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Friday, 1st November
A fair amount of last minute running around had to be done in preparation for tonight’s function in Blackall. The last of the donated items had to be picked up and a last minute check with the mayor, Cr Les Wheelhouse, on his attendance at the function.
Not having the 5 road crew here in Blackall has certainly put a little more pressure on getting everything done.
The owners of the Prince of Wales Hotel, Lenore and Kerry Fletcher, have four travellers from the UK working for them. All were rostered on for what was very busy evening. Bruce and Dale agreed with Ian that one of the ladies, Kate Davies, could be a twin for a girl who used to live in Albury – the resemblance was remarkable (Amy Loveless – you do indeed have a twin in the world).
Two of “The Girls”, as they are referred to, have been in Blackall for nearly three months. Fran from York and Arleen from Aberdeen have been travelling together and have spent a large portion of their travel time working here. They have enjoyed it immensely, as they have been able to see the real outback and characters that go with it, all the while feeling safe in their lodgings and town because of the great community here.
Lucy from Leicester is the youngest of the group at 20. Straight out of college, Lucy is enjoying her stay in Australia and will work here for a few weeks before moving on again with Kate.
The auction night kicked off with a couple of raffles and did not really fire up until after 9.00pm. Everyone had a great time with the Crawchie (Yabby) racing and the auction. Chris Grant and Jeremy Barron shared the auctioning duties and did a magnificent job – both are really excellent at the skill of auctioneering. The Crawchie races raised $500 which was split between the winner and Campfires.
A disco was held in conjunction with the event and the dance floor was packed for most of the evening, with many locals coming to support the event, and the dancing did not wind up until around 2.00am. Ian gave a hand cleaning up and managed to crawl into bed around 3.30am. Lenore insisted that Ian stay in one of the upstairs rooms for the rest of his time in Blackall. After 151 consecutive nights in the swag, Ian accepted the offer, as the room and bed in question appeared infinitely more comfortable than the swag!
The travelling crew said goodbye to the Gold Coast and left the resort travelling some 100 kilometres north of Brisbane to the Jimna Mud, Bulls and Music festival.
The festival site is a beautiful setting in forest on the slopes of the Great Dividing Range. Col, Dan and Luke were on route for the festival while Dave and Jen made a slight detour to pick up ‘Buddy’ who had been resting at his own pet hotel. The boys couldn’t believe how happy he was and are suspicious that Buddy may have won a heart whilst not in Jenny and Dave’s care. He Buddy appears a little uneasy about the prospect of Puppy Support!
It was time to set up the stall in sideshow/catering area and waited for crowd to arrive. Friday is usually the quiet day, so Luke and Dan decided to load themselves with CD’s and stubby coolers and doorknocked tent city around the slopes of the park. Col and Jen sold stubby holders around the bar area and took donations from the gate, while Dave looked after the stall. A very successful day which pushed our takings for the day to $2,160.00. Sara Storer was the main attraction on stage in the evening and gave us a plug or two. After Sara’s performance, she grabbed a security guard and tiptoed around the grounds to see us at our stall, and then indulged in a rum or two behind the cover of our price board. On ya Sara! (Col reckons your beautiful!) – Truth is, all the boys lined up for a hug – which must have reminded Sara heaps of her primary school teaching days!!
Saturday, 2nd November
A quiet and slow start to this morning, as all of the crew in Blackall had a very late evening after the wonderful night just gone. When all the fundraising was tallied up the evening resulted in a total of just on $2000 raised, including raffles, merchandise, crawchie racing and donations.
John and Yola have raised over $3,000 in the last few days through their fundraising at the RSL and doorknocking local homes and businesses.
As Ian had left the printer running in his room last night, the Blackall Certificates of Appreciation had been completed and were ready for distribution to the people who had made the evening such a great success. Unfortunately, many of the businesses that made donations were not open on Saturday, so they would have to wait until Monday.
If you drop in for a visit in Blackall, make sure you keep an eye out for the special lunch prices at the Acacia Motor Inn restaurant, and close by is Seymour’s Department Store – where an amazingly diverse range of products is stocked on the shelves and racks. The newsagent also has one of the best ranges of books and magazines in the west as well.
At Jimna, it was just another day at the office, very hot (in the high thirties) but everyone soldiered on. Dave again manned the stall until lunch while Luke and Dan persevered on one side of the hill, while Col (then Dave) and Jen kept chipping away on the other - and made a whopping $5,007.00!
Lee Kernaghan, the main attraction for the weekend gave the ride a HUGE plug and Dan later visited him back stage to have a quick yarn about mutual family friends and the big concert in Albury on the 5th of April next year. It was also a chance to get a few autographs to auction and get Lee to sign the celebrity stockwhip, which will be auctioned at the concert. The evening was thoroughly enjoyed by all.
Danny entered into the talent quest to try his luck and plug the Campfires stall, and made it through to the finals tomorrow!
Sunday, 3rd November
The Blackall crew is making preparations for a Tuesday departure with the horses.
Not a lot happens on Sunday in Blackall as the shops (with the exception of Sharkey’s Take-Away) have definitely not embraced Sunday trading!
