Another "boy's" blog from Bob, although I have to say I loved the whole rodeo experience too!!

Heading back across the A2 from the Northern Territories into Queensland you still remain in the 'Outback'. Miles and miles of empty plains with vast cattle 'Stations' (as they are called here) and little or no sign of any homestead! In these pastoral lands much of the stock has changed over the past decades, cattle have replaced sheep. It is useful when we are driving such long distances that the role of the passenger becomes a 'spotter' as, in these vast wide open areas, cattle are known to simply just wander and you don't want to come unstuck with some of the mighty bulls they have in this region!

Leaving the mining town of Mount Isa we continued into the smaller town of Cloncurry, population of around 2700. The 'Curry', as it is known locally, is probably better known as the birthplace of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, established here in 1928, although it too has it's own share of past mining glories. It should be mentioned here, only in passing of course, that Cloncurry has a damn fine bakery with the most amazing home made curry and chilli pies. However, that is only a passing comment as Sally and I are not really pie addicts(?)! (Please don't refer back to our previous blogs as the truth will come out!!)

We travelled to, and stopped in, Cloncurry to see the 'Wild West' and I mean 'WILD'. For the geographers, although Cloncurry is in Queensland, an Eastern state, we are in western Queensland, which is 'Outback' territory. Our reason for visiting was the 64th Curry Merry Muster Festival! This is a big weekend in the Rodeo calendar. Three days and nights of non stop action, red dirt, wild bulls and broncos, drinking, cowboys and gals, boxing, more drinking and musical entertainment, and did I mention drinking?!

This rodeo has one of the largest payouts on the circuit for the participants and boy, do they earn their crust! We went to watch (all free) the early proceedings with the evening street parade starting off the Festival, this year's theme was 'Horsepower'. Fire engine sirens blasting, massive gleaming road trucks with local community groups on the back throwing sweets to the excited spectators, Rodeo Queens from 2017 and 2018 riding in on horseback, followed by a couple of bikers on beautiful gleaming Harleys - do you get the picture?

Before the event started Sally and I called in at the local Post Office Hotel to sample local culture and it only dawned on us later that the guys playing pool behind us were later to appear in the rodeo arena!

With the Parade passed, and the winners awarded their cheques, we sauntered up to the town's parade ground and took our place at the rodeo arena, kindly sponsored by one of many, many sponsors! Sal returned from the beer queue only to be told that she couldn't bring the beer into the part of the arena we were sitting in! So, leaving the beers in the hands of the security guy, she came to fetch me and we had to move, perhaps 20 metres to our left, before retrieving our beers, hmmmm!

The action began. Yes, you could watch the event through a camera lens but this was something else! Being Rodeo virgins we were simply taken aback by the skill of the horseman and the power of the bulls. Friday night's event was advertised as 'Xtreme bull riding' and believe us when we say some of the bulls had attitude! In they came, riders dressed in their cowboy hats, wearing jeans, chaps and spurs and having to hang on for grim death. The arena was circular with thick metal unforgiving stock fences and the riders were given points for how long they could stay on the beasts beyond an 8 second buzzer. We didn't get to grips with the scoring, far too complicated for us! However, two underpaid 'bull fighters' had to secure the safety of the fallen rider as the bulls usually turned to try and give their rider a good kicking, with both hooves - scary stuff. That was probably the only bit of safety we saw that evening, although we think we saw a couple of the riders with neck braces on, but can't be sure! However the riders in the pub earlier probably felt as though they didn't need any protection given the amount of rum they consumed…..?!

We decided that, after a couple of hours of this, we didn't fancy the boxing in the main tent, nor the musical entertainment, and got the free Cloncurry shuttle bus back to our caravan site. Next morning we drove out to the Equestrian Centre further out beyond the town boundaries.

Going through security (rather strangely) we paid our entry fees and arrived to find a red dirt, blue sky scene of horse boxes, cattle trucks, cowboys and girls practising their roping techniques, riders sitting on stock fences watching their steeds, and all this as we edged past bloody big bulls that were giving us the 'look' as we tried to find a shady spot in a predominantly open stand. We also realised that we stood out a bit from the crowd as we weren't wearing jeans, boots or the obligatory stetson! Then again we weren't going to part with $60, from the numerous side stalls, just for said hat!

The arena this time was rectangular and it was literally non-stop action all day. As soon as one section finished another started straight away. There were different divisions of rodeo - riding on bulls and wild broncos, bare back riding on (really) wild broncos, team roping competitions, Barrel races, wrestling steers to the ground from horseback and all this in the most iconic setting of dry, dusty, barren Western Queensland.

We were entertained all day by two non-stop commentators. One was an absolute master on keeping the crowd informed while the other was walking amongst the crowd with his radio mike and a bottle of rum, which he took a swig from quite often!! Guess what? He did manage to find some international visitors and yes, yours truly was up there on the big screen, but, he found three young attractive European girls far more interesting and wandered off to spend more time with them!!

Once again we were enthralled, and shocked, by what we saw, drawing breath every time you felt a rider was going to be thrown off a bull or a horse's back. We can safely say that 90% of the riders who were thrown off, simply hobbled (as opposed to walked) out of the arena. Having said that one rider was thrown off and squashed by a wild horse inside the pen before even starting. You could hear the bronco kicking the pen from the other side of the arena. Another rider lay prostrate in one corner of the arena as a feisty bucking bronco had clattered not once but twice into the metal fence and left the rider floundering. Really nasty, and it was in situations like that when you appreciated how good the two rescue horseman were, who not only had to keep the bucking horse away from the man on the ground but steer him away into the safety of the pens. This particular rider was taken very carefully off to the local hospital! Not all bulls went quietly though as some, having thrown their rider, simply stood and challenged anyone to come close, pawing the dirt with their rear leg, encouraging some other mad fool to take them on! No rider could continue until the ring had been cleared. So there were some Health and Safety issues observed! Actually we did notice more, but not many, on these events, with riders under 18 having to wear face masks (like cricket helmets) and seniors mostly wearing neck braces. We are sure that if this event had taken place in the UK the RSPCA would have had something to say about it. But this is real life and how they manage their stock out on the stations. There were many officials from all over Queensland and procedures seemed to be followed - this is how it is, in this part of the world. All we saw was a sample of day-to-day life in the tough, wild west Outback.

So, what an enthralling experience, yet another we won't forget in a hurry. Oh, and yes there was plenty of drinking, and we couldn't believe the amount of 'Bundy' and cokes that were lining the bar. Still, all for a good cause as Bundaberg rum is made in Queensland!!