the team, except Bruce and Dale, went to the Werris Creek Town Park for an evening under the stars, with a few local performers belting out numbers from the back of a truck. Almost the whole town was there, taking up their positions in folding chairs, and almost filling the park! The local Lions Club was on hand, busily providing refreshments to the gathered people.
Dan jumped up on stage and performed a few of his favourites, and then changed hats and conducted another charity auction. The locals supported our merchandise table really well, and at the end of the evening we had raised in the vicinity of $3000.00, which was an extremely impressive result.
Everyone crawled into bed tired, but satisfied that tonight had been a great success and brilliantly supported, given that it was the Monday night at the end of a long weekend!
Tuesday 28th January
An early start for the riders this morning. Due to yesterdays mishap, Danny had to ride a total of just over 50 kilometres, making for a huge day for both him and his mounts and one of the longest days of the entire trip. “Topique”, Dan’s sentimental favourite, again was called upon to provide his stamina to carry Dan past Currabubula to Werris Creek before a change of mounts.
Today’s destination was Quirindi, about 35 kilometres from Currabubula, a town with a larger than expected population of 4,500 people. It was another long day in the saddle for Phil, who put in a powerhouse effort by staying in the saddle for the entire day, although he was noticeably silent in his suffering from about lunchtime onwards. Robo, Liz and Chelsea all had a turn in the saddle and enjoyed the ride, although the heat and distance did take their toll. Liz pulled the pin after sticking out most of the day, the northern heat proving the biggest obstacle for the English lass. Yola had ridden ahead and beat the rest of the team into town by a fair margin.
Luke took Col’s truck back to Tamworth to get new tires fitted, as the old ones were looking past there use-by date!
A surprise for many of the team was the resignation of Jenny from her role as Events Co-ordinator. Jen, who had been with the ride since Darwin, decided to return to the Gold Coast and left the team with her best wishes. The team will miss Jen’s efforts, as her pre-visit liaison in towns was invaluable prior to the riders’ arrival. We wish her all the best and trust that she will get a few more hours sleep for a while anyway!
The remainder of the riders rode into Quirindi Racecourse a little after 3.00pm and immediately set about getting things organised for the trip back to Tamworth. Yola and John had already returned to Tamworth to drop off the borrowed tables and some other gear, whilst Bruce, Dale and Ian headed back to do some running around dropping back keys, motorcycles and getting Barb Windle’s computer power supply fixed. Dan and Caroline went back to take care of the banking and some more administrative jobs.
Whilst many of the team were in Tamworth, Saxon, Archie and Liz had to head back in the direction of Sydney so that Liz could catch her flight back to the UK.
The team had to return to Quirindi before dark as a small welcome function was being held at the Quirindi Hotel, with the local Lions Club putting on a sausage sizzle and a few locals turning out to say G’day. Yola and John did a lap of the other pubs and clubs in town with stubbie holders and CD’s before heading back to camp. Robo and Chelsea were all helping Phil celebrate his achievement in sticking out the full two days in the saddle, with Col, Ian and Liz, Bruce, and Dale joining in as well. The local hairdresser, Melissa, grabbed a ticket in the Art Union, and reckoned a few other people in town would buy one as well – Ian made a mental note of this for tomorrow afternoon’s activities.
It was a great night for a laugh and the biggest was saved for trying to find a seat for everyone in the cars on the way back to the home from the hotel!
Wednesday 29th January
The night was a little cooler than the past few, so a better nights sleep was had by all. After the good-byes were said to Phil, Robo, Chelsea, Liz and Catriona, the riders headed out on the road toward Willow Tree. Willow tree was only about fifteen kilometres down the road, and we turned on to the New England Highway for about three kilometres before turning off it again at Willow Tree. It was strange to be on such a busy road and it was amazing how many trucks passed the riders in such a short distance.
Chelsea, Robo and Liz stopped and had a quick yarn as they passed and were amazed at how quickly the “normal” riders had covered the kilometres, as opposed to the visiting riders. Minutes later, Fred, the paraglider pilot for Ian’s tandem flight, stopped and said goodbye, as he was catching a plane back to France later in the afternoon. He had just left when Phil from Telstra caught up, after dropping Catriona back at Tamworth Airport. Talk about it never rains…
Tonight’s campsite was a Travelling Stock Reserve about fifteen kilometres south-west of Willow Tree, and the riders covered the thirty-odd kilometres by 2.00pm.
Bianca Jones, a friend of Lucas’ arrived from Newcastle not long after the team arrived in camp. The crew had been expecting her visit, and her arrival was perfectly timed, as Dan and Ian needed a lift back to town as all the vehicles that would normally be used were tied up with other duties. Once in town, Dan went to catch up with Caroline, who was busy in the bank taking care of depositing some of the donation money we had received since Tamworth.
As the opportunity had been missed to sell Art Union tickets yesterday, Ian hit the streets and managed to sell six $100.00 Art Union tickets to main street businesses before the shops closed, in only half the main street!
Dan and Caroline had returned to camp and the rest of the crew had made their way there. Dan completed some emails and computer work before he and Caroline headed back into town to collect Ian.
A reasonably early night as everyone hit the hay, and we are hoping for a cooler day’s ride tomorrow.
Thursday, 30th January
A cooler day was not to be, with another humid and warm day on the track for the team.
