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Week two got off to a bit of a quieter start… and by quieter, we mean we stayed in pyjamas until 5pm on Sunday absolutely exhausted from a crazy busy start to the trip, but the week quickly picked up pace.
After a few days in Yeppoon enjoying spending time with friends, we headed west to Emerald on Thursday. We took a slight detour to Blackdown Tableland on the way, where Kate was tempted to bundle up one of the cute Brangus calves lining the road as we drove in. We did a few walks and saw some beautiful lookouts, and a (probably harmless) goanna walking towards us was enough for Claire to very swiftly move to sit in the car in a manner that perhaps wasn’t cool calm and collected.
On Friday, we met Sue, who runs Boots’N’All Line Dancing Emerald, and her husband Glen. Four delicious steak sandwiches later, we all felt like we’d known each other for years, and agreed it’d be silly not to have dinner together as well. As we write this, we’ve now moved in with Sue and Glen for the next few nights – their hospitality is second to none and we know we’ll be lifelong friends.
Our Emerald event was on Saturday night, where about 65 people turned out for what was meant to be four hours of dancing, but due to enthusiasm from the crowd we went just a tad overtime. Thank you to the line dancing family here in Emerald who organised basically everything for us for the night, we couldn’t have done it without you! Loved seeing some newbies on the floor, as well as those who have been dancing for years.
Sunday epitomised ‘every day is a school day’, where we were privileged enough to be taken on a whirlwind tour of The Gemfields by Di who had the day planned to the minute. Olie showed us his working sapphire mine (Kate was brave enough to descend the 36-foot ladder as the photo shows, while Claire was not), and we saw some beautiful gem galleries, were talked through gem cutting by Jane at Taylors Fine Sapphires, and got a crash course in the world of telescopes, thanks to Di’s husband Phil. Wowsers!
Thanks to ABC Capricornia, Radio 4LG, Talking Queensland and the Mental Awareness Foundation ABC Capricornia, Talking Qld, the Mental Awareness Foundation and 4GL Radio Longreach for their interest in our venture this past week.
Looking ahead, we’ll hang around in Emerald for a few more days before heading west to run classes in Ilfracombe and Longreach later in the week – head to our events page to find out more. We’re also planning out our Northern Territory leg this week which will be May/June, so any places in NT interested in having us along, reach out. (Those who have contacted us already, we’ve got you on the list and will be in touch this week.)
Moral of the story for this week – if goannas and mines are anything to go by, Kate by far wins the bravery award over Claire!
Yours in boot-scootin',
Kate and Claire.
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