Road Trip to Winton - Day 7

We left Winton and drove up through Hughenden to Charters Towers. I've got friends there who are on a cattle station about 50km outside town but they have a town house, so very handy for us. The night before we left Winton we got a group photo. We all look a bit smashed but au contraire, no drinking, honest. We might have been drunk on good vibes and creativity. I don't know.

Left to right: Sara Isherwood, Shari Indriani-Irwin, Russell Milledge, Rose Milledge.

Anyhow, the photo above doesn't do it justice but you can just see Shari tap dancing on a dinghy in the arena, surrounded by lights. This is the Dust Arena where (pending funding!) we will be performing this show.

Left to right: Sara, Shari, Shannon, Kirk, Bronwyn and Eiren Smith.

I added the photo above of the Smiths from Dreghorn Station because they're like family to me and I'm very grateful for their hospitality. I grew up with the two kids like we were cousins (also, I like the blue iceberg glass casement windows. Nice!). Eiren is now the station manager and Shannon has a successful Occupational Therapy practice in Charters Towers.

The next shots are of the trip home - back to the Tablelands. It really is a spectacular drive coming back to the wet tropics. The contrasts and the changing vegetation is lovely and always makes me feel good when I get to that part of the drive.

Above - Tully sugar mill

Above - The Look Out on the Palmerston Highway, heading up to Millaa Millaa

And that's it. I had a long sleep when I got home. Oh! I nearly forgot the map! This is the route I took:

And that's really it. I'll leave you with a final short video of me talking about the project and where it's currently at. There's also the potential for this project to encompass more than theatre. I consider cooking and gardening as my other artforms, and a large part of this work is about bringing people together, especially in remote areas, through food, eating together, and growing food. If Willie could do it in Winton, you can do it anywhere.

Thanks for reading. Please share these posts with anyone who's interested, especially if they have an interets in supporting the arts and gardening in outback Australia!