Festival Day 1

This morning the showground toilets and showers had water all over the floor. None of the volunteer workers were here so I used my windscreen washer and car cleaning brush to push the water out the door. I was worried someone might slip on the wet tiles. When the volunteers arrived they organised a plumber, and found mops and squeegees. Water in the showers is not contained by the low lip around the bases or by the shower curtains. Volunteers were still managing the problem when we came back at lunchtime.

Without power we didn't bother making toast for breakfast. Fruit and yoghurt proved to be the easy option. At least there is a coffee vendor on site trading as Travelling Beans. They have a truck that tows a Bushtracker. The large coffee making pod has legs that can be lowered to take it off the back of the truck. Luckily they also have a large generator to run their equipment. Even better, the coffee is good!


Bluey came for a drive and we took turns having a swim and shower at the pool. There are three pools and a water park for kids. Unfortunately there is no hot spa.

Part of the main street is blocked off to allow for camel rides and horse drawn buggy rides. Some out of town vendors have also set up along the main street. We caught up with other Roadies while waiting for our meals from the bakery which we took back to our van to avoid flies.

Anita volunteered to do dog minding. She put Blue and Tilly in their crate so they couldn't pester timid little Hugo while he visited. It was warmer than yesterday and we still had no power. The rest of us went to the Salute to Waltzing Matilda concert led by Dobe Newton and Roger Corbett from the Bushwackers. There is so much history and folklore about Banjo Patterson's poem that it justified a museum - the Waltzing Matilda Centre here in Winton.

Back at camp there was still no power and it was very hot in the van. I was going to start our generator but when I pulled it out discovered oil had somehow leaked out so instead I spent an hour cleaning that up. Just before dark workers came with large mobile generators which eventually provided power to our group of caravans. 

I went back to town to the outdoor cinema to watch the documentary about the careers of Slim Dusty and Joy McKean titled "Slim and I" which was very interesting. I stopped briefly at the North Gregory Hotel to listen to the Hillbilly Goats,  then took a couple of photos of Winton by night before heading home.


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