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Published: November 10th 2010
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We were up and about early on Saturday morning and pleased that it looked as though it was going to be a nice day. The road where the fairground rides had been the night before was completely clear but the nearby Leslie Park was crammed full with a huge variety of stalls - craft, food and many charity groups were there hoping to catch the eye of people like us. I had a wonderful time poking around and could have spent all day and lots of money there. It was all very tempting but I only bought a few things including some tomato relish for David and a bunch of Australian native flowers.
We had an early lunch sat at a table outside our favourite café which happened to be very well placed for the main event of the day in town. We were still nibbling our lunch when we could see the crowd getting excited and heard the nostalgic sound of Scottish bagpipes. I had to leave my focaccia for a while to rush to the side of the road to watch the first part of the Parade go by. It was led by Warwick Thistle Pipe Band, which
we had seen the previous evening, followed by the Warwick and the Australian Rodeo Queens on horseback. The procession was very like a British carnival procession with more pipe bands, horse riders, walking groups and about 40 vehicles many of which were fantastically decorated and full of children, animals and music. One of the themes of the procession was ‘Family Farmyard Friends’. Some of the Queensland Variety Bashers were there in their vintage cars and it all made for a glorious sight in the sunshine and we thoroughly enjoyed being there. Because the streets in Warwick are very wide the procession was able to go up through the centre of town, go round a roundabout and come back again so we saw everything twice - what a brilliant idea! One of the floats had a lady on board, Sue, that Graham has got to know at the folk club and also Roger Knox, who is a well known country music singer. Sue saw us and waved madly which made us feel really special.
Graham had made the decision that, because he felt strongly about animal welfare, he did not want to visit the rodeo again. As far as we
could tell, camp drafting seemed harmless enough but many of the “major” events deliberately put cattle and horses in a stressed situation. I too worry about how animals are treated and looked after but having come this far to see the rodeo I wanted to experience the whole scene. So we walked to the car park near the library and I climbed onto a free shuttle bus to take me to the showground. Graham waved me off and then, armed with his latest book (Stephen Fry’s autobiography of his schooldays which he’d borrowed from David) went off to find somewhere to have a cup of coffee and some raisin toast. Once I arrived at the showground, and having persuaded the nice man on the gate to let me in at the pensioner rate, I found a spot on the grass to sit. As expected, it was far busier than earlier in the week and the stand we sat in before was full. When I arrived the prizes were being presented for the camp drafting we had watched. After that a round of one of the main events took place: 2nd division bull riding. Of course it’s not particularly pretty but
it was entertaining and most riders got thrown off in a few seconds - just a handful managed to stay on for the 8 seconds required. As David had said ‘the guys who do that must be absolutely mad’ - why would anyone sit on an angry bull at all? The ‘clowns’ who get the bull’s attention after a rider falls off are very skilful and there was one in particular who was a wonderful entertainer and got the crowd fully involved. The bulls didn’t look too unhappy and were certainly healthy looking beasts. After all that excitement came a slightly gentler, ladies competition of breakaway roping - it took a great deal of skill to get close enough to steers to lasso them and only a few managed it. As soon as the steer was lassoed the rope was dropped so they came to no harm. Next came a saddle bronco riding competition where the riders had to stay on for 8 seconds and again not too many managed it. Scores in these types of events are also given for how spectacularly the horse or bull jumps. These days the animals used are mostly bred specifically for bucking and
exceptional bucking ability means they could fetch a high price if sold. There was also an event for youngsters riding bucking steers and only a few managed to stay on for the allotted time. One of the contestants was a girl but she was soon thrown off. It was all very well marshalled and nobody seemed to come to any harm although what damage it does in the long term is anybody’s guess. Watching events seemed to be a high number of ‘older cowboys’ with a variety of ailments so they could well have been bull riders in their younger days! The last event I watched was a ladies barrel race where horse and rider were timed as they went round 3 barrels - this was another very skilful event which I enjoyed watching. Time was going on so I had a quick wander round the stalls, succumbed to an ice cream and caught the courtesy bus back to town where Graham was waiting for me. I was pleased I had attended the rodeo - It was quite an event to witness but I probably wouldn’t want to go again.
That evening we went with David to Mele’s beautiful
house for dinner. We had a splendid, relaxed evening, got to know where Tonga is and learned a little about the culture while sampling a delicious Tongan dish. With David’s wonderful summer pudding for dessert, it was a great way to finish the day. Thank you Mele for your kind hospitality!
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