Bruce, Dale and Ian headed out to Blackall Pony Club grounds at 3.00pm as Jenny Turner had arranged earlier in the week. In all about a dozen riders were in attendance, with riders aged from five to adult. All were fantastic to work with and had an enjoyable afternoon brushing up on the finer points of troupe drill, mounting and dismounting, basic riding, sporting and jumping events.
The pubs in Blackall (The Prince and the Barcoo) are popular places for a social afternoon drink and a game of darts, although they all shut pretty early on a Sunday evening. The Prince of Wales kicked on as Kerry and Lenore were hosting a function for the local Rugby team and the social club; although the bar was shut – the beer garden rocked on until the early morning – meaning a difficult (for the first part anyway) evenings sleep for Ian!
Once again John and Yola had been doorknocking to contribute to the Blackall total.
At Jimna, it was a quieter final day of the festival today. Dan was having trouble talking after 2 days straight of selling and had to perform in the final of the talent quest at 1:00pm.
Six people were through to the finals and he finished outside the top three. He was first to admit that even at his best he “wouldn’t have had a hope” against the talent that was on offer.
Takings today were $1650.00, but the festival was basically over by lunchtime. The crew packed up to turn their heads for home and headed for Toowoomba where they camped for the night.
Jen and Dave went in search of Jen’s son who was living in the area, and the three boys went down to a local Irish Pub for a couple of drinks. After a quick phone call to Brendon Walmsley, he and fiance Carmen joined them. It wasn’t until after they left, that the night took a romantic twist for the worst.
Dan relates: “An old bloke was sitting over at the bar drinking by himself and recognised Brendon, and then came over to speak with him. After a brief chat Brendon and Carmen had to make tracks and the old bloke was back to his drink. I felt a bit sorry for the old fella and thought he’d really like a Trail Of Dreams CD, which Brendon features on. I suppose he was in his late 70’s, and maybe the gesture would spark him up a bit. Well it didn’t take long to realise that he had all the spark he needed, probably had bells, whistles and a bloody G-String too – he was as gay as they come! So here I am giving him all the wrong impressions while trying desperately to politely retrieve may hand back, that was offered for a friendly handshake – the same hand he wouldn’t let go of!
When I finally got my hand out, this bloke held reasonably tight right down to the end of my middle finger. This of course helped with my echidna impersonation, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as striaght as a gun barrel. From there it was a ‘good luck’ and a quick retreat back to Col and Luke. I said to them “That old buggers a bloody poof !” and Luke replied “Nah he’s just old and has lost his marbles,” I said “I think he knows where his bloody marbles are”! It was then that he came over with his gayest, tightest lipped smiling face, and sat down in between Luke and I and tried to kick off a conversation….. “you come here often?” – you know the ones. I thought bugger this and shot through outside to ring Caroline, my girlfriend, in a desperate attempt to rescue my wounded manliness.
I wasn’t long outside when Col came out and said with an agitated voice “Come on - lets go”. I didn’t really give him a chance to explain why and replied with “I’m on the bloody phone and then I’ll just finish my beer”. Col had a bit of a worried look on his face and turned back in through the door. A little later Luke comes out with my beer and says “drink this we are leaving NOW!” I said “Righto mate comin… righto Caz gotta go…” and back into the pub I went.
Now Col was propped up at the bar looking a funny colour so I asked him what was wrong. He said he thought we were in a gay bar, and I asked how he knew. He said well it wasn’t that long after the old bloke got the message that we weren’t ‘battin’ for the other team’, when another young fella (probably about 25) came over with a half ripped shirt and the gayest possible voice and said “Ooo, a cowboy!!” I said “Holy S###, why didn’t you come and get me so we could go”, he said “I BLOODY TRIED !!!”
Now for those of you who don’t know Col, he is a huge bloke. About 6’4 and solid to match. Now when you walk in a pub and Col is propped on his stool eyes straight ahead, looking a bad colour, and the ice in his Bourbon whacking the sides of his glass, you know something is wrong.
Just prior to this, and while I was still on the phone. Luke was having a chat with another visitor to the area, and they were having a bit of a giggle about the night’s proceedings. Luke said, “Everyone in this pub are a few Kangaroos short in the top paddock”, and it was at that precise moment that one of the bar tenders turned around swearing and abusing a pot plant. A Bloody Pot Plant !!
So after apologising for not taking Col’s earlier request to leave seriously, we decided that it was probably best now to ‘show more toe than a Roman thong’ and get the hell out of there. I said “We may as well throw the swags out somewhere down near the showgrounds – I’ll just get half a dozen stubbies to take with us.”
Well, it must have taken what felt like half an hour, and no-one came to serve me, so I yelled out “Hey mate ! Can I have ˝ a D to go?” He said, “You probably can when the bartender gets there!” I was about to follow up with something to the effect of, “Well, isn’t that you?” when Luke stopped me and said “don’t worry about it Dan, I’ll explain later”.
So a bit bewildered I left that pub with Luke and Col, and once outside Luke explained to me that the bartender I was just talking with had previously had the altercation with a pot plant whilst I was on the phone.
I tell ya what, the swags were zipped up tight that night!
The results for Jimna were: Total sales and donations for three days totalled $11,094.00, making a grand total for Warwick and Jimna of $21,101.00!!
Monday, 4th November
Monday again was a fairly quiet day, with the boys due to arrive back from the epic road trip. The horses are starting to get a bit fresher at last, as they have started bickering amongst themselves again. Even Reg has had a great recovery from his foot injury, thanks to John and Yola’s ongoing care.
