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Sunday, 1st September
After enjoying the chance to participate in a party last night, most of the campfires team were a little slow getting going this morning. Not so some of the other guests, who stayed up the whole night drinking, talking, and performing the odd amount of "circle-work" in their cars. The opportunity to have a good party is never lost out here. As soon as the bar was re-opened, a steady stream of the previous night's revellers made their way back to continue where they had left off.
At about 7.30am, anyone in the vicinity of the holding dam at Barkly was treated to a colourful display by thousands of budgerigars coming in to drink. They come in small groups and join a bigger flock, that swoops and swirls, changing colours as the birds simultaneously turn this way and that, as if choreographed. As each group satisfies its thirst, they break off and fly out in the direction from which they came - absolutely amazing!
The campfires team made ready for departure tomorrow, making sure that everything was packed away, except the merchandise, which was being sold at regular intervals at the front of the Homestead. Bruce and Dale will be staying on for a couple of days to make the most of the captive audience - there is very little choice in terms of alternative accommodation.
Bruce and Dale have had very interesting neighbours, Wal and Merle, who have been travelling since September 2001. Wal handbuilt their caravan in the garage at home, and it was a masterpiece of design and functionality. Amazingly, at 5 metres in length, it also had a generous shower and separate toilet facility, independent suspension, huge amounts of cleverly designed storage space, and a very smart bed design, allowing a full queen size bed to be utilised. Wal had a photo album of the construction phase of the van, which was very interesting.
Everyone is making the most of the last look at civilisation for nearly two weeks, it will be a long haul across some of the flattest and driest country that our homeland has to offer.
Monday, 2nd September
The riders pulled out early this morning, beating the sun by about ten minutes! The destination was a roadside camp, thirty kilometres from the Barkly Homestead. Riding in the cooler part of the day is of huge benefit to the horses, as they are not sweating anywhere near as profusely whilst covering the necessary distance.
Bruce and Dale stayed to look after the merchandise stall and met a couple from Yackandandah, Victoria. They had elected to stay at the Homestead rather than roadside camp, as there had been reports of a abduction at Litchfield Park, and the perpetrator had yet to be caught. Police had set up roadblocks right across the Territory in order to catch the person.
Quite a few cars from the Variety Club Rock to Rock (Rockhampton to Ayers Rock) Bash, pulled in at the Roadhouse to camp for the night, but quite a few more continued on, giving the riders a toot on whatever type of fancy horn or siren that they had in their vehicles as they passed by.
Dan had some very good news from Catriona, in that Brendan Walmsley had been secured to appear at a fundraising concert at Mount Isa, on Saturday 21st September. Jenny and Dave also rang, and let Dan know that they would be catching up with us in two days time, prior to heading off to The Isa to do some pre-arrival organising.
Dan and Lucas headed back to Barkly to relieve Bruce and Dale on the merchandise stall, and it ended up being a very good day in terms of donations and sales.
The rest of the crew remained in camp, and settled into the current routine of stying out of the hottest part of the day, and ensuring the horses are well watered and fed.
The camp is at the crest of a small rise, and as the land is so flat, oncoming vehicles can be seen for about 30 kilometres in both directions. It seems to take an eternity before the headlights finally get to the campsite!
Tuesday, 3rd September
Thirty kilometres, on the button again today, to a new roadside stop, just off the road. It is a little hard to believe that this spot appears to have been once a depot or service station of sorts (we were told later that it was an old PMG depot), complete with a vehicle service pit and two bores. The extent of the buildings is evidenced by a number of piers on which a building once stood, along with numerous footings and three old cars (an early Ford, Valiant, and Desoto or Oldsmobile) further down the back.
Jenny and Dave surprised everyone by turning up two days earlier than expected, and it was a joyous reunion!
Dan, Col, Lucas, and Ian, together with Jenny and Dave, headed back to Barkly for the final time, to again relieve Dale and Bruce. It was also an opportunity to have a "welcome back" drink for Jenny and Dave, and a "farewell to Barkly" drink at the bar. It turned out to be a very early night, as all the boys are quite tired after the early starts from the past few days.
Yola and John stayed back to look after the horses and were surprised when Andy Hume, a cyclist riding a mountain-bike from Southern Western Australia to the tip of Cape York to raise money for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, dropped in. Andy had been speaking with Bruce and Dale at Barkly, and they had offered him a refill of his water bottles with the sweet tasting Banka Banka spring water, if he dropped into the campsite.
Andy was still at camp when the rest of the boys arrived back from Barkly, and bets were taken on whether he would make the tip of the Cape within three weeks! It was about 8.00pm and quite dark when Andy continued on his way, determined to make another 60 kilometres before retiring for the evening!
Wednesday, 4th September
The team left camp with no specific camping spot in mind again this morning. As finding a spot that allows easy access with the vehicles, and remains relatively hard underfoot, is difficult, we have to play it very much by ear. It was again an early departure again today, as we left before sunrise to avoid the hottest part of the day.
As luck would have it, the old Waunara Store, near the Waunara Community, was almost exactly 30 kilometres down the road from last nights camp. John and Jenny went into the community and spoke with Mary Slater about camping at the old store and she gave her enthusiastic consent.
Her grandson, Russell, is twelve and came down to make us feel welcome. It turned out that Russell is very knowledgable on local "Bush Tucker" and took the crew on an afternoon expedition to discover some of the fare that lay close by. Russell showed us bush oranges, bush banana's, bush coconuts, different uses for local flowers (medical), bush tobacco, and showed us how to find witchetty grubs and spinifex wax.
