Day 76: Townsville - Thuringowa

There is a rodeo in town!

Well there's a rodeo in Thuringowa which is around 30km from Townsville.

We had to go, it was going to be fun getting down and dirty with the locals.

For those that the closest you have got to a rodeo was Brokeback Mountain, well it reminded us of the crowd and atmosphere of banger racing that you get in the UK.

So we settled down as the entertainment began. Out came the bucking horses. Then the bucking bulls. There seemed to be alot of angry livestock in the ring...

Oly asked me how they make the animals buck all the time and my highly experienced rodeo going self answered, "Oh, they use horses that aren't used to having riders on their back, like wild ones, and of course the bulls don't like riders". I don't think I have been to a rodeo before, I do tend to have a pretty bad memory, however I have seen most of Brokeback Mountain (it was on the airplane and we landed before I got to the end) and the Horse Whisperer, so that makes me an expert.

"So how come as soon as they loosen that strap the animal is fine and not bucking?"

"They have a strap?"

I looked closer and saw that the bull had a strap around its flank. After the bull had thrown its rider it did not stop bucking until the strap was loosened. We carried on watching and it dawned on us that the strap was not a good thing.

It was nice to go to a local event with cowboys and cowgirls. The horse agility racing was great, as was the "pumping" country music.

We do, however, have mixed emotions about the bucking horses and bulls. We do not like cruelty to animals, even cane toads. As we don't really know what goes on behind the scenes at these events and I would like to give it the benefit of the doubt.

Emelie