the Man from Snowy River!!

Oh No …… it’s raining and we have to leave Rutherglen to head to Mum’s very favourite Festival. It’s called the Man from Snowy River Festival and it is held every year at Corryong, Victoria, a small country town. It is a real country festival. There is a lot of bush poetry and country music, together with rodeos, all sorts of horse competitions, sheep dog and cattle dog trials, dog jumping, whip cracking competitions …. you name it … they do it. They also do a re-enactment of the Man from Snowy River ride which is the highlight of the whole festival. The Man from Snowy River is probably one of the most famous of all Australian poems and is all about a bloke who rides through extremely dangerous conditions to capture a colt that  escaped and joined some wild bush horses. It is by Banjo Paterson and it is well worth the read.  Mum loves Banjo’s poems. The forecast for the 4 days of the festival is not good. Rain, rain and more rain. We are still going but Mum and Dad reckon it will be an ordeal with me in tow. I hate to get wet ….. I won’t do ‘pwivacy pwease’ until I’m busting and I’m just a general pain in the butt. Hmmmmmmmph!! I’m not THAT bad! Anyway we headed off and it was a really lovely trip even with the rain. It’s very cosy in the car and I was happy. It isn’t all that far from Rutherglen. Only about 150 klms. Crikey it was a pretty trip. Beautiful green rolling hills dotted with sheep, cattle and horses. There were a few goat farms and at one stage we saw buffalo. Only a few … but buffalo … that’s something you don’t see too often around here. There are some farms in the Northern Territory (Crocodile Dundee territory) but not so much anywhere else.  Outback Queensland might have a few too. 

Not such a good photo .... but that's one of the sheep farms.

A cattle farm .... a WET cattle farm!

These blokes were EVERYWHERE!!!! Big, big flocks them. Sulphar crested cockatoos!

So pretty to watch them take off!!

We arrived at Corryong and had a look around the town. Funny but it rained all the way there but stopped once we hit town. We had a good walk around the town and had a good look at the entertainment and horse activity areas. Crikey … what a mess!! It was soooooooooooo wet. You needed gum boots AND Mum and Dad don’t own gum boots. Matter of fact they don’t own boots. Well they do but they don’t have them with them. Are THEIR feet ever going to get wet???? You betcha!!!!!  CRIKEY! What about me??  I HATE getting my feet wet …. unless it’s hot and there’s a beach involved.  It’s cold here … well if you call 18C cold and I do. Nothing stops Mum though so we walked all over the place and I got to get up real close and personal with some more horses and heaps of farm dogs. The only dogs to be seen are kelpies, border collies,  blue and red heelers and mini fox terriers. They’re none to friendly either.  Just cause they have a job to do they think they are better than anyone else. Well I’ve got a job to do too. I’ve got to look after Mum and Dad. I’m not going to be bossed around by a few working dogs. You’d think the mini foxies don’t do much work but they do. They are the farm rat catchers. Apparently they are better at it than cats.  Sorry Travis, Maurice and all my new pussy cat friends but that’s not what I say … it’s what the farmers say. I reckon it’s just that the farmers’ wives spoil the pussy cats and they don’t really have to work too hard for a feed. I know all my new mates would do a REAL good job of rat catching. Better than any old mini foxie, aye?? No, Mr JF Sir they’re mini foxies NOT JRT’s!

This bloke knew how to dress!

These blokes too!!

This would have been a great shot if she had a schooner of beer in her hand instead of hot chippies, aye?

"I'm tough, Mate .... no fancy lead for me .... a hunk of rope's all I need ... don't need no fancy dumb coat either"!!

Yeah .... It's MUD!!

This bloke says it all, aye??

After our walk around we headed off to check out our accommodation.  It’s a bit out of Corryong in a REALLY small place called Cudgewa. There's NO internet coverage at Corryong or Cudgewa so I'll off the air for a while. Not much happens at Cudgewa. There’s only a pub and one shop that sells everything but it’s not open very often. We found our little house.  It’s called Elmstead cottage.  CRIKEY!!!!!!!!  I LOVE IT … it is soooooooooo good.  Not at all luxurious.  Pretty basic really but very clean and Mum and Dad reckon the bed is good and there’s a VERY comfy lounge for us all to snuggle on.  BUT … here’s the good bit.  It’s on a BIG farm and we can go wherever we like.  Pleeeeeeeeaaase stop raining!!!!!!  I need a run.  The cottage is owned by a Dutch couple and they have 3, mad as cut snake, farm dogs who gave me a hell of a time when we first arrived. Wouldn’t leave me alone and one of them (his name’s King …. That’s not what I called him) just kept trying to hump me all the time.  There’s also a very polite King Charles spaniel Sheila, two cats and two ducks who wander around the yard all the time.  Dad took me to meet the cats and the ducks. I’ve never been up close and personal with ducks before. I was good with the cats. I actually got to kiss one of them. That’s a first for me. I’ve never got that close to a cat before. I was good too but Dad’s not too sure about me with the ducks.  Don’t think I’m going to be allowed off lead in the house yard, aye??  

 

This is the farm house .... Elmstead cottage is behind the trees on the right. We did look out over that paddock. The tree didn't stop our view. It was kinda to the side.

After checking the place out we went down to the little pub and Dad got talking to the publican and a group of old farmers while Mum and I had a good old yarn with a lovely farmer’s wife who was staying at the pub. Her husband was away on a cattle muster and had been gone for a few weeks. He was due to arrive at Corryong within the next few days and she had driven down to meet him. Crikey she was a sweetheart. She’d talk the ears off a crop of wheat though … she just went on and on and on. It was all interesting however. Your Mom would have loved her Zoe …. At one stage she actually went to her car and bought back a scarf, that she had knitted, to show Mum. Too funny … Mum and Dad had dinner at the pub.  All home made by the publicans wife and very nice too, so they said. I wouldn’t know ….. I didn’t get any …. Not even a taste ….. hmmmmmmph!! NO ICECREAM either!!!!!!    Double Hmmmmmmpppph!!  Back to Elmstead cottage for a good nights sleep. Crikey I hope the rain stops for the festival tomorrow. The re-enactment was supposed to be on tomorrow but with so much rain expected overnight, tonight, they have put it off until Sunday (two days time) hoping that it will  have cleared by then. We’ll have to wait and see, aye?? 

More later ….

Wanna run … Love, Charlie.