Kowanyama Rodeo

Last weekend we were lucky enough to have a long weekend for the annual Kowanyama Rodeo.  We went down on the Saturday to watch the locals battle it out in the Rodeo arena.  Unfortunately for us all (bulls included) Kowanyama recorded the hottest temperature for the state that day, over 35 degrees.  So we pulled up the Jimny and Pats set up a couple of tarps and chairs to get out of the sun and enjoy the show. 

Our little set up looked very attractive to a group of the local kids, so they decided to come and join us.

It takes a bit to get used to, the way the kids just come up and sit all over you and think nothing of it - even if they don't know you that well!  But they are definitely amusing and always make the day interesting.

The rodeo continued the next day as well, we didn't go but there were quite a few casualties.  Over 6 people had to get flown to Cairns for treatment.  And Pats was thinking about entering next year - he may have to rethink this!

Cairns, cows and shopping

As you could see from our first post, Kowanyama does not have a whole lot of facilities.  So Pats and I decided to do a trip to Cairns to stock up on food and a few things that we forgot to get before making the move.  Now this is not a trip to take lightly, especially over a weekend.  Cairns is a 7 hour drive, while this is not exactly a massive drive, what makes it that much harder is that over 5 hours of this drive is on dirt roads that have quite a few hazards including kangaroos, dust, wild pigs, wallabies, brolgas and huge pot holes that have the ability to completely swallow the poor little Jimny!  However the biggest hazard on this trip are the cows, cows, cows and more cow.  You see Kowanyama is surrounded by cattle stations and these cows can appear out of what seems like no where or they could be safely standing by the side of the road and then decide to completely freak out and stupidly run across the right in front of your car.  Thankfully we made it to Cairns by 10pm Friday night without incident.  One of our colleagues was not so lucky a week later, his car was a total write off after hitting a cow, thankfully he was completely uninjured.  A very lucky man.

Saturday in Cairns started with breakfast on the esplanade then it was all about the shopping - but not the fun kind!  However it was all necessary and life back in Kowie is a lot better for making the trip.  We left Cairns mid morning Sunday with the poor little Jimny packed to the hilt.

We arrived safely back in Kowie early Sunday evening, completely exhausted but very happy we had made the trip. But in no hurry to do it again anytime soon!!

Kowanyama

Kowanyama is located about 600kms North West of Cairns, on the Western side of Cape York.  It is a remote Aboriginal Community with a population of approximately 1000.  Kowanyama means 'The place of many waters' and in the Wet Season this is true.  Kowie is one of the few places that in the Wet Season is completely cut off by road.  The only way in and out is by plane, luckily there is an all weather airstrip that is serviced by the regional airline Skytrans.

There isn't a whole lot in Kowanyama, a small convenience store, a couple of take away shops and the Coffee Shoppe (that doesn't actually sell coffee!)  The selection is not overly extensive and what is there is very expensive.

This is just a quick run down of our new home town.  There is lots more to tell, but this will do for now :)