The riders were a little late leaving camp this morning as they all bade farewell to the Windle’s, who are returning to The River Gums Caravan Park at Manilla for a couple of weeks. John is keen on catching some fish, and Barb is keen on enjoying some cooler day’s by the creek.
Todays ride took us into some serious hills for the second time so far (if you count the hills between Mt Isa and Cloncurry!). We rode over the Liverpool Ranges and down into the valley, stopping at a Travelling Stock Reserve about thirty-two kilometres from Merriwa. The ride was spectacular to say the least, starting out with huge flat plains of fertile back soil (one could almost grow babies in it!) with waving grass and large expanses of irrigated crops (mainly lucerne) creating a mosaic of paddocks for as far as the eye could see. This vista then gave way to a spectacular backdrop of the ranges, which rise steeply from the plains, and are as rugged as the flat land is fertile.
Along the way, Noel Saunders pulled over to say g’day and ended up buying an Art Union Ticket on the side of the road! He reckons that the land around here is as bad as it gets, but we reckon it looks fantastic, after some of the other drought affected land we have seen. He also said that the topsoil in the valleys is very deep and basically self-fertilising, if you keep turning it over.
On arriving at the camp, the crew settled in to the afternoon, as there was nothing happening until Merriwa in the evening. It was very warm so the most of the crew found the coolest spot they could to catch up on some much-needed sleep
Jim Alker, a friend Dan had met on the road during the original reconnaissance trip eighteen months ago had been lending a terrific hand in organising the Merriwa function. Jim had rung a mate, Peter, who was the manager of a very large property owned by a leading Australian businessman, to organise the team’s stay for the night. Dan rang Pete and explained that the horses needed to do specific kilometres that day to help us keep on track, and although the offer was generous, we would probably not stay. Pete said he would call down later to see what we were up to.
Ian was working on the computer, doing the journals, when Pete pulled up on a tractor. Seeing that it was such a hot day, invited a few of the team up to the house for a swim and a shower.
As it was so warm, and it had been a while since any of the team had a chance to go swimming, Dan, Caroline, Col, Bruce, Dale and Ian jumped at the chance. Unfortunately for Lucas and Bianca (who had both returned to Quirindi to sell Art Union Tickets) they missed out on quite a surreal afternoon. They managed to sell 10 tickets and obtain $75 in donations during that afternoon though!
It turned out that since buying the property four years ago, the owner has spent a huge amount on improving the property, and we were stunned by what we found on arrival. A huge in-ground pool, surrounded by manicured lawns, stone paths and modern garden furniture, sitting in front of a fabulous games room with a full-sized snooker table, bar and Wurlitzer jukebox! The buildings, and grounds were all immaculate and spotlessly kept.
We enjoyed a swim in the pool before Peter took us on a quick guided tour of the property (which included the dispatching of a snake that had taken up residency in the pond close to the main house).
By the time we came back to the pool it was time to make tracks into Merriwa for tonight’s function. On arriving back at the reserve, both Dan and Bruce discovered flat tyres on their vehicles, which had to be changed before leaving for the do. We reckoned that there must have been a stake somewhere in the gateway to the reserve, but could not find anything.
Jim Alker had mobilised the town of Merriwa and there was an excellent turnout at the Hotel. Dan played a heap of great songs to the crowd and our charity auction went really well. We included the two seven week old Kelpie pups that Bill McIlrick from Lazycreek Stud at Manilla had donated and brought down to Tamworth for us; the hot days on the road lately have been tough on the puppies, so it was good to see them go to good homes.
All up the Merriwa function raised $4000.00, a great result in a town of Merriwa’s size, which we were ecstatic with.
The team made it back out to camp after midnight and turned in, looking forward to the ride into Merriwa tomorrow.
Friday 31st January
Yet another hot day greeted the riders, and a flat tyre on Bianca's car made the total three flat tyres in the past 24 hours! The tyre shop did a roaring trade with all the tyres to fix up. Bianca had to head back to Newcastle early this morning and left without picking up the spare for her car.
The riders arrived right on time to carry the flags down the main street to a great reception from the local residents and storeowners.
Camp was made at the showgrounds, and the crew has been happy to be getting all the appliances hooked up to mains power every second day or so, as opposed to running the generator. It's a lot quieter around camp without the constant bark of the generator, and no refuelling either!
Ian disappeared to the local council's Rural Technology Centre, where it was a tad cooler than outside, to work on the journal's, media releases, a poster for the upcoming concert and check some emails. At just after 5.00pm, the team saddled up and took two vehicles across to Scone for a fundraiser night at the local Bowling Club. The trip was a slow and arduous one, as there was a strong headwind and steep hills for the entire journey.
Dan had a big night singing and had a lot of the locals up on the dance floor for the entire night! He managed to find a number of new fans by the end of the evening, several asking where they could buy his CD! Merchandise and Art Union tickets also sold very well.
John and Yola headed out and did a couple of raffles and sold some CD's and stubbie holders at a few of the pubs, whilst Col and Caroline did the same at another of the pubs in town.
Back in Merriwa, Bruce and Dale sold CD's and stubbie holders in the hotels and then headed to the RSL to do a raffle. It was there that they were handed five vests that one of the patrons son's had found on the roadway on the way to Merriwa. We later concluded that they must have been missed when a box fell out of the ute.
Col and Lucas secured the donation of a ute load of lucerne hay and immediately loaded 24 bales from a nearby property.
The trip home for the team in Scone seemed longer than the trip across, and everyone was exhausted by the time they arrived at camp around 12.45am.
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