Ian finalised the last of the certificates of appreciation and delivered them to the businesses and people that helped us out during our stay, as well as organising a letter of introduction from Council to be passed on to the Tambo Shire. Our motorhoming friends, Graeme and Rhonda, have been helping around camp for the past week, helping with the feeding of the horse, dogs and calf. They spent today packing up and getting ready, as we were doing as well.
The boys did not arrive as expected, so all we could assume was that they have been waylaid along the way, as the mobile phone is not answering. And we trust that nothing major has happened.
What actually transpired was that the travelling team continued heading west, the Three Musketeers (Col, Luke and Dan - as they have come to be known) struck out for Blackall, whilst David and Jenny headed to Miles to plan future events, including Brendon Walmsley performing on Saturday 30th November at Miles.
The return trip turned out to be mildly adventurous. Col, Luke and Dan spent most of the morning at the Mick Willis Saddlery speaking with our friend Denise Gothe, who met the team whilst in Warwick. In fact, Denise was running the saddlery store next to the Campfires one at the Warwick Gold Cup. It provided an ideal opportunity to get the swags and a bit of gear stitched up.
After leaving Toowoomba at about lunchtime, it didn’t look like the three would be back at camp in Blackall until about 3-4am Tuesday morning. It was decided that there would be no point in going to sleep and that the horses might as well be saddled up straight away upon their arrival. This wasn’t to be. After collecting at least six ‘roos, and running out of diesel at Augathella at about 11:30pm, it was decided to roll the swags out and head off again after filling up in the morning, when the roadhouse would again be open. Maybe a blessing in disguise, as they were quite tired and the roads were littered with ‘roos and livestock.
Tuesday, 5th November
Still no sign of the return of the travelling group by 9.00am, so the phone was tried again. They were on their way… Once the servo’s opened again, the boys were away, and they finally arrived back in Blackall close to 10.00am. The news was pretty good in that they had a great run for the trip, raising in the vicinity of $20,000.00 for the week. Added to the $5800.00 from Blackall and Longreach, this made a really good result for the team.
We rode out late as the boys arrived so late, and Jenny Turner from the newspaper came out to take the teams photo as they rode out on the track.
It turned out to be quite a hot day and the camp seemed to take forever to reach. A bonus for the horses today as the camp had quite good feed for them to pick on overnight.
Since it was Melbourne Cup day, the boys were eager to get into town to watch the outcome. One thing about being from down south, you know exactly what time the race starts, except when daylight saving is already in place in New South Wales and Victoria and not in Queensland. We all missed Melbourne Cup due to time difference, and Dan was filthy as he had tipped the winner to his sister Tammy earlier in the week and wanted to put some money on Media Puzzle, who of course got up. A fairytale result for the connections, given the tragic events of the past few days with the death of the winning jockeys brother.
Notwithstanding, it was a great afternoon for which the town almost came to a standstill – during and even after the race!
Wednesday, 6th November
Another 40 kilometre day in the saddle, and a warm one at that! The riders were glad to see the camp and another lot of good pick to be had by the horses. As the Council had come to a standstill yesterday afternoon the letter for the Tambo Shire had not yet been completed. Ian was hopeful that some Council roadworkers he met along the road today would be back in Blackall during the day, and could return with the letter later in the afternoon – but unfortunately things didn’t quite finish that easily. A run back into town was required to pick up the letter, and also collect a souvenir for Dale (since Ian was going all the way back to town anyway!)
Dan realised, after Ian left, that the donation tins still needed to be collected from the establishments in town, so he Lucas and Col also returned to Blackall to make the collection run. All the while, neither Ian or the boys saw each other, even though they were in the same small town!
On return from town, Ian saw a number of thunderstorms moving around the area, and as fate would have it, one started a bushfire close to the road. Unsure if the fire had been reported, Ian called in at the next station, Swan Hill (named after the area in Victoria where the original settlers had come from) to report it. The storm had dumped a fair amount of rain in a narrow strip across the property, making sections of the driveway (7 kilometres in length) quite hazardous. After just missing two trees whilst sliding all over the slick black mud, Ian locked in four wheel drive, and that simple action certainly made life much easier. As it turned out, the fire was on Crown land, and as it posed no immediate threat, no-one was overly concerned.
Thursday, 7th November
Blurry eyed, Dan saddled up and started riding in the wrong direction – a bit bushed as he thought we were still camped at the previous nights stop! We were all wondering how long it would have taken for him to realise that he was headed West instead of East without someone pointing out the error of his ways!
Anthony Lynes, the CEO at Tambo organised for the team to stay at the newly constructed raceclub, gunclub and showground facilities on the outskirts of town. Great place for us to stop. The Tambo people were very welcoming and we look forward to our function tomorrow night.
Friday, 8th November
Rode 28 kilometres, then returned to Tambo – Ian spoke with year 5 to year 10 students at Tambo School, which seems an excellent school.
The function at the Royal Carrangarra Hotel raised just under $2000 and a wonderful night was had by those who attended. Dan set up the music gear and once the show was over and packed up he, Luke and Col walked to the other pub in town and it was here that Col secured the donation of 2 cows. Thanks to Peter and Christine Marks for their hospitality, and Audrey for her great service behind the bar. Peter is a cousin of Jossie Pilon at the Central Hotel in Longreach!
