Mareeba Rodeo

Morning everyone, hope you had a great weekend.  We did.  We drove up to Mareeba on the Atherton Tablelands to check out the Mareeba Rodeo.  In all my years living in the Cairns area I have never been before.  It was cloudy when we left home but we had checked the weather radar and it looked clear.  So off we went, get to Cairns and the lightest shower starts, head up the Kuranda range and the clouds are low and it is now light rain.  We should never have doubted it though as the closer we got to Mareeba the dryer it was.  As you can in the photo above it was till cloudy to start with.  Mareeba is known for being dry even though it is just over a 1/2 hour drive from Cairns.  One of it's claim to fame is 300 dry days.  I ended up sunburnt with a red face and red neck.  So glad I wore long sleeves and jeans.  Now to the photos.  The photo above shows one lane of the sideshow alley...this is at 9.30 in the morning so not busy at all.

The clowns were there keeping us amused with their simple humour that managed to get a smile and a clap from the crowd.

This was one of the horses from the bareback riding.  The cowboy is back over near the blue gate at number 6.  These guys are just rounding this bucking horse up, firstly to remove the strap near his hind legs and then to guide him out of the arena.

Here are some cowboys getting a ride for their money.

Can't believe how far back they lean.  Took me a while to adjust as I have watched Rodeo's on TV and they don't really show you any bad bits.  When first rider came out and off his horse I suddenly remembered this is real life and we may see someone seriously hurt.  Thankfully, not.  We did see a couple injured as their did not come undone or when they came off the bull or horse they ended up on the ground and copped a bit of a boot but all of them got up and walked away.

This young girl and the horse were amazing in the Under 11yo Barrel riding.

This little was just too cute in the Under 8 yo Barrel riding.  See Dad is leading out the horse and Mum is running beside making sure her daughter doesn't fall.

I thought the riders were amazing and gutsy each ride.  But it was the guys on the ground that were there to distract the bull or horse away from the fallen rider that amazed me. 

We got to see some woodchopping which is such a dying art.  Sadly.  The majority of guys we saw competing were in their 60's.  I doubt there would have been anyone under 50 on the day.  Now this guy was incredibly strong.  The first wood chop we watched he had a 26 second handicap and blitz the rest of the crew.  For this wood chop he had a 30 second handicap but sadly didn't finish as the block of wood had a black piece in the middle and if he had continued it would have ruined his axe apparently.

This is photo shows half of the stands at the rodeo.

Now this guy caught my eye.  I think he takes colour coordination just a tad too far.

Orange hair teamed with a brown leather hat, orange shirt and yellow shorts.  Luckily, he must have thought to add sunscreen otherwise he could have been red like me to finish off the ensemble.

Time to get moving and hang some clothes on the line. Have a great day everyone.