Lots of excitement today. We were off to the Mareeba Rodeo. There are quite a few rodeos in towns all over north and west Queensland at this time of year but we hadn’t managed to be in the right place at the right time for any of them until now…and this is one of the biggest. None of us have ever been to a rodeo before.
We packed up the van and left our camp spot at Kairi, drove through more cane and corn fields to the main highway at Tolga and then up the road to Mareeba. Everywhere we have been on the Atherton Tableland so far has been so lush and green, very beautiful area. A few kilometres from Mareeba however, the countryside changed from green to brown. We only went down a slight hill and we were still on the tableland so we are unsure why there is such a big contrast in the vegetation but it was like driving back out to western Qld. As we neared town we noticed a big sign promoting the 300 days of sunshine a year at Mareeba.
The entry fee for the rodeo was fantastic value at $75 for a family and that included three nights of camping at the rodeo grounds - we were very close to the action. On top of the rodeo, the weekend also doubles as the Mareeba show so there were also heaps of rides and show food to excite the kids even more. It was like camping at the Ekka (Brisbane show).
We arrived at the rodeo grounds at about lunchtime and set up camp.
The kids were very happy with our own ponies behind our camp spot.
With lots of people around it was a great atmosphere. On Friday night we headed into town for the Mareeba Rodeo parade.
It was a bit like the Pine Rivers Christmas parade – heaps of lollies thrown into the hands of waiting kiddies. Our guys collected a few weeks’ supply.
Saturday morning it was time for the action to begin. The people on the early hot air balloon flight had perfect weather.
The first events of the day were little kids riding the poddy calves – many of the kids were so small. Our guys couldn’t believe that little kids were allowed to do this…of course Luke wanted to enter.
You can’t quite see the little rider here – there are lots of protectors.
We watched a few events from our spot up in the grandstands…
…and then had a look at some of the other activities. One of the favourites was the woodchops. These big boys are so strong and we loved watching them power through the logs.
This baby cow (calf) was born only an hour before we came by. He or she was trying to stand up and kept stumbling. It is probably the youngest animal our kids have ever seen – there were lots of “Oh…he’s sooo cute”, especially from Ella.
Back to the rodeo for some of the big events.
Our favourite events were the bucking broncos, the bull ride and the cowgirl’s barrel racing. The cowboys and cowgirls are so skilful (and courageous). Ella wasn’t so keen on the steer rope and tie – very concerned about the welfare of the cows.
Ashley also loved the performances of the Crack Up Sisters in between some of the rodeo events - they were pretty funny. She checked the program and made sure she was in the stand each time they were on.
The rodeo has some new fans. They have already requested that we come again next year.
The kids enjoyed making some new friends and playing cricket, flying the kite and running around. One kid in particular was really funny – his name is Bray. Only five years old and he had the thickest country accent we have ever heard and spoke as if he was much older. He kept saying “Check it out!” and told us heaps of lies while keeping a straight face until he had sucked us in and would start laughing. Great kid.
In between the events and other activities we had a few goes on some of the extremely overpriced rides (operated by some of the shadiest looking characters we have ever seen). Luke and Ashley’s favourite was the dodgems where they both practiced their V8 supercar driving skills. Luke was very good at avoiding being hit while cutting others off.
And Ella enjoyed that drive too.
Her favourite though was the huge jumping castle.
Luke also won a little penguin on the basketball game.
The atmosphere at night was especially exciting with lots of bright lights and noise.
We had an absolutely awesome weekend at the Mareeba Rodeo. Hopefully we’ll get back there again another time.
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