After showing us the tricks of finding food, Russell agreed to take Dan, Ian, Col and Lucas to the "Dog Dreaming" cave, not far from the community. The cave has been vandalised by visitors, but there are some circular stone markings (rings of coloured rocks) in the cave mouth, which are believed to bear witness to a visit by extra-terrestrials many years ago.
Whilst there, Russell discovered a goanna, which was quickly caught for cooking on the campfire later in the evening. To add to the adventure, Russell tracked a dingo around the rocky area, and came upon a den containing no less than seven dingo pups, all marked the same and a happy mix of males and females.
After returning from the cave, Russell decided it would be fun to give Lucas and Jenny a bit of a scare with the goanna, which had been placed in a large bag for safekeeping. When Russell had his captive audience in the back of Dan's truck, he opened the bag, and got a big shock himself, as the goanna shot up the side toward his hand. Russell immediately jumped and upturned the bag, spilling the energised goanna onto the floor, where it proceeded to cause a scatter amongst the interested onlookers. It took about, twenty minutes of re-arranging everything to try and find the goanna - which promptly became Russell's lunch (although he was generous enough to share his catch with the visitiors.)
Meanwhile, Yola, Jenny and John had accepted an offer from Arthur Daly (Mary's grandson) of showers up at the community, since it had been a very warm and windy afternoon. Mary also offered for us to fill the water tanks on the trucks, which was accepted immediately, as the water for the horses was looking a tad on the low side. The twelve horses have consumed some 700 litres for each of the past two days.
We had a wonderful hour or so sitting chatting with Mary, Minnie, Arthur and Russell, and they were kind enough to give the team some fresh damper and brownies. We then took some photos for keepsakes, and left feeling as though we had shared a truly wonderful and amazing day!
Thursday, 5th September
We left Wuanara just as the sun was peeking over the horizon, covering the entire landscape in a pink hue - it truly is the best time of day, nice and cool with the slight hint of moisture in the air, which can be smelt rather than felt.
We are now on the downhill run toward Camooweal, as today we passed the 140-kilometre marker on the roadside. This means that we are only 12 kilometres from Soudan Station, and around 70 kilometres from Avon Downs.
The camp today is at an existing bore, where a windmill actually still does the pumping (diesel motors now run most bores). It is a popular stop for travellers, as there is a picnic table and sizeable parking area catering for longer vehicles, such as motor-homes towing trailers.
Bruce and Dale returned from an extended stay at Barkly Roadhouse, bringing with them the final takings from the merchandise sales. In all, including the raffles that were run at the roadhouse, we raised just on $5000.00; which certainly justifies our excitement at seeing a roadhouse! Our sincere appreciation goes to Dale and Vicky Doyle, our hosts at the Barkly Homestead, for looking after us so well, and supporting our endeavours wholeheartedly. If you are travelling up this way - make sure you plan a stop at "The Barkly" - nice people, green grassed sites, and a great stay assured.
Jenny, David, John and Yola drove about 5 kilometres to a waterhole to do some swimming, before returning to camp just in time for horse feeding. The horses are travelling well, considering they are literally eating the kilometres at the moment. It is interesting to talk to local riders and hear of the way they work their horses. Many of the musterers are using their horses up to 50 or 60 kilometres in a day, but they usually run a string of around five or six horses at a time, so one horse may be worked hard for one day and then spelled for the next four!
Friday, 6th September
Thirty kilometres seems to have become the norm for daily distances travelled lately. We are starting to get ahead of schedule again - due to the fact that every fifth day of thirty kilometres means we are gaining a day on our twenty-five kilometre regime.
The riders again set out before sunrise to avoid the heat of the day. The generator has become the camp alarm clock. Usually Dan (the only one with an accurate alarm clock) wakes, dresses, and kicks the gennie to life - and with it awakens the rest of the camp (and anyone else camped within earshot!).
Today we passed Soudan Station, part of Alexandria Station. We were again impressed to see a solar powered Telstra payphone out the front, as there was back at the Waunara Community.
We had our first real experience of extreme open and flat country today riding across the Barkly Tablelands near Soudan. It is flat and grassed - no trees - for as far as the eye can see, literally! The plains are black soil as well, so this makes for very scary riding. The soil is very dry, cracked, and sinks into deep holes without warning. Yola lost an Old Mac boot today, dragged off by the soil suddenly sinking away under the weight of her horses feet. Luckily, Ian was passing on the same track (riding many kilometres on the firebreak as the road shoulder is VERY narrow and rocky) and found the boot hanging out of the hole!
We met Graham, the station grader driver, who allowed the riders to follow the grader for a while, but on stopping for smoko, he kindly directed them to cross over to the other side of the highway, where he had graded in the past week.
It was a treacherous crossing, as the ground was very cracked and unstable, causing the horses all to struggle with their footing nearly the entire time until the opposite firebreak was reached.
The riders saw an amazing number of tracks in the freshly disturbed soil, including small animals such as kangaroo mice, feral cats, and birds, right through to larger animals such as dingo's, snakes (both big and small), huge goanna's, and kangaroos.
After we had reached camp, this time at the end of a large truck parking area, the horses were picked out and everyone found jobs to do in the shade during the hottest part of the day.
In the afternoon, we had a visit from Ken, the bore-runner at Soudan. We had met Ken previously at Katherine Show in July, and he had started working at Soudan only two weeks before. Ken is originally a native of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, and started working with stock at thirteen.
Today he was attired the same as most of the crew - shirtless - and Ian asked about the enormous number of scars on Ken's stomach and chest.