The team also met Julie Lysacht, the owner of the Club Hotel, who used to be a secretary for Lance Boswell in Albury many years ago.
Saturday, 9th November
28 kilometres ride headed off to Morven races, saw Dennis and Les from Mitta on the way to join us – yet another surprise. The team raised almost $1800 from raffles, merchandise and auction at race meeting. We discovered how small a world it was again when we met Terry Arnold, Josh Arnolds father, who was performing at the races, with his daughter Jaime. The boys had seen Josh performing at Jimna just a few days ago, and Terry invited Dan to do a few numbers with them.
Maggie, another young local singer impressed with her guitar and vocal skills.
Malcolm Crichton, the President of the Morven Race Club, helped us by auctioning a few items off – resulting in a $1800.00 day after the raffle, merchandise and auctions were taken in to account. Malcolm’s wife, Boosie had us laughing with her explanation of her nickname not having anything to do with drinking habits! For the record, Boosie’s real name is Helénč
Malcolm and Boosie were kind enough to donate some lamb for the crew to eat, which is a nice change from the steak that we have become accustomed to.
Sunday, 10th November
Another day at the office riding some 30 km’s. Les from Dartmouth (near Mittta) rode today and did a terrific job, however it was to leave him very sore for the rest of his stay.
A total fire ban has now been impossed on QLD, which makes it a little harder to cook meals. In spite of this John cooked up a magic feast.
Alwyn ‘Bruno’ Brunton of Albury is Dan’s duo partner at home and has taken on the role of organising the Lee Kernaghan concert. Bruno’s sister Bev has a 250,000 acre property just near camp, and called in to say g’day.
Monday, 11th November
Our ride today took us 32 kilometres into Augathella. The town is a little different to most as the highway passes by the very edge of the town, and you one can turn off the highway, straight into the main street. The old road actually ran through town, crossing the main street, but the old bridge over the Warrego River is now in a sad state and only allows light traffic of 15 tonnes or less.
As we passed the old bridge on the way to the rodeo grounds, we took note that there was no water under it at all. One of the long time residents said that he could not remember seeing it dry up under the bridge in the last 40 years – which gives us further confirmation of the difficult conditions we and the communities here continue to face.
We camped at the rodeo grounds, as we had on the journey up in June. The grounds are much different now – barren and dry, reflecting the drought conditions that grip the area. We saw a reasonable amount of stock today, sheep, cattle and horses, and most were showing the signs of the current dry spell.
The water is also very warm here, as it has been in most of the towns with artesian water supplies. There was no need to light the water heater for the showers, as the “cold” water was more than adequate for a hot shower!
Tuesday, 12th November
We rode out of Augathella this morning at daybreak. The morning was already quite warm and it was obvious that we were going to have to move along at a good pace to avoid the hotter part of the day.
With 30 kilometres to cover, the whole team made good time to be in tonight’s camp by 10.30am. Thankfully, the camp today has lots of shade and is on the banks of what would be a small creek if there was water in it!. After the hectic past few days and nights, the heat got the better of the riders and the whole crew put their heads down for a rest during the hottest part of the day; 4.30am rises, late and hot nights take their toll eventually…
Dan, Ian, Lucas and Col headed back to Augathella at 4.00pm to catch the Post Office. A couple of merchandise orders had to be filled, as well as a couple of important phone calls to organise some fresh supplies of Old Mac’s boots and Cool Fuel.
After this was taken care of, the boys headed to the Ellengowan Hotel to set up for this evenings function. A little later Dennis and Les arrived to see what was happening and catch up with the other boys.
As it was a Tuesday evening, we did not expect a huge attendance and this proved to be the case. John and Yola popped in for a while, but decided to return to camp when it was obvious that the crew outnumber the patrons of the pub. Dennis and Les stuck around for a while and decided to call it quits after grabbing a fisherman’s basket each for dinner.
However the evening worked out to be reasonable in the end; as the boys were refuelling for the trip back to camp, Gary at the local BP roadhouse took 20 of our CD’s to sell – so there was a lot of consolation in that regard. Gary had originally asked for 10 CD’s but when Col delivered 20 he didn’t argue.
After a quiet night, everyone was back at camp and in bed before 10.00pm – the first time in what seemed like ages!
Wednesday, 13th November
A short ride today, about 26 kilometres down the road in perfect riding conditions. Overcast and threatening to rain, although no smell of moisture in the breeze. Dennis rode for the first time today, his horse having made a good recovery from the nasty rope burn around his heel.
The terrain changed a lot today as we are starting to see real hills again. The ground ranged from blacksoil to stony red soil, to sand and a small amount of dark sandy loam. Amazing really considering the small distance we rode.
A couple of lads that we met at Kynuna dropped in on their way past, and we are now noticing a lot more vehicles tooting and waving as they pass the riders or the campsite. Even later in the evening we hear truck horns blowing – which is really great of them. The truckies are a great bunch and have been keeping an eye out for us and looking after us on the roads.
Thursday, 14th November
Rode from the roadside camp early this morning and covered the 30 kilometres into Morven in good time. The riders were met by a compliment of locals about three kilometres from the town. The riders were Anne, Tom, Brandon, Ian, Julie, Lachlan, Britt and Paula walked in on foot, leading one of the smaller ponies.
