Mount Isa

12th to 14th August 2022

Now in Mount Isa, Queensland. We went to the opening of the Rodeo Friday which is a big four day festival and apparently the biggest Rodeo in Australia.

It was our first ever live rodeo and definitely not we (Beverley) expected.

The afternoon started with 6 year old girls individually racing around 3 drums. Then adults followed. The crowd was very supportive and the commentators and clowns were very engaging. Next came the steer lassoing, the steer wrestling, and then the horse and bull bucking.

We were amazed that the bulls knew what gate to walk through when they were finished. Watching them praying with attitude was hilarious. A few times the bull didn’t want to leave the field and put on a show. The organisers would send out another bull to help lead them in.

We laughed when we realised that the young calfs used for the lossoing comps wore strap-on’s …. horns. We think it was to make the comp even if all the calfs had the same size horns.

One time they did that and neither would go in and then a large herd came out and it took forever still to get them in… There was only 1 contestant left and the concert could not start until he had finished. We think the bulls knew this. Everyone was laughing.

Our day finished with a live outdoor concert. The warm up band the Priestly brothers were absolutely brilliant.
Guy Sebastian was the main artist which was a lovely surprise. He was truly amazing and engaged the audience from the start.. He sang a tribute to our beloved Olivia Newton John.
It was so different being in a field with bales of hay which soon got trampled on.
We´ve had so much fun:) After a few encores the concert ended just after 1am and fortunately just had to amble to the carpark outside.

We went to Lake Moondarra the next day. A fab place to stop. Very peaceful. Lovely walks and a park. Picnic areas.
Good for kayaks and canoes.

Lots of bird life. We were blessed to find so many friendly peacocks roaming around.
They are such regal birds so honoured to be in their presence.
The sunset was stunning.

The next day we caught up with our good friend Don, who just happened to be passing through Mt Isa, heading north.