It turned out that Ken had been out bull catching some twelve years ago and was badly gored by a bull that managed to break away just after he had finished tying it up. As there was nowhere to run or hide, Ken bore the brunt of a particularly savage attack of 1400 kilograms of wild shorthorn bull. It suffices to say that Ken was badly injured and knocked unconscious in the attack, and if it were not for the quick actions of his workmates (shooting the bull dead, as it headed toward the scrub with Ken's limp body still impaled on it's horns!) then the story would have had a much sadder ending. Ken also credits the luck of military exercises being held in the area at the time, as he was immediately flown to Alice Springs for emergency surgery in a Blackhawk helicopter, covering the 100 kilometres in just fifteen minutes.
After spending nine and a half months in hospital recovering, Ken was back bull-catching within 18 hours of being discharged! Tough enough?
A nice dinner of marinated steak tonight, before everyone turned in fairly early. An early start tomorrow, but we are stepping back the distance to 20 kilometres for each of the next two days, so we may enjoy the hospitality of Avon Downs Station, before three 25 kilometre days into Camooweal.
Saturday, 7th September
No such thing as weekends on this journey! Everyone was again woken by the bark of the gen set and was off into the sunrise, looking forward to a "short" day. Dave got into the swing of things today and rode for the last eleven kilometres. He gave Col, who was looking after (leading) him, a real scare when Dave's hat almost blew off. Dave dropped everything to save his hat; reins, concentration…everything, almost coming off in the process!
The firebreaks against the fenceline are providing us excellent riding surfaces at the moment, and the holes that would otherwise catch us unawares, are quite easy to spot. The cattle in the paddocks that we have seen are starting to look a little more "southern" missing the large floppy ears and humps that have been so common over the past few months.
Everyone had completed the 20 kilometres by 10.00am - just before it started to get quite warm. Col did a big cleanout job on his truck, moving the remaining horse feed from the back of his truck into the big trailer. Yola and John spent some time providing some extended education to younger horses, getting them used to having tarps tied to their tails and stockwhips etc.
"Matty", whose leg injury has taken so long to heal, looks like he will beat the Camooweal deadline, and may stay with the ride after all. He has shown heaps of improvement over the past five days and it looks like he will front for a day on the lead tomorrow!
Dave and Jenny pulled out a game of "Taboo" tonight, which was great fun being played amongst the team. For those who have not played it, the game is a clever word game, where a predetermined word must be guessed by a competitors own team, against the clock. The word can be described by the competitor, but the catch is that some words that may be used to describe the subject word are "taboo", and these are known to the opposing team as well as the person trying to convey the word to his/her team. Very amusing and fun!
We are looking forward to being at a station tomorrow - the road has been quite warm and dusty for the past few days and it will be nice to see another "oasis".
Sunday, 8th September
An absolutely delightful ride today. The whole way was on firebreak, not too far from the road, although the blacksoil is still a hazard if a rider is not careful.
Matty made it through his first day back on the road after what seems like months of convalescence - he performed a huge buck about five minutes after leaving last night's camp; a clear indicator that he was happier than a pig in mud to be back on the job with his mates!
The twenty kilometres rolled by very easily, with Dan and Col arriving at Avon Downs first to gain fence-checking duties. We have a paddock tonight for the horses - quite sizeable too. It has its own cricket pitch, and one would definitely avoid taking a diving catch, as it is literally covered with decent sized yonnies…
The other bonus about the paddock is that the James River flows right through the middle of it! This provided us with the long overdue opportunity to take the horses in for a swim and it certainly invigorated them after months of long, hard and often hot days.
Avon Downs has been kind enough to allow us to refill our water tanks at the bore. The horses have been consuming far more than we anticipated, due mainly to the warm days and possibly due to the supplementary salt in their diets.
We have decided to have a rest day tomorrow, to give the horses and riders a little spell while at a good location for doing so. The police have invited us across the road for a barbecue tomorrow evening, which should be great.
Monday, 9th September
The rest day was spent quietly by everyone. Yola and John spent some time working with the younger horses, and Lucas angled for a fair amount of the day. The total results of his efforts were very impressive, given that the waterhole was not that huge - three yellowbelly and grunter, all good sizes.
It was a good opportunity also for the riders to catch up on a little bit of sleep, as the mornings have been all early ones recently.
In the afternoon, all except Col and Lucas, headed across to Bob and Beryl's place for a barbecue tea. Bob had the spa bath cranked up and Bruce was the first in. Jenny, Dan and Ian weren't too far behind and Dan and Ian reckoned it was brilliant for soothing the previously unnoticed aches and pains from riding 1400 kilometres!
The dinner was first class, and it transpired that Beryl is an excellent cook and handworker. Numerous prizes from Katherine and Darwin Shows, including highest aggregate in the Food and Handcrafts categories bear testimony to Beryl's skills. At the end of the meal, Bob produced some of his "special" port that he blends himself, and this was indeed savoured by the port drinkers amongst the crew. Bob and Beryl were wonderful hosts and we extent our thanks and gratitude to them.
Tuesday, 10th September
Bob had told us about a good campsite the previous night, so we struck out toward the small creekbed, some thirty odd kilometres along the highway.
The ride today was mostly along the firebreaks on either side of the road, as this seems to be the least treacherous place to ride for the horses sake. The blacksoil is still very evident, although any small rises are normally red soil with a bit of shaly stone thrown in.
The creekbed turned out to be somewhat of an oasis, or at least it would be if there was water! It was the first place that we had seen trees since setting out this morning... Lucas cooked the fish that he had caught over the previous day or so and everyone in the team agreed that he did a sensational job. John helped out by preparing some fried chips - so it was fish and chips all round, about as far from a fish and chip shop as one could get!
