TK Adventures – October 2021.
Longreach, Outback Queensland
Recently, I had the great pleasure of flying to Longreach to emcee The Stockman’s Hall
of Fame, Food and Wine Festival. As my flight took me over the expansive Queensland
Outback, the drought which had been in its eleventh year now, was evident, with no
signs of letting up anytime soon. I am continually amazed by the sheer resilience of folks
on the land and their strength to just keep on going when Mother Nature can be so
tough at times! Whenever I engage in conversation with the folks, about how they are
coping with what seems like, the never ending drought, they alway give me the same
narrative “Oh we are OK, there’s always someone doing it tougher than us”!
Landing into Longreach there was obvious excitement in the air. The Food and Wine
Festival is one of the calendar highlights out here. In fact, be it the local horse race
meeting, a music festival or the opening of a new tourist attraction, locals come from far
and wide to support these events and to reconnect with mates they may not have seen
in quite a while.
This year the Festival theme was the 1920’s and with over 400 tickets sold, the stakes
were going to be high in the fashion department!
Popular Aussie Chef, Matt Golinski was a special guest at the Festival this year. He was
booked to do a demonstration on the art of cooking the ‘perfect’ steak. Brisbane band
Encore, who were booked to perform at the event were also on the plane with me. I was
a little baffled as to why they didn’t have any musical instruments with them when we
collected our bags from the carousel, however, I’ll tell you more about that shortly. After
checking into my accommodation, I had enough time to freshen up, put on my 1920’s
inspired gold and black sequin dress and head to the venue.
The patrons were rolling in and looking absolutely smashing. Everyone had gone to so
much trouble in dressing up to the nines, even the fellas, who are usually more
comfortable in wranglers, blundstones and an Akubra, had gone all out, channeling
characters from the Great Gatsby.
The evening was packed full of fun and frivolities from an oyster shell stacking
competition, to blindfold food tasting, best dressed lady to best dressed hound, yes
that’s right HOUND. The famous Brown Brothers Winery group had set up their own
wine tasting bar. If wine wasn’t your thing, there was a Gin and Vodka Bar with an array
of varieties and flavours to choose from…oh the headache just thinking about it lol… To
help soak up some of the liquid refreshments, there was the most scrumptious food
buffet I have ever seen in the Outback.
We kicked the evening off with an auction of 7 Dash hound dogs who would later race
against each other to win the inaugural, Brown Brothers Shiraz Dash For Cash Cup.
There were actually 8 dogs in total however one of the owners tried to pull a ‘Fine
Cotton’ and pass his Fox Terrier off as a Dash-hound, unfortunately he was scratched!
As their owners proudly paraded their pooches in front of the audience, Tom Boyle, local
auctioneer, was on fire, taking bids from the enthusiastic patrons. Fifty, one
hundred, one fifty, two hundred, two fifty and the bids kept coming. Just over two
thousand dollars was raised in a matter of minutes.
Dash-For-Cash Race was hilarious, little doggies going in all directions and excited
owners yelling out as the crowd cheered them on.
Reggie, the slightly overweight honey blonde hound was first across the finish line,
looking so proud of himself. His owner, Laura, looked just as chuffed at his efforts.
The evening was well underway when Encore made their way onto the stage. The
reason the band didn’t have any instruments back at the airport was, except for 2 laptop
computers set up on either side of the stage, they performed solely to backing tracks.
This sure is different to what I am used to as far as doing a ‘live’ show. The fact there
were’t musicians playing any instruments did not seem to make any difference to the
audience. Encore performed all of those crowd pleasing cover songs and teamed with
their great harmonies, they were terrific. I can’t help but wonder though, is performing to
backing tracks, without a band the future of LIVE music?
Later that night I emceed the Oyster stacking competition which was hilarious given
many of the ladies who competed had all had their share of Pink Gins prior to the
challenge. Next up was the Best Dressed Lady announcements. This category was so
difficult to judge because everyone had gone to so much trouble in looking simply
fabulous in their 1920’s outfits. After finally choosing first, second and third placegetters,
I handed the microphone to celebrity Chef Matt for his perfect steak demo. Naturally, all
the fellas gathered around to watch this.
It was a great night and so good to be back in Longreach, catching up with old mates
again as it had been a couple of years since I was out that way. Whilst I was in
Longreach I included a tour of the new look Stockman’s Hall of Fame and the QANTAS
Founders Museum’s Luminescent Sound and Light show, both are well worth visiting
next time you are in that part of Australia. Oh, and if you can, go for a ride on the fully
restored Cobb & Co carriage with the guys at Kinnons & Co and check out Smithy’s
Dinner & Show on the Thompson River, you will definitely leave the Outback enriched
and revived from being there.
Happy Travels, love Tania xx
