Judy & Brian Tour Oz

Cloncurry Qld June 5, 2016 Winton proved to be disappointing in more ways than one. Not only was the van park a lot less inviting than before, but the meal that went with the show was certainly not up to the normal standard. We all have certain expectations of these types of camp-fire meals, the main one being that there is plenty of food for all comers. This year the park appears to have outsourced the catering and you'd think the lady was serving up the food rations for her own family. Simply put, she ran out of food roast beef and potatoes before that last of the pre-booked and pre-paid guests arrived. Unforgivable. Then the 'delicious' dessert came out. She had very carefully cut up a couple of SaraLea chocolate cakes into the exact number required and she came around and doled them out, one each, with a drizzle of not-quite-right packet custard on top.  The new man in town doing the Bush Poet season was Gregory North. A pretty good show actually, even though, he, a...

Winton Qld June 4 2016 Finally, the big show day had arrived. I was up bright and early, only to be greeted by an all-encompassing thick fog. A strategic return to bed was in order. On our second attempt, after showers and breakfast and sitting about, we made it to the entrance gates at a fashionable 10:30. Rats, we had already missed the Middle-weight short-horn long eared heifers and had to content ourselves with the judging of the #2 stock handlers. These are (generally) kids from the Ag. schools from near and far that turn up in their best show uniforms: dungarees, country shirt, starched and bleached white coat and new Akubra. Its interesting to watch these young country folk going through their paces: each one leads a beast in on a short lead and has to demonstrate how well they can control that beast using just the lead and a stick that looks like a #7 golf club, only pointier. Considering that the animals are usually very much larger and heavier than the handler, they do re...

Winton Qld June 3, 2016 We awoke to rain, pouring down, bucketing. It was just on 9am and vans were pulling into the park already for the day, we assume to get off the road and out of the rain. They were welcome to our square of quagmire and muddy trip to the distant loo. Oh, and that smell! Sewer? Rotting meat? Sulphurous bore water? Who knows. I gladly donned the wet weather coat and packed away outside, thankful all the while that it least we weren't in a camper-van or a tent!  Out onto the road north to Barcaldine and into the driving rain. On and on we went, slowing to a standstill only to allow the roos to hop off the road and back to the mud-puddle they had come from. One came tearing back at the last second, decided on a u-turn and rolled itself in the middle of the road. I’m beginning to suspect they are even more unpredictable than emus. Our approach to Barcaldine is to the west of town. One look up the road into the town itself and at the 10,000 vans parked up with th...