The wind crept up a bit during the evening, and the creekbed was the most sheltered place to be, as once you walked out away from the lower areas, the gusts were surprisingly strong.
Wednesday, 11th September
The team looked forward to the ride into Camooweal, some 40 kilometres away. Bruce and Dale are already in town and have set up the stall outside the pub.
Today also signalled the departure of the Northern Territory and the arrival into Queensland. The border is about 13 kilometres from Camooweal, and the team pulled up for the obligatory photographs. At the border the team had ridden exactly 1443 kilometres since Darwin, equivalent to Melbourne to Sydney and back to Wodonga again!
Everyone had mixed emotions, leaving an area that had been so good to us and full of magnificent people, entering another state, where our fortunes remain to be determined.
It is sad that the Welcome and Farewell signs have all be so badly vandalised. We noticed a small headstone right on the border fence – quite hard to see, but it appears that a lady’s ashes have been placed there. Perhaps she had mixed devotions to each state and her last wish was to be interred in both!
There are about 320 residents in Camooweal itself, and the town boasts a fantastic museum, three service stations, post office, pub, butcher, store, school and police station. Right now there is a lot of construction work happening on the bridge on the west side of town, where a new construction above the flood level is nearing completion.
Just as the riders were approaching the town proper,they came upon a young couple who had just run out of fuel, Dan did the chivalrous thing and offered to carry a small jerry can into town and to send one of our vehicles back with fuel - which was gratefully accepted and duly carried out.
We set up camp on the town common, on the west side of town. Unfortunately, the feed was not marvellous, but there was plenty of water to be had.
The team spread out to do a heap of different things. The first priority was a counter lunch at the pub, which turned out to be an excellent meal. Dan, Ian, Col and Lucas had to phone their order in, as they had to return to the border to look for a UHF handheld that Lucas had "misplaced". No luck with finding it, but it allowed an older couple, who were running desperately low on fuel, the chance to get a slow escort to town, just in case they ran out.
We were keen to catch up with a couple of local identities for our video documentary and there was plenty of e-mails to be sent and of course, the stall had to be manned. Steve and Sue at the Post Office were kind enough to lend Ian a telephone line, which he proceeded to occupy for the next hour and a quarter sending all the pending emails!
The date also heralds the first anniversary of the terrorist attack in New York. Everyone has been speaking about last years events, especially in light of the television and newspaper coverage of the past day or so (the team had not seen any television or newspapers since Tennant Creek!).
Steve introduced Ian to an old drover, John Stewart, who had just returned to town after a few weeks working out on one of the stations. John is a bit of a local legend, as he has been on the road with cattle most of the time since he was about thirteen.
The local constabulary let us know about a sausage sizzle that was on later in the evening, sponsored by the local health service. Dan, Lucas, Col, Yola and John put in an appearance, and wound up with a number of other attendees at the pub at the conclusion of the barbecue. Nothing like a few games of pool at the end of a long day…
Thursday, 12th September
Today is a scheduled day off for the horses, so no riding today.
Jenny and David packed up early and headed off to Mt Isa to organise the events for the coming week in The Isa. John and Yola stayed to keep an eye on and feed the horses.
The rest of the team headed into town to continue fulfilling the jobs that needed to be done, and keeping appointments with local personalities. Dan, Col and Lucas were on fire, catching up with Pic Willets, featured in the current Outback Magazine. Pic is the last of the Murrunji drovers. The Murrunji track is a notorious stock route that was treacherous with or without water. Some twenty drovers, ringers and travellers have lost their lives on the 120 mile stretch, between Newcastle Waters station and Top Springs, south of the Buchanan Highway. Some of the greatest droving exploits and tragedies have unfolded on the Murrunji Track.
The boys also caught up with Harry Chandler, just before the ambulance arrived to take him to Mount Isa that afternoon. Harry has been immortalised by Sara Storer in her song "Buffalo Bill", from her first album which was fittingly titled "Chasing Buffalo".
Aida Miller, a long time local, made a special trip out from Mount Isa and took the boys on a guided tour of the town museum. The museum is home to a huge number of exhibits, drawn mainly from the private collection of the Freckleton family.
Aida's Sister Lorna runs the Rainbow Lodge Hostel. If you are ever in town and looking from some cheap and very compfortable accomodation, it is definately the place to be.
It turned out to be a day of meeting people from the past. Bob and Beryl from Avon Downs Police Station arrived in town for lunch and dined with Bruce, Dale and Ian at the Pub. Ian had been chatting with them beforehand at the Shell service station, when another car pulled up. It turned out to be a Mt Isa Council vehicle, driven by Neville Hunt. It transpired that Ian knows Neville’s son, Cameron, who lives in Toowoomba. Cameron writes software for Practical Computers and Ian speaks with him a couple of times a week when he is at work!
Not long afterwards, Bruce and Dale were speaking to a lady road train driver, Loretta Niehus, who went to primary school with Ian, and whose mother is currently undergoing cancer treatment.
During this time, Ian was trying his best to upset Steve at the Post Office, sending a huge e-mail to Outback Magazine, which did not go through until almost and hour after closing time!
Col, Lucas and Dan also spent a bit of time with Mick Seymour, a local drover, who pointed them in the direction of some recently mustered horses. The boys had the opportunity to look at some potential new horses – and two were obtained - one thoroughbred and one buckjumper. The thoroughbred looked a good type and the buckjumper is HUGE, every bit of seventeen hands, maybe a tad more! His fate the next day was to become dingo bait, so Col thought it only fair to give him a chance of a reprieve.
