Instead of digging for gold in Forsayth to finance
our journey we decided to enjoy life and drive to Croydon (150km west) to see
the Poddy Dodgers Festival, presented by the Croydon Rodeo & Campdraft
Association and taking place over the whole weekend.
On the way we stopped at the Cumberland lagoons which is somewhat surreal: A beautiful green oasis in the middle of dry land, a paradise for birds and ducks – and caravanning ornithologists.
On the way we've seen our first wild emus. And exactly as we were told: they showed up in pairs. If you see one, always watch out for the second one, so it doesn’t take you by surprise. We also saw the remains of wild pigs and a huge bird of prey which we think might even have been an eagle.
Arriving at Croydon, we set up camp next to the rodeo grounds and headed over to the festival since Sarah was keen to join the "party".
Some of the activities taking place here were: Team Roping, Steer Wrestling, Stockmans Challenge, Greasy Pig Chase, Mechanical Bull Competition, Camp Oven Competition and lots more. Just to give you the right idea: this is serious sports and not all fun, the prize money for some of those challenges were between $500 and $3000.
Sarah enjoyed the big party, having her first encounter with a pony and making a sand picture. She also loved the horse competitions and the steer wrestling. The historic side of the town itself weren’t that interesting for her but she danced on the stage in the old Town Hall and all in all adapted quite quickly to the lifestyle: hanging of the fence and playing in the dirt.
It was amazing to see those little kids doing exactly what the parents do (except beer drinking and smoking): riding horses, wearing hats, boots, jeans and a shirt, roping, bull riding and chatting (or playing) with the other kids.
While we had lots of fun, just spare a moment for the farmers. In 2009 the area was affected by the largest floods since 1974. It's estimated that about 100,000 head of cattle drowned. It took months for the water to disappear and many houses were flooded up to the roof. The water also created high vegetative growth and by the end of that year there was a huge uncontrolled fire. Stations were lost and Croydon itself just managed to escape the flames. Since the 2012/13 wet season Crydon has seen very little rain and the area is in sever drought. We've heard stories of farmers having to shoot their cattle, so they don't starve. Who wants to be a farmer?