We had a laugh when Tom (about 4 years old) jumped off his horse accidently landing in a small pile of ‘roo manure, and Brittany (his sister) said to him “Did you poop yourself Tom? I just saw that little nugget fall out of your trouser leg when you got off” to which he replied “That’s not mine … that’s ‘roo sh*t” – absolutely precious!
Ian (the one from Morven) did some spectacular dismounts from one of Julie’s horses, a thoroughbred fresh in from the paddock. First up the horse decided to jump a muddy section on the roadside caused by overflow from the town water supply, causing Ian to part company with his mount. Upon remounting, Ian missed the saddle, landing unceremoniously on the horses loins, at the same time gripping with his heels – firmly in the horses flanks – before the horse commenced to spin in small circles, performing some mild humps… Needless to say it was only a few seconds before he and the horse once again parted company – this time a fair bit harder – more damage to pride than anything else though!
This evening saw the team head to the Morven Hotel for another fundraising evening. Dan sang up a storm and the local crowd lapped up the live entertainment, singing and dancing their way into the early morning. The evening turned out so good that Danny received a return invitation for Saturday night, which will fit in well with the team’s movements for the weekend.
We are trying our hardest to bring rain with us at the moment – the clouds have been building up in the afternoons, and it is quite humid during this time. We have seen heaps of storms passing around the area, but hardly any drop rain of decent amounts
Friday, 15th November
This mornings ride from Morven was was about 30 km’s, a touch past Mungalala.
Tonight the crew were to split up again with some attending the Mungalala Pub and some drove ahead to the western Hotel in Mitchel. The Mitchel Hotel function had turned into a relatively quiet affair, as the do was set up in the beer garden just as the heavens opened up. Of course nobody, not even us, could curse the rain, but it was a bit dissapointing that it only opened up for a very short period of time. Only enough to settle the dust but plenty to dampen the nights proceedings.
The crew quickly set up the stall and music equipment inside in a much smaller area and continued with the night.
After some music and the charity auction, there didn’t seem quite enough people to justify Dan singing through the PA gear, so he unplugged the guitar and sat with some newly made friends, and he and the rest of the crew, together with about 15 locals, laughed sang and drank to the early hours of Saturday morning.
Approximately $1,500 raised for the night.
Saturday, 16th November
Another busy day after a big night in Mitchell last night. The team woke early and headed off down the track for a 30-kilometre ride to our last roadside stop for the next week or so. The ride was very pleasant, as the cooling rains from the storms last night had been concentrated on the area around Mungallala, which was the halfway point for today’s ride. Dan’s car was low on diesel and we thought we would get some in Mungallala, but unfortunately they were out and this meant that we would have to drive into Mitchell to refuel – before heading back to Morven for another show tonight.
As the team arrived at camp early, it was a good opportunity to grab a quick siesta before Dan, Ian, Col and Lucas jumped in the car and headed to Morven at 5.00pm. They must have been looking for us as Bianca from the Morven Hotel Motel rang whilst we were en route to check on our arrival time!
Jenny and David came out from Mitchell so that they could help John and Yola with the planned evening at Mungallala, whilst Bruce and Dale would stay and look after the horses in camp.
Mungallala turned out to be a very quiet night, with only about eight patrons in the hotel, so running raffles and selling merchandise was very difficult, however the crew at Mungallala managed to raise $445 from the small gathering! Mungallala is a very small town – but has a great pub!
It was astounding to find all the people who were at last Thursday night’s do all back at the Morven Hotel, but this time there were a heap of new faces as well. We conducted another couple of raffles, ran a quick auction and Dan played the evening accompanied by the local lass Maggie Burey. Maggie is only 16 and has been playing for just twelve months – she has amazing talent and will no doubt become a future star in country music.
Everyone again enjoyed a great nights entertainment and dancing – until the hotel had to close at 12.30am, so a fair number of the revellers adjourned to Lionel’s (Maggie’s Dad) place for an impromptu party. The campfires team stuck around until nearly 3.30am listening to Maggie, Lionel and Dan take turns at performing sing-along songs on the front verandah of the house. By the time the boys made it back to camp it was just over an hours time to be up and riding again!
Sunday, 17th November
The riders headed out at a little after 6.00am this morning as a welcome cool change allowed a later start. It turned out to be a beautiful day for riding the 28 kilometres into Mitchell, with sunny skies and a nice cool breeze. The horses travelled really well with the cooler temperatures as well.
The riders are all looking forward to the rest day tomorrow in town, although we will saddle up to carry out a little formality with the Council, exchanging letters of introduction.
The crew occupied the afternoon by visiting the thermal spa pool and taking in the sights of town. We have set up camp at the showgrounds in town, which is a bit sparse on grass, but has good shade and facilities.
Dan went for a quick walk in search of a bank and discovered an artist’s studio with some wonderful light horse sketches. As luck would have it, the artist, Madeline Cobb, was working in the store and Dan arranged to meet up with her a little later in the day to talk some more about a commissioned work that he wanted.
As we have been on a fairly strong push forwards, it was a good opportunity to catch up with washing, journals and general housekeeping. It is amazing how much dirt, dust and grass works its way in around the caravan, truck, cars and swags.