Friday, 13th September
We realised that today was indeed Black Friday, and hoped that nothing would happen to reinforce the superstition surrounding the day.
Dan had invited legendary droving character Pic Willetts to ride out with us after spending time at his home yesterday. Just as we met Pic on the approach to town, we were all amazed to see an entire house being shifted down the road, complete with police escorts and verandah attached at the rear. Dan commented that it was the biggest and most homely caravan that he had ever seen!
Dan picked up his newly acquired thoroughbred from behind Steve's butchers shop and Col picked up the buckjumper from the rodeo yards and began the leading and quieting process.
Bruce and Dale set up the stall, this time at the Shell service station, as the passing traffic appeared to be a little better than that stopping at the pub. They were privileged to see a repeat performance of Dan’s refuelling trick, this time carried out by another hapless diesel-driving tourist (getting a tank full of unleaded before realising his mistake)
Dale also met the sister of Dennis Bree (the chief of staff to the chief minister of the Northern Territory). Claire Martin had earlier organised a donation of $1000.00 toward the ride.
After completing the twenty kilometre ride to the first bore, Dan, Lucas and Ian returned to town, getting four copies of Pic Willetts’ book signed and sending an email update of this journal to Benny Anderson back in Albury. As it turned out, there were a few tourists interested in purchasing merchandise late in the afternoon, so they were happily obliged. One of the visitors had been a member of Wirlinga Pony Club during the same time as Ian had been riding (although he could not recall Danielle Williams being there many years previous)
Saturday, 14th September
Friday the thirteenth came a little late for Colin. Whilst riding today on the thoroughbred, Prince, Col was pitched over the horses shoulder when the horse put a foot in a hole. Both horse and rider pulled up a little sore and sorry, as Prince had taken skin from his knees and nose as he fell. Col suffered a few aches and pains but no major injuries. The ground continues to be quite treacherous, and the riders have to be very aware any unstable sink holes (and there is lots of it!).
During the twenty kilometre day to the next bore, Dan made a hilarious gaff that would have gone unnoticed if he had kept his mouth shut. He was riding along, not far from Ian, tracking a set of horses prints, trying to work out which horses (and therefore) rider they belonged to. He was a little perplexed, as both Yola’s horses were shod with Old Mac’s, and the big buckjumper that Col was leading was completely unshod and the tracks certainly didn’t correspond to either of those combinations. Much to his consternation he realised that the tracks were being made not fifteen metres ahead by Ian’s horses – but we will make a tracker out of him yet!
We camped on another roadside bore and commenced cleaning out the float to allow Col’s injured horse plus another to be taken ahead to Mt Isa. It had been decided to send Lucas ahead to try and catch tennis champion Pat Rafter, and to set up the merchandise stall ahead of the teams visit. It would also provide Jenny with some assistance, if required, with the huge amount of organisation needed for our week long visit.
Sunday, 15th September
Ian was not a happy camper this morning. For the second time in six weeks, he discovered that Matty had injured his leg in wire, the same leg as before – in the same place! To add insult to injury, the horse had been back on the road only four days after the first incident had almost healed.
After a quick patching up job to stop the bleeding, Matty was put on the float with Prince and Lucas set off with them both for Mt Isa. Jenny had arranged an acre paddock to put them in for the duration of their stay, and Lucas took some extra feed, just in case.
Col and John started work in earnest with the new horse, which has been given the aptly descriptive name of "Bull" – due to his impressive presence (and his never say die attitude!). They had to take it very slowly with him, putting packs on him to get used to the weight. It was evident that he had not been treated well in the past, and would take a fair amount of work to turn back into a willing worker.
After arriving in Mount Isa, Lucas met Pat Rafter at the airport, giving him a brochure and a letter that Jenny had written about the fundraising initiative, before Pat was whisked away in a waiting car. He had to be pretty forward and push in front of almost everyone, but it was too good an opportunity to miss and Luke was the right man for the job! He again caught up with Pat later at a signing event, and arranged for the signature of some shirts for our fundraising auction.
Meanwhile, out on the road, the riders had a very easy day of only twenty kilometres. The destination was on a bore, sporting one dam and a large turkeys nest. The dam was surprisingly large, and would be very deep when it was full. The horses were set loose on the dam area and enjoyed a good pick on the grass growing around. After a couple of shorter days, their energy levels had returned sufficiently for them to have a really good game around the dam, and all go for a swim. It was stunning to see all fourteen horses in having a wallow at one time! Dan managed a couple of good shots for the video.
The small glitch today was running out of chaff for the horses, but not a really huge drama, as the road train from Mount Isa is expected tomorrow with a fresh shipment.
Monday, 16th September
Today saw a ride of 30 kilometres to a turkeys nest at Yelvertoft Station, and we are getting closer, only 100km from the Isa.
Back in The Isa, Lucas set to work and organised a vet to look at both horses. Len from Mount Isa Veterinary Clinic was very nice and donated his consultation fee as well as the drugs and consumables required to make the horses fit and roadworthy again.
As Luke was driving around, he noticed a vehicle pass, carrying a large bale of hay which would be ideal for feeding the horses that would be spending the next few days in "sick bay". Hay is very scarce around here at the moment, selling for $23 per small square bale! He quickly wheeled around and followed the driver for some kilometres and managed to persuade the fellow to donate the bale. Our thanks go to Boyd Curran for his generous help with feed.
