Tully Qld July 24, 2015

Tully Qld July 24, 2015

I love these country areas. Today is the Tully Show day (Tully is about 25km away) and so, naturally, it is a public holiday and everything, including Woolies, is closed!

So, when in Mission Beach, do as the Mission Beachers do, go to the Tully show.

Of we went, bright and early about 11 o'clock.

Now, Tull is the wettest place in Australia, something about 4 metres, yes taller than a house, worth of rain every year. As we approached Tully we could see the ever-present clouds hanging about and assumed that we would need out wet weather gear:

But no! It stayed fine the entire time we were there, here are some snaps and some witty captions for good measure:

Little Miss Sugarcane. Ag Show. Tully Qld

Inside the pavilion. Ag Show. Tully Qld

Yes, we have no bananas! Ag Show. Tully Qld

Nanny and a granny. Ag Show. Tully Qld

Bite me bum! Ag Show. Tully Qld

And you can bit yours too! Ag Show. Tully Qld

Does this steer make my bum look big? Ag Show. Tully Qld

A horse, a horse! Where is that damn horse? Ag Show. Tully Qld

Arty farty just because I can. Ag Show. Tully Qld

As you can see, we wandered through 'the' pavilion, escaped but only just from the snake oil salesman, got the good oil on cane growing and found the pet barn where Judy fed the various animals. We walked around the ring, electing not to go into the sheds where the cattle were , and completely ignored an invitation to ride on the Bejeezuztron. Sorry grandchildren, but we also failed to fork out a downpayment on a small suburban cottage to buy you a show bag each (some things just never change)

The highlight for us was the stockman and his horses putting on a show while we sat in the grandstand and ate our hot roast beef rolls and drank our surprising good coffee. Even making allowance for this fellow and his horses travelling about giving this same show every year since the Australian stock horses came down the gangplank of the ark, what this fellow is doing in the photo is extraordinary. Getting a horse to lay down for you is one thing, getting it to let you sit on top of it is another, because horses are a bit flighty and are not real happy being so vulnerable. Now, this fellow got the horse to lay down, and then got his own horse, and both the others, to sidle along the full length of the one on the ground. It shows complete trust on behalf of the horse and is a pretty good party-trick.

What o do after so much excitement? Take a run up Tully Gorge of course. Tully Gorge, home to the Tully River, is now famous for white water rafting, a sport invented in the 1980s to make everyone feel good about them damming the Tully river and installing a power station. It's a funny drive along the gorge, all you can see is banana trees on one side and jungle on the other. if you look really closely on the return 50km journey, you discover exactly 3 places where you can stop and actually see the river and its rapids. Nice place though.

Tully River. Tully Qld

Tully River. Tully Qld

Tully River. Tully Qld

Tully River. Tully Qld

Tully River. Tully Qld

At the end of this hectic day we came back to the van and then went for a stroll along the beach, where the sand is almost fine and flat, the water  warm and the view is Dunk Island. Not so bad.

Her's a snap for our birdie friends:

Male yellow bellied sunbird visiting our site. South Mission Beach Qld