John Murray dropped in again on his mare, Honey, with only a small stick and rope as tack, and confirmed our visit tomorrow afternoon for a full demonstration of the tricks that his mare can perform. Not long after Jack arrived, Madeline pulled in and joined us for dinner, catching up with Dan again.
Jen has a huge task on her hands organising the proceedings of major future events, and has spent the last few days working out of loaned office space in the Shire Council.
Monday, 18th November
Dan was surprised to receive an early visit from a kangaroo shooter who presented Dan with a small orphaned kangaroo joey. Dan wasn’t even out of bed, and the kangaroo was popped inside the living area of the truck where Dan was dozing. The little bloke quickly earned the name "sixty-minutes" after his continuous "clicking", which Dan was a little concerned about, thinking that maybe a bomb had been thrown into his living area! The ‘roo is a cheeky little chap who will hopefully adjust to life on the road from now on.
Madeline Cobb was also an early arrival at camp this morning, making the most of the early light to get some photo’s of Dan and the horses for artistic reference.
Dan and Jenny got stuck into the computers this morning, checking and actioning emails as well as making heaps of calls organising upcoming events and chasing down horse feed.
John and Yola had a busy morning catching up with several contacts in and around town, trying to organise some further donations. Ian went as the mounted representative to exchange letters of introduction with the Mayor.
A little later in the afternoon, everyone was very busy in one way or another. More desperately needed feed arrived in the form of bales of hay and the new supply of Cool Fuel caught up with us just in the nick of time. Lucas, Col and Yola provided the strength factor in loading all the feed onto the trucks and trailer.
Dans truck needed one of the rear tyres attended to, as a slow leak was making the outside rear tyre look just a little flat on the bottom side.
5.00pm rolled around really quickly, so Ian, Bruce and Dale went around to John Murray’s place to watch his mare go through her 20 something tricks. John must spend HUGE numbers of hours working with his mare, as she quietly and skilfully responded to Johns voice commands.
Probably the most amazing trick was the mare doing her see-saw balance routine; She walked onto a 20cm wide board which see-saws over a smaller log and using muscle control alone (standing square on the board) got it see-sawing back and forth over the fulcrum! John elaborated some more on the teaching principles behind training a trick horse. He also dug out some old photos of some of the early horses he worked with early in his horse-breaking career.
All too soon, it was time to leave and start preparing the feed for our roadgoing team of horses, and prepare for tomorrow’s departure toward Roma.
Tuesday, 19th November
Yet another tyre drama first up with the discovery of another flat tyre on the float.
We had a 32 kilometre ride to Amby (population about 40), where camp was set up at the old railway stockyards. Not a bad spot, although the grass was a little light on, water was plentiful in the yard troughs.
Dan, Ian, Lucas and Col jumped in the car and went back to Mitchell, delivering the certificates of appreciation and making a last visit to the mineral spa. Ian did not take his swimmers or towel so bought a book from the spa called Off To See The Wizard, a biographical book about Jack Heelan, who grew up on a nearby property called "Albury"… of all things. Jack’s father took up the property from a ballot in 1914, moving up to the Mitchell area from Albury, New South Wales, naming the property after the town where he grew up – talk about a small world.
The owner of Amby General Store was kind enough to donate a toaster for auction at one of our later functions. The General Store sells almost everything, as it is the only store in town – aside from the pub.
The pub has a real country ambience which we enjoyed for a while (mostly doing computer work and a quick raffle). One of the local characters was at the pub, and it turned out "Smokey" (real name Ian) is in fact mentioned in Michael Keenans book "The horses too are gone"!
Jenny and Dave headed back to the Gold Coast for a short break from the hectic life on the road and will catch up with us again at Miles. They were kind enough to take one of Ian’s saddles for repair at Chinchilla.
Tomorrows ride should be a shorter one – aiming for Muckadilla.
Wednesday, 20th November
Bruce and Dale packed up the van and headed straight into Roma to set up a stall in the main street, where we will meet up with them in a couple of days.
The ride progressed through Muckadilla and camp was made about 10 kilometres on the Roma side of Muckadilla at a roadside stop on the north side of railway line. We were actually in the front laneway of a property, so anyone driving through had to deviate around the campsite!
Dan, Lucas and Col headed back to Amby to brand the pub, and also called in at the Muckadilla Hotel. John and Yola headed out to Muckadilla pub as well.
Ian had just got into the swag when Dan, Lucas and Col returned with news that we were expected at a Channel 7 event in Roma – since it was only 8.00pm we could still make it. Dan was given the floor at the dinner and had the opportunity to address a number of business owners from the Roma area about the ride. We received some wonderful donations from those present on the night, helping us on the way to our total.
Everyone returned to camp in the early evening and grabbed a good nights sleep, excited about heading into Roma tomorrow.
Thursday, 21st November
John and Yola headed into town early so that they could get on the road to Brisbane to attend Equitana, where they would meet up with Jenny and David to do some promotional work for the ride at the southern hemisphere’s biggest horse event.
Bruce and Dale had already set up camp at Bassett Park in Roma, right next door to the racecourse. The facilities for horses there are first class and we were very happy to have secure paddocks, heaps of water from the town supply and green grass for the horses to graze on.