Once at the turkey nest, which was fed from a bore next to the road, the fire pump was set up and used to wash the horses and fill the tanks. Everyone managed to get a bit wet – Dan, Col, John and Yola went for a dip in the clear water, whilst Ian fired up the pump and had a "shower" under the hose – dutifully captured on video…
Everyone was amazed by a dust vortex from a willy willy close by; it reached literally hundreds of metres into the air.
Pic Willetts called in on his way back to Camooweal from the Isa, and shared with us a good number of yarns from his earlier droving days.
Tuesday, 17th September
The whole camp (except Dan, who can sleep through anything) had a rude awakening at 1.30am when a Brahman cow wandered into camp and spooked a couple of the newer horses. They broke through one electric fence tape and stopped before going too far.
The wind picked up overnight, signalling change in the weather. The weather is a little strange compared to what we are used to back at home. It is continually changing, with a few really warm still days, alternating with a few cool and blustery days.
Dan made an unscheduled returned to camp when his horse went lame not long after heading out. This made him "tail end charlie" for a fair amount of the day.
Yola became the third of the four riders to end up on the ground. She parted company when Lil bucked a good few times, and then Lil departed the scene of the crime, surprising Dan and Col as she came past riderless. Yola made time, but she is still waiting for the judges scores!
There was a dusty headwind all the way today, making it one of the less pleasurable 30 kilometre days we have completed so far. No doubt we will have a few more like it before we get to the end.
Dan did a fantastic interview with Toyota Muster Radio, which was being broadcast throughout the Toyota Muster at Tamworth. Trevor "Baz" Smith from the show is very interested in using his company to do a documentary of the ride. He has recently finished one for Kasey Chambers.
Wednesday 18th September
We enjoyed the sunrise after another early start this morning and rode some 32 kilometres to within 48 kilometres of Mt Isa.
We set up camp and Dan, Ian, Col went to Isa to check the stall and progress for organisation for concert.
The stall was at the front door of Woolworths and in not bad a spot at all. It was nice and cool as the air conditioning from the store vented out the doors continuously. Everyone (except Lucas, who was in on the whole deal) was surprised when Dan’s uncle Mick walked out the door of the supermarket, heralding an unannounced visit. Dan, Ian and Col were even more gobsmacked when Dan's father Warwick walked out a couple of minutes later!
We all laughed as Lucas related the story of Warwick telling him over the phone that there were "two important documents to be picked up at the airport" for Dan to sign, and then another phone call from a "Qantas official" telling Lucas to come to the airport immediately to "pick up some paperwork." He was probably the most surprised when the "documents" turned out to be Warwick and Mick!
Warwick and Mick had already organised numerous auction items including a $500 watch and a $500 print of Troy Dunn riding the bull, Red Wolf.
After a happy reunion and a couple of beers, it was decided that there was much work to be done in town over the next couple of days and we would ride the 38 kilometres to the outskirts of Mount Isa tomorrow.
All the boys got busy for an hour or so putting fliers about the concert under windscreen wipers of most of the cars in town
Everyone headed back out to camp and got to bed fairly early, as tomorrow would be a fairly long hall, but nothing compared to what Jenny had been in the middle of for the past week, co-ordinating our arrival, venues, parade, and function to name a few.
Thursday 19th September
The team headed out early, with Warwick joining as a guest rider, and Lucas participating in his longest ride to date. Together they rode the 38 kilometres into Isa, where we pulled up at the Copper City Caravan Park – where our gracious hosts, Gary and Isabelle, were generously putting the horses and team up.
The team who witnessed Wokkie removing his favourite pantiehose after the ride, laughed at the old trick that he had picked up years ago, preventing the unavoidable chafing that occurs when riding long distances green.
Mick opted not to ride, settling for the comfort of the Patrol to get to town and continue with the search for auction items.
Friday 20th September
With only today to finalise everything before the Brendon Walmsley concert, the whole team was running around, manning the stall, running raffles, organising the concert, seeking donations for the charity auction etc. BIG day today.Nothing really out ofthe ordinary to mention, but the details of organising the concert and media would take pages.
Saturday 21st September
A little later starting this morning; accompanied by the Gloria Alloway, Betty McIntosh and Fenwick family, the team made its way the 12 kilometres to the civic centre for the formal welcome from the mayor. To our surprise the deputy mayor commenced the civic welcome, as the mayor had been flying back to the Isa and his flight was delayed – but as luck would have it, Ron arrived right on time.
Brendon Walmsley arrived as well and participated in the street parade, riding in the back of a vehicle kindly donated Bell and Moir Toyota. The only sour part of the parade was Col’s truck running out of petrol and then simply refusing to start on LPG – right in the middle of a roundabout in the city centre. Over $1200 was raised during the parade though, and $300 was raised at Brendon's CD Signing, which was outstanding!
Whilst Brendon and Carmen relaxed in their motel room, the team headed into the Irish Club and made the final preparations for the concert. It kicked off right on time – 200 people attended and raised $5000.00 for the night, including ticket sales and a charity auction conducted during the evening – with guest auctioneer, Warwick Phegan.
For some strange reason, some local saw fit to "borrow" Ian’s Akubra for the evening. It was left with the reception staff for safekeeping. A bloke came to reception a couple of hours later and swore the hat was his, so it was given to him by accident. (All turned out well though, as the hat was duly returned the following day).
Our sincere thanks go to the Oliver and staff at the Irish club for providing a great venue for the concert and auction.
A 50 year old port bottle, valued at $300, was put up for raffle for the prize of the evening, along with a campfires T-shirt. Brendon Walmsley did the honours and drew Col Mitchell's winning ticket. This was to be the start of an unprecedented raffle winning streak over the next few days.
