Hats, horses and history.

It's been quite a morning! We arrived at the Station Store to be treated to tea and fresh scones, along with our fellow passengers on the ride. And what a ride- on a stagecoach!! Four beautiful white cobb horses were drawn up ready for us to alight, but first we had to have our photo taken complete with period hats.
We were told that it could be dangerous, as at some point we would be galloping, and of course we were not riding behind a petrol engine, but very large animals with a mind of their own!

Anne got to ride up front between the driver and the guard, I had to go inside as some of the children wanted to go outside on the back. So taking photos was not easy, but I managed to get a few good ones from inside.





We set off along the city streets, cars and lorries stopped for us to pass by, but soon we turned off onto the town common, and started to trot along a track towards a billabong. All too soon we had to turn around, but soon afterwards the driver warned us that he was to gallop the coach for 500 mtrs.
It was a boneshaker! we went along that track at around 42 kph, (26mph) with the traces and the coach ( and my teeth!) rattling all the way.

We turned back onto the road and trotted back towards the town.. All eyes were on us as we travelled up the main street, passers by  waved and cheered as we went along. Too soon we turned back into the Station yard, and disembarked.
We were taken into an old fashioned cinema with deck chair seats to see an old film, "Smiley Gets His Gun". It was great as a kid's movie, and was a bit of nostalgia.

That was followed by a homorous playlet about Harry Redford, a notorious cattle rustler from the early 1900s, who stole 1200 cattle and drove them 2000 kms down to South Australia where he sold them. He was eventually arrested and tried, but as he was a local hero the jurors would not convict him, so he got away with it. The playlet was very entertaining, horses and ponies and even a cockerel were employed.

All of the parts were played by members of the same family, the Kinnons, who also drove and guarded the coach, served the tea and indeed performed most of the parts last evening! We are staying in the Kinnon lodges too, and the guy in the picture above is the father of them all. He, his wife and three children were graziers who stood to lose their land after years of drought, so decided to set up this tourism company. I must say they work extremely hard, from 8 in the morning til ten at night - last night he even drove the coach that picked us up to take us out to the river! Good on yer sport!

PS: We have just heard a news item on the TV that 250 cattle have been stolen locally, Harry Redford lives on!!