Gumleaf
How y’going folks,
As I get older time seem to be speeding up. I can’t believe I haven’t written for so long. I am writing under a wise old coolibah beside a billabong on the Wilson River on Mt Margaret Station in Western Queensland. We have two-dozen yabbies and still pulling them in for an entrée tonight. ‘We’ is actually four couples, who are all keen and experienced campers. We are all on our way to Ethabuka Station on the edge of the Simpson Desert. Bush Heritage acquired the property in 2004 to preserve it in its pristine state. The property is home to the very rare Night Parrot. I was one of the first to donate to Bush Heritage when Bob Brown came up with the idea and I have remained a great supporter of such a noble cause. I really don’t know what to expect, as I have never been in the Simpson other than near Old Dado Station. So I’ll keep you posted!
It’s impossible to describe the fun we had in Southern Africa in May on the music safari I was approached to do. It was limited to a small group of on twenty people, plus Meg and myself. Some of those who came were our friends and those I hadn’t met before who were just fans, have now become firm friends. It was very different for me to perform without a sound system but the group seemed to love it and we’re already talking with Matt, the tour organiser, about doing it again in 2018 with a slightly different itinerary. Apart from the amazing animals we saw on the game drives, the highlights were too many to list. Two of the performances to the group were around the campfire in the boma at the game reserve and the boma behind our hotel at Victoria Falls, beside the mighty Zambezi River. Another one was on the sunset cruise on the Zambezi River. In Cape Town the performance was in an intimate venue down by the waterfront and a number of ex-pat Aussies were invited along, which made them incredibly homesick! So come along in 2018 folks.
The Willoshed concerts on the property at Springbrook in June were hugely successful again and people are lining up already to book for the third year. I intend to make it better every year until I can’t do it anymore. It rained the weekend before and after so I feel like ‘Lucky Gander’ again. We’ll be putting the tickets for 2017 on sale around September/October.
Meg and I head off on the Bash again on the 21st August but I have to leave in Longreach to get to the Gympie Muster. A friend of Meg’s will fly in to Longreach to join her in the Bash ute for the rest of the trip. I’ll be at Gympie Muster with a changed lineup of musos. I’m looking forward to the Deni Ute Muster on Friday 30th September and then go straight from there to the Tweed Valley Country Roots Fest in Murwillumbah Festival on Sunday 2nd October. It’s been a few years since I did Deni. What a huge turn out it is with an unbelievable number of utes and wild country boys to match.
See you on the road,
Johnno