Many local businesses supported the event by donating items to be auctioned at the concert, and the team extends their sincere thanks to everyone in the Mnt Isa township that helped out!
Sunday 22nd September
After the hectic pace of the past couple of days, today was deemed a relaxation day for most of the crew.
Dan had been in home improvement mode for the past fortnight, so he was really happy when Caz arrived for a visit. Since her last visit, Caz has been working in Brisbane and then Tasmania. In fact, only 48 hours before arriving in The Isa, it had been snowing where she was working!
Brendon Walmsley and Carmen Dalby joined most of the crew by the pool at the caravan park for an hour or so before their flight departed for Brisbane. They are both fantastic personalities and truly nice people. Ian mentioned the night before that he had heard Brendon’s song "Adam – you’re a legend" on the radio, but the DJ didn’t announce the singers name. He was really surprised to hear it played by Adam at the concert, and told Brendon the story. Brendon bought with him a signed copy of the single – which Ian will treasure as a keepsake.
It is amazing to think that Brendon and Carmen would board a plane at 4.30 in the afternoon and Brendon would appear live on stage in Brisbane at 7.30pm the same evening! Can’t beat air travel for getting somewhere in a hurry…
At the end of the day dinner was served at Moby’s (being, of course, the big white truck) back door, and the crew were joined by MOB FM’s Regina Downes and daughter Sahrina. Regina was a great help in promoting the events in Mount Isa, and we really appreciate her assistance.
Monday 23rd September
The team was back at work today, printing and distributing Certificates of Appreciation to almost sixty individuals and businesses that had helped us in so many ways. Many had donated goods and services to be auctioned, whilst media outlets had heavily promoted our cause and events, and others had chipped in to help on our vehicle maintenance.
Warwick and Mick organised repairs to the airconditioners in Dan’s truck and Patrol, as well as the one in Bruce’s car. He and Mick also distributed a large number of the certificates of appreciation around town, personally thanking the owners and/or managers.
Dan and Ian are contemplating sending several of the horses home. Matty still has not recovered from his leg injury, whilst Dan’s newly acquired thoroughbred has become quite lame.
Col was lucky enough to win another raffle, this time with a $100 cash prize, at the Overlander Hotel.
Tuesday 24th September
Today was the big maintenance day. K & M Automotive have given us a great deal on servicing the vehicles; which Lucas had organised prior to the team’s arrival in Mount Isa. So today Lucas, Dan and Col worked a shuttle run to get the trucks and Patrol serviced and ready for the remainder of the journey.
Ian spent the day correcting and distributing certificates of appreciation – which meant a fair amount of walking, as only one car was available, and that was being used elsewhere.
In the evening, Ian addressed the Rotary Club of Mt Isa West, highlighting the cattle pledge program and organisational aspects of the ride’s progress to date.
Wednesday 25th September
Amazingly, Matty is on his way to making a spectacular recovery, thanks to the good advice and treatment recommended by Mount Isa Veterinary Clinic. His leg looks much better, and he will likely be in work again by the end of the week.
After putting in a heap of diagnostic work, Michael at MATS Auto Electrical was able to find a workaround to get the air-conditioner in Bruce and Dales car working again, after not being operational for a number of weeks – nice to have cool air in the car in these hotter days.
A media release was drafted and sent to all media, advising that Akta-Vite Campfires Against Cancer was about to get moving again after a very successful stay in The Isa, heading southest now toward Cloncurry, Winton and Longreach.
Thursday 26th September
The team hit the road again this morning on much fresher horses, well rested after their stay in The Isa. We rode out a little late from Isa, as we walked most of the way through the city area.
The ride distance was 30 kilometres, and a hotter day with the mercury touching 39 degrees, only half a degree from breaking the hottest September day on record!
We were joined by Julie Bramley – a Mount Isa local and Parelli Natural Horsemanship exponent who John and Yola found feeding her numerous horses.
It was a very interesting ride on a very narrow road with non-existent shoulders, thankfully the many passing vehicles were slowing and giving way as they passed us. The road was quite hilly as well, a far cry from the flat plains we had been riding across just a fortnight ago.
We set up camp at a roadside stop and Dan, Lucas, Ian, Liz and Colin returned to Mt Isa to collect the money tins from hotels, as well as take care of the last of the thank-you’s and pick up a couple of bits of material left at the Irish Club.
To add to his list of raffle wins, Col won the meat tray raffle at Buffs Club, after stating to Ian "I’ll win that" as he purchased his tickets. When Col’s number came up, the crew could not believe that Col could possibly win so many raffles!
Friday 27th September
A 34 kilometre day on probably the most treacherous section of the ride to date. The road between Mount Isa and Cloncurry is hilly, with very narrow shoulders and cuttings. The cars and road trains passed very close to the horses and all the riders at some stage felt a little intimidated from the passing traffic.
We were joined by Beccy Storch from the Isa, who has joined us for part of her school holidays.
We ran into Keith Douglas Junior along the road, headed to town to pick up some horse feed. His truck brakes refused to release as he was leaving, so Lucas gave him a lift back to his property so that Keith could organise a mechanic to have a look at it.
Keith had very generously offered us a place to stay on his property, which is a small portion of the old Mary Kathleen Uranium Mine – known locally as "Mary K". Keith took Bruce, Dale, Ian, John and Yola on a guided tour of the old township, dam and mine. The views of the surrounding hills and valleys are a sight to behold, every bit as nice as the Kimberley’s at this time of year. The colours in the rock formations change as the sun moves through the sky.
