Roma - Apr 07


Nindigully Pub	Camping on the Moonie River	St George Weir	Roma - watching the parade	Faces in the crowd

Billy Goat Races	Mud Races	Mud flies everywhere!	Did they back a winner??	Markets

Happy pair of young romantics!	Trip members of the Cox family	Egrets parade	Would anyone argue with this man?	Camping at the Roma Showgrounds

On Thursday morning seven vehicles met at Aratula to drive to Nindigully Pub on the way to Roma for Easter in the Country. The rest of the group was driving to Roma on Friday. We set off and were behind Dick and Margaret who had bought a large apple pie at the bakery. Just up the road we saw the box with the pie still in it flying through the air. Dick had put it on the drawbar of the caravan and forgotten it. He was worried his mobile was with it but luckily he found it.

After a morning tea stop at Gore where Don took us to a great pie shop and he had a second pie just to try the mushy peas, it was on to Goondiwindi for lunch. The grass was really green with sprinklers on (a sight we are not used to in Brisbane anymore). We arrived in Nindigully and enjoyed happy hour by the Moonie River and then headed up to dinner at the Pub. They must have thought Jenny wasn’t hungry as we had all finished and she was still waiting.

After an 8.30am departure and morning tea at St George (more green grass and sprinklers) it was on to Roma. Dick’s water tank fell off the van on the way so all the men either helped in taking it off or offered advice. We arrived at Roma to find most of the other group set up in the showgrounds.

It was hot setting up and after an easy afternoon there was bush poetry, happy hour and dinner then a walk over to the show grounds to watch the bucking bulls for short time. Saturday morning saw the street procession and billy goat races and then after a quick lunch it was off to the Mud Derby which was very entertaining with Iceman, Big Mudda, Grandma’s Taxi and many others trying to beat and outlast each other. The loader which retrieved the bogged cars nearly landed sideways on top of one bogged car. The driver and his co-pilot were out of the vehicle pretty fast. A couple of our group returned early to camp and saw the last of the horse races. After a quick happy hour it was off to the Speedway. Lucky we didn’t drink too much as the breathalyzer was outside the showgrounds. Obeying convoy rules Lew pulled in behind Errol to blow in the bag.

Sunday morning and we were off again to breakfast and the bush poets. It was a great way to spend the morning. They also had markets in the showgrounds for us to wander around. Eleven of us went to see Johnny Cash and Friends at the Cultural Centre and the rest had lunch at the Bowls Club. There was also a rodeo Sunday afternoon and night. The Pratt family spent the afternoon and night there but by the time we arrived back at camp and had happy hour and dinner we were all too tired to rush out again so ended up relaxing and eventually going over to the rodeo at 9.00pm and managed to get in free so we saw a good variety of the final events. There was plenty to do over the weekend and everyone had a really great time. A lot of the events over the weekend were at the showgrounds so we were very central.

Monday morning saw everyone packing up to return home. We bush camped with the Pettys and the Phillips families on Monday night and then spent an enjoyable night with Frank and Val Archer.