August 2 Cloncurry

Talk about coincidences. I was heading to the amenities block this morning when I heard, “What are you doing here Mr Miller?” At first I didn’t recognise the speaker but a closer look revealed it was Laurel Fisher from Thirroul. I taught Bronwyn at Thirroul and coached both her and Shellie in softball so our friendship with the Fisher’s goes back a long way. It turns out Laurel and Terry have been away from Wollongong since March with most of the time spent in Qld. They’re leaving here for Longreach tomorrow and are basically heading south. We chatted with Laurel for a while before agreeing to catch up later in the day.

This morning we paid a visit to John Flynn Place and Museum (I know, I know – another museum!). The RFDS began here in Cloncurry so it was a fitting place to establish a memorial/museum to him and his work. We also toured around the town taking photos of things we’d missed in the last few days. After lunch we caught up with Laurel and Terry for an hour or so before heading off to the rodeo, or to give it its proper title, “The Cloncurry Merry Muster”. The time with Fisher’s was valuable as they have come across from Cairns to here, so were able to give us some information about the places we have yet to visit.

The rodeo, sorry, Merry Muster, was quite good and mum and I both enjoyed it although we left long before it finished. Barrel races for Ladies and Juniors went on and on forever with a total of 80 competitors – after every 10 competitors they had to drag the arena to level it out. Then someone pulled the plug on the lights so that lost another half hour. The other events were very entertaining and well worth the price of admission. The crowd favourite was a 10 year old boy who competed in the Junior steer ride and did a fabulous job.

Before we front up to the Mt Isa rodeo we’ll have to go shopping so we can be dressed appropriately – we need a check-patterned shirt, RM Williams jeans, riding boots (spurs optional), a wide belt with a big silver buckle and a hat, preferably white. Even the little kids, down to Jack’s age and younger, had all the right gear.

I know next to nothing about horses but they looked spectacular. All in all it was a very enjoyable event and we ended up with lots of photos before it got dark.

What do I think of Cloncurry? Not a bad place – good sense of community. I suspect there’s probably quite a bit of escape shopping to Mt Isa. The streets, like some other town we’ve been in recently, are very wide – it seems to be a feature of these towns. The streets are so wide that turning and straight ahead lanes are marked at intersections – the only problem is nobody takes any notice of them. The most outstanding feature of Cloncurry is the HUGE number of triple road trains – they are everywhere and roar past the caravan park at all hours.