Mary Kathleen township was dismantled and sold in 1984, so only the streets and kurbing remain, along with the concrete bases of some of the larger structures. The old managers residence still remains in its original location and has been used as a station homestead. It is a rather long and narrow building (designed this way for road transportation) and has an ensuite to each of its five bedrooms. The floorboards are all polished throughout and the wide hall stretching down the eastern side of the house could be used as an indoor cricket court!
The old mine (uranium ore was mined at Mary K) was an open cut layout and is an easy drive and walk from the highway turn off. The bottom of the pit has filled with water and is a striking blue in the afternoon sun.
Dan, Lucas, Colin, and Liz returned to the Isa and called in to see Oliver at the Irish Club and a patron (who wishes to remain anonymous) made a $2,500 donation - on the spot.
Those remaining at camp had wonderful BBQ dinner with Keith and Naomi. Their children, Krystal, Janessa, Sharona, and Tyrone (Keith III) are really great country kids, just starting to make names for themselves in junior rodeo. Janessa, 12, provided us with a few laughs, driving her Dad’s Landcruiser around, barely able to see through the steering wheel!
Saturday, 28th September
Today’s 32-kilometre ride seemed longer as the temperature again climbed to just on 38 degrees.
The humidity is very low at the moment, somewhere between 14 and 18%, and 38 degrees. The heat is quite bearable, but very draining, and everyone needed to drink a lot of fluids.
Bruce, Ian and Dale went back to Keith and Naomi’s place, Keith was preparing to sell a few horses and had intended to muster them this afternoon. Ian was considering that a new horse may be needed to replace Matty if his leg wasn’t 100 percent in the very near future. Due to Keith’s truck breaking down yesterday, the job of getting some extra horse feed took precedence, and the horses would be mustered later in the week. It was a good opportunity to sit down and enjoy a cup of tea with Keith and hear some old rodeo stories – and catch the last half of the footy on TV!
The wind picked up and we experienced our first mild dust storm in the evening. The sun did not set but passed out of sight behind the dust, which was an interesting sight.
Dan, Lucas, John and Yola travelled into Cloncurry for the AFL footy grand final and to finalise the events to take place at the Post Office Hotel on Sunday evening.
Very windy evening and night meant that dust and grit got through everything, and Yola’s camper trailer collapsed during the night. The amount of grit that snuck into the swags was almost unbelievable!
Sunday, 29th September
Today was gone in a flurry, the riding seemed to be over very quickly, as the weather had turned windy, cool and cloudy – a real contrast to the past few days. It even looked like rain, but that did not eventuate.
We rode into Cloncurry, and were amazed at the amount of green grass around town. The horses would love the green pick tonight at the showgrounds. We fed up the horses, washed most of them, as we have a street parade happening tomorrow, and got set for the auction and open mike night at the hotel.
Ian and Nancy Dodd were the hosts for the evening at the rambling Post Office Hotel, and had organised a wonderful barbeque dinner in the outdoor area. Basically the whole bar area of the pub shut down so that everyone had to come out to the beer garden. Despite the coolish evening the locals supported the event magnificently.
Keith came into town and was the guest auctioneer of the evening, and did a marvellous job in getting some excellent bids for the auction items.
Dan kept the crowd entertained, although warming them up was a little hard. The wind was gusting quite strongly, and quite cold as well, making the beer garden not the warmest place to be tonight. Dan had a support band for the evening, with a couple of talented locals playing bass and rhythm guitar.
Krystal and Janessa Douglas got up for a song or two, as well as their cousin, who plays guitar as well.
The Rotary Club of Cloncurry assisted with running a raffle for us, and Col Mitchell again purchased the winning ticket… his winning streak continues.
The charity auction raised $1600, and with a further $700 from meals and part of the bar realised a total raised of $3000! Considering the number of people present, it was a wonderful result that we were delighted with.
Yola and John sought out Ronald Bird, whose parent Yola knew in Albury, and he offered to assist the crew in getting cattle pledges, and personally donated a much appreciated round bale of hay.
It was quite windy again tonight, so some of the horses were left in the stalls, whilst the others had a good pick of the short, green grass at the showgrounds.
Monday, 30th September
Due to our tight schedule, we rode out of Cloncurry this afternoon.
The team had a little sleep in this morning, as the fundraising night finished quite late.
The team saddled up and prepared for the street parade at 11.00am, where we were joined by a group of western club junior riders, and several senior members, as well as having a police escort.
After the parade had concluded, the Council was kind enough to provide morning tea at the Council park in town, hosted by the mayor, Keith Douglas (Senior).
Lucas and John went out to Danielle Jennings’ place and picked up an additional ten bales of magnificent lucerne hay, on top of the four that Danielle had already donated at Flora Downs after speaking with Yola and John.
After setting out at midday, we had a pleasant ride, as it was sunny with a cool breeze blowing in our faces. On the way out of town, we picked up the digital photos that were to appear in the Western Star paper from Shelley Old.
The roads now are nowhere near as scary as the Mount Isa-Cloncurry road, and the country is flattening out again.
We are without doubt getting into what could be described as drought ravaged country, very dry and not a blade of grass to be seen in some places, especially close to the turkeys nest that is tonight’s campsite.
Three carloads of people arrived at the campfire for the evening – all of them local from stations surrounding the camp. All were having a wonderful time until an unexpected turn of events…
The bad news of the evening was Ian’s dog, "Missy", taking a 1080 poison dingo bait which ended her life prematurely at the age of 7 years. Dale was more upset, because she had seen the dog take what could have been the bait, but had not realised or mentioned it until the dog was very sick. Unfortunately, all of the locals witnessed the attempts to save the dogs life and its eventual demise, putting a damper on the whole evening.
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