Well here we are at Monto where we have just finished working the Saturday/Sunday show in the Strawberries and Pancakes van. And my was it interesting. We got here on Wednesday and took it easy getting everything set up and wandering about. It is a very social thing and you spend a lot of time talking to everyone while setting up, hence why it takes so long to set up!
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| The horses getting ready for the campdrafting |
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| Our little van tucked in behind the scenes. The refrigerators on the trucks lulled us to sleep. Too bad the roosters woke us up so early though!!! |
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| The horses in the stables, getting ready for their big day. |
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| The cutest little welsh ponies!!! So placid with everyone! And they had a gorgeous thick soft coat to pat. |
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| Unknown species...definitely strange though!!! |
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| A scottish something or other...Halarious!!! |
Saturday morning bought rain so we had a very slow start to the morning. Chris and I had not worked in this van before so we started work at lunch time and got used to the ropes. We had worked 3 hours and were waiting for Aaron's wife Marcy to show up. In that time unfortunately Marcy had rolled their truck with the burger van on it. So Aaron had to leave us to rush to Marcy and Lainey (Aaron's mum). They are ok but they did get injured and the truck was totalled.
So Chris and I were left in the van from 3pm - 10pm to close. It was absolutely halarios!!! First of all, normally when the fireworks go off, the show ends. So we had run all the stock levels down to make less wastage for the night. Little did we know that the fireworks marked the beggining of the rodeo!!! Well we were inundated with people to serve. We ran out of the pancake mix, cream in the creamers, fresh cut strawberries, ice cream in the soft serve machine and to make matters worse we went to turn on the outside lights (thanks to Duncan who suggested to do so) and they shorted out. We had blown the circuit for ours and 4 other vans!!! Meanwhile Chris was cooking pancakes in the dark for the pile of customers lining up, while making pancake mix. Duncan cut some strawberries for us (he had packed up for the night), I madly put cream in the creamers and Ice cream in the ice cream machine while serving customers and waiting for power.
When we got it all under control somewhat, I went to put some cream on a lady's pancakes and skwirted her with cream. Everyone was in stiches!!! Then Chris tries to take the lid off one of the creamers and he was sprayed from head to toe with cream! What a night!!! Anyway we did well considering and Aaron and Marcy were so relieved that we had it under control (or what they think was control!). We then had to do it all over again by ourselves on Sunday from 9am - 7pm while Aaron organised a new truck.
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| Note my clean workspace...clean as you go and the mess won't grow :) |
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| Duncan helping us cut strawberries...in his Colombo hat (the opposition) |
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| The happy pancake couple :) |
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| Colombo hats as requested by Duncan! |
So today...
Chris is fixing stub axel's, packing bearings, machining drums and fixing the trailer wiring in the burger van. While Aaron and Marcy pick up the new truck.
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| The full view of the van after the show |
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| The Bush Tucker Van being repaired |
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| My new friend :) |
Tommorow we are heading out to make our way to Daly Waters (Northern Territory). We have 3 days to travel 2600kms. They are going to be long days!!! Then we have to set up for a five day show. Oh man, we have our work cut out for us. But it is all fun. After that we are off to Kununurra for something else. So I am taking it easy today, getting ready for the long haul.
Talk to you soon xxx
PS. I noticed that their was a bull loose this afternoon and tried to tell the owner but they weren't there. So I went up to it to see if it was friendly enough for me to tie it up and it charged me!!! So I went and got Chris to see if he would get it and tie it up. Which he did nervously!!!
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| Hmmm caution uncertain animal ahead |
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| Chris wishing the rope was longer! |
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| Alright he's tied up...lets get out of here :) |
