By 2pm, we judged that it was clear enough to go to the street Parade. Emily and Carissa were very pleased about the decision! The four of us went in Nev's and Lindy's car and got a parking spot not far off the main street, which was blocked off. The Parade was reasonably good but not as long as last year, nor as attractive. Still, we applauded the efforts and had a good time. As always, each of the Princesses rode on the float of their sponsor.
Next was the Carnival and the inevitable argument about money. Every year, Lindy gives the girls ample money and we try to get them to spend it sensibly and have some left over. Every year, Steve says, "Give it up Laurie. They aren't your kids!" Old teachers never die!! This year, most of their money was spent on food! We had Maccas for our evening meal. Oddly, it was the most nourishing food we could find!
The Rodeo commenced at dusk and the wide metal bleachers filled up quickly. We all cooled down quickly, so Steve and Emily drove home for warm clothes and blankets. Our butts were freezing!! They returned with an extra child, Jackson, the girls' cousin. He had just arrived from Brisbane.
I'm ambivalent about rodeos. I want to say that I dislike them because they are tormenting, frustrating and cruel to the animals. Yet, the atmosphere and action excites me and I'm caught up in the enthusiasm engendered by the spruikers. They spoke frequently about cruelty to animals and some of the calf roping contestants were disqualified on those grounds. There were all kinds of events ---- bucking bulls, bucking horses, with and without saddles, two different kinds of calf roping and a terrific barrel race. A program explained exactly what was involved in each event, but as it all happened so quickly, it was a bit hard to see. Fortunately, Steve gave me a running commentary.
As the evening wore on, the kids became more and more restless and there were numerous visits to the toilets, trips for food, play fighting with those big plastic bats, general teasing and a lot of texting and exchanging of ring tones and photos! There was no bad blood, even though I delivered a couple of lectures! They were all high on sugar and no longer interested in the rodeo, so we headed for home. We had promised sundaes at McDonalds to finish the day, so that was our last stop before home, around 10pm. How did they fit in more food????
It was difficult to take photos of the rodeo and most of them have the metal bar of the safety fence across the middle. I haven't put any captions on the obvious photos; you'll work them out for yourself.
I have embedded a slideshow here. Click the arrow and it will run automatically.
Another method to view the photos in a larger style is to click on The Healing Waters Festival title at the top and then click on slideshow on the new page.
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