We arrived in town and rode around the "back way" to avoid the traffic a little. There are some beautiful examples of old Queenslander style homes in town, built on large blocks and obviously very well looked after.
Unfortunately, due to the Roma Cup meeting being held on Saturday, our fundraising opportunities are somewhat limited. The racing club does not allow charities to fundraise on the Cup Day – so we will not be able to capitalise on what would normally be a very lucrative day. Nonetheless, we will persevere with the normal pub raffles and CD sales during our stay here.
This afternoon was spent going to stores in central area of town seeking donations for our charity auction. Some excellent donations were received, but Betta Electrical and NEC stole the limelight with the donation of a DVD player! Thanks must go to everyone who donated items, which will all help our fundraising total.
Lyn Garvie, the wife of Roma Mayor Bruce Garvie, organised a reception for the team at the Big Rig tourist centre, just after sunset. We enjoyed a screening of a special presentation of the history of oil and gas in the region, and were then treated to some wonderful home cooked nibbles afterwards in the centre itself. Thanks to Pat Pack and the local cancer fund ladies who put the whole evening together and provided such tasty refreshments.
Friday, 22nd November
At 9.00am Ian spoke about the ride at a special assembly at the Roma Middle School. Around 700 students were in attendance, as it was the final parade for the students completing year 10. Thanks to Kim Luck, the principal, for her invaluable assistance in allowing several students to assist the team with collecting donations during the street parade, and continued support after our visit.
It turned out to be a very busy day today with some more visits to businesses seeking donations for auction, as well as a street parade at 4.30pm, followed by an evening of fundraising at the hotels around town.
Roma is really very busy at the moment, with many visitors arriving for the Cup celebrations. The street parade went very well, with heaps of locals showing their support along the main street.
As soon as the parade was finished, it was time for Dan, Lucas and Col to jump in the Patrol and do a quick reconnaissance run down to Tamworth to check the viability of droving stock along the stockroutes. They loaded up the float with Jack and Pherkin, who are both recuperating from injuries, so that the horses could be dropped off at Goondiwindi for a rest on the way through.
Col McTaggert, a legend of Australian rodeo, had organised a spot for the horses to stay, along with a round bale of hay to keep the hunger pangs at bay during the horses stay.
Just as the boys were leaving, Ian met a local rider, Monique, who had just got back into riding in the past month. He gave an impromptu riding lesson, which resulted in a donation to the cause later in the evening during the pub fundraising rounds.
7.00pm saw the commencement of the pub raffles, firstly at The Club Hotel, then Irish McGann’s and finally The White Bull Tavern. All up the tour of hotels raised around $500 in proceeds from the raffles and associated donations.
The Club Hotel was very generous, donating dinner to Bruce, Dale and Ian as they were doing the first raffle. The fellow who won the raffle at The Club said "I’ll see you when you bring my prize back" as he purchased the ticket – talk about the power of positive thinking!
The last raffle wasn’t drawn until well after midnight at the White Bull Tavern, which kicked on with a live band until the early hours. As it turned out a former familiar Albury face was playing with the band – none other than Warren Bray, who along with Simon Mills, used to be part of the infamous "Ring London" band. They have more recently been responsible for a number of publicity stunts on Brisbane FM radio.
Saturday, 23rd November
Roma celebrated the Cup Day in fine style. As we were unable to do any direct fundraising at the Cup, Bruce and Dale went down and manned the stall in the main street again.
Ian spent the afternoon distributing brochures in the carpark at the races, and as there were over 500 vehicles parked around the place, it was a large job. It was a good opportunity to talk to a few of the local people and mention the pledge program.
Meanwhile Dan, Col and Lucas had dropped off the horses and made their way down to Tamworth. The bodings were all good, with recent rains in the area providing good grazing along the roadside, as well as much needed water in the dams on the reserves. In some places the feed is higher than the cattle’s backs!
This is very lucky, as we understand that 98% of New South Wales is presently drought declared, and this small area where we wish to push cattle is one of the best around at the moment.
Sunday, 24th November
Ian made the most of the morning after the races, as many of the people had left their cars parked in the carpark overnight. By shaking the tin at the gate as people made their way home, he filled the about half of one of the donation tins with notes and coins.
Most of the crowd had departed by lunchtime, and Brendan Spargo (Ian’s cousin Gail’s husband) arrived to give Bruce’s car and Dan’s truck a quick going over. Mechanically all was good, and an electrical gremlin that had caused starting problems in Dan’s truck was found and eliminated.
After a really nice lunch and a couple of drinks with Brendan and Gail it was time for Bruce, Dale and Ian to head back to feed the horses. There was still no sign of Yola and John returning from Equitana, however the horsefloat had returned which meant the boys were back in town!
Monday, 25th November
Yola and John had still not made it back from Brisbane this morning and rang through that they would be late and would catch up with the rest of the team in the evening.
Col, Dan and Ian rode out of Roma for a 35-kilometre ride to Pickanjinee Creek. After setting up camp, Bruce, Dale and Ian headed straight back to Roma to distribute fliers throughout town about the Brendon Walmsley Concert in Miles this Saturday night.
Jenny had done a wonderful job in organising a free bus from Chinchilla for anyone wanting to attend the concert, and the local newspaper has run one story already focussing on the ride and the concert.
John and Yola arrived in camp in the late afternoon, and Yola’s daughter Pip caught a lift out with them from Brisbane as well.
Tuesday, 26th November
After riding through Wallumbilla and Yuleba, we camped at a truck rest area 35 kilometres east of last night’s camp. There was precious little in the way of pick for the horses, as most of the area had been eaten out by travelling stock.
As we are keen to promote the concert as far and wide as possible, Dan, Col and Lucas headed back to Roma to distribute more fliers through carparks and businesses.
Dale, Bruce and Ian headed across to Chinchilla to distribute fliers and place posters in popular shops in town. On the way, they dropped into Yuleba and Dulacca to put up posters and gave brochures to the post offices to distribute to the local residents.
Wednesday, 27th November
Thirty-five kilometres ride to the Dulacca campsite, which is at the Golf Club on the outskirts of town. Ian shot up to the hotel, and then the Shell roadhouse to do some internet work.
In the evening, Col, Dan, Ian, Lucas and Bruce headed up to the hotel and enjoyed an evening with a little rest and relaxation. The day had been oppressively hot and muggy and there had been little respite at the campsite, so a few beers were in order, along with some friendly competition over the pool table.
The highlight of the evening was the arrival of the first decent rain shower that we had seen since Warialda in June! The smell of the rain was something to savour, and the big, heavy drops were accentuated as they splashed off the road in the headlights of passing cars. The shower brought some brief but welcome relief from the heat of the day.
Everyone went to bed with a smile on their face, having seen rain again for the first time in months.
Thursday, 28th November
A shorter day of 27 kilometres to ride into Miles today.
We had pre-arranged a meeting with the WIN TV news crew at 11.00am, and both Dan and Ian were interviewed for the Friday night edition of the news. The film crew spent a good amount of time capturing footage of the street parade up the main street of Miles.
As the parade was completed, we headed down to the rodeo grounds to set up camp. At 4.30pm it was time to saddle up again to head around to the Council Offices to meet the mayor, and again exchange letters of introduction.
After the formalities were completed, it was back to the rodeo grounds. Gary and Louise had arrived with one of their endurance horses that had been recuperating from an operation some months ago. He was a very nice chestnut Arab gelding. Louise loaned him to Yola to ride in the hope that some exercise would improve his condition and strengthen the muscles weakened during his convalescence.
In the late afternoon, another storm arrived, giving Miles a good soaking and making everything look and smell clean and fresh.
Miles is a very nice town with a good range of shops and services, and we found the people extremely friendly, as is the norm in the Queensland country areas.
Friday, 29th November
We had a full day stop in Miles today, as Dan, Col and Lucas headed out early to the cattle sale in Goondiwindi. They are looking at buying a core mob of cattle for the droving leg of the journey in New South Wales, and buying them now will allow the cattle to be placed together and educated for the road prior to our actual departure from Goondiwindi.
Bruce and Dale set up a street stall in main street, assisted by John and Barb Windle, whilst Ian went to both the primary and high schools to talk about the ride (and of course, invite everyone along to the Brendon Walmsley concert tomorrow night).
The whole team went around to the hall to check on preparations for the concert and make some last minute checks on the staging facilities and auction items, which included Ian learning to fly the lighting console and John and Barb dusting off their bar skills.
Today is also Yola’s birthday – let’s just say it is a milestone birthday and leave it that…
Jenny arrived back from equitana today in her "kombi camper", complete with a "Billabong" sticker across the back window – we reckon she has turned surfie chick on us!
Saturday, 30th November
Back on the road again today for a 33-kilometre ride to Condamine Rodeo grounds.
Dan handed around some postcards that had arrived from Albury in the mail yesterday. They were postcards featuring photo’s taken on the trip, including one of the whole crew at Longreach Stockman’s Hall of Fame and a wonderful photo of Dan and Lucas just on sunset.
The riders had a brief stopover at the Condamine Hotel to arrange an informal function tomorrow night, and chat with a number of motorbike riders who were stopped for a breather. It transpired that the pub was to host an annual function for about two hundred bikers from a number of surrounding towns later tonight.
Once the horses were settled at the rodeo grounds, it was time to get straight back to Miles to finalise the arrangements for Brendon’s concert.
Brendon and Carmen arrived fairly early to set up for a sound check, and received a warm welcome from the crew.
Dan kicked the concert off with a couple of songs and just as Brendon was about to come on, his PA amplifier stopped working! Luckily, Dan’s gear was still in the car, so it was a mad rush to go and grab the speakers and mixing desk and set them up before the crowd of around 250 people got restless!
The crew was spread fairly thin during the night, with Dan performing and auctioneering at the charity auction, Lucas and Colin spotting at the auction and selling raffle tickets, Yola on the front door, Jenny running the games and making sure her plans for the evening were running smoothly, Ian doing the lights, Dale and Bruce selling merchandise, John Williams, Pip Cox, John and Barb Windle behind the bar – everyone was flat out!
Brendon performed brilliantly and had the crowd enjoying all of his great songs, and for a bit of fun, got Dan up to do some numbers with him. Talk about a brilliant jam session – no-one in the crowd would believe that they had not rehearsed together… the crowd loved the spontaneous music-making and a few rock ‘n roll covers had them singing and clapping with gusto!
All in all a great, if not late (3.00am!), night.
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