It’s every small boy’s dream to be a cowboy for a day; to ride a horse like its master, to lasso a cow and to crack a whip like a gunshot. But I grew up in the south of England and after university travelled around Europe and Africa never getting anywhere near to the Wild West of America. It’d have to remain one of those childhood dreams cast into the back of my mind, stuck onto my ‘bucket list’ on the off chance that maybe one day I’d become that city slicker and have my go in the saddle finally!

Last year in a journey away from the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef I travelled 800kms due west from Rockhampton to the Outback town of Longreach for four days of trail-blazing, dust-bashing adventure and got just a taste of what life is like in the ‘Big Red Centre’ as it’s referred to by the locals. If you missed that one read about it here

When I’m trying to plan different journeys around Queensland I often lay a map out on the floor, flick through the guidebooks, hit a few websites and ponder about where the next adventure will take me. Other times they just fall into place…I wandered into the office at Tourism Queensland one day and was greeted with the question “Have you ever been to a rodeo before?” – maybe this would be my chance!

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Mount Isa came into existence in the early 1920’s when a prospector by the name of John Campbell Miles. He was trekking across the Outback looking for that lucky site that would produce his fortune in the shape of gold when he found massive seams of silver and lead instead. He opened a mine on the site and today the city still mines extensively for copper, zinc, lead and silver thanks to his discovery. 20,000 people now live in the city with Xstrata running the operation employing around half of the town’s population.

Now rodeos in my mind need a bit of thinking about, you can’t just turn up in flip-flops* (thongs here in Australia) and boardshorts. The ex-Island Caretaker would look ridiculously out of place, much more attention to detail has to be paid to one’s choice of wardrobe. I had a dig around and found a ‘cowboy-ish’ looking pair of jeans, an Akubra hat, my R.M. Williams jacket and a checked surf shirt that would just about pass – now I was ready to mix with the real cowboys!

*Thongs or flip-flops – a debate that has been raging in my head for a year now! Well come on Australia a thong to the rest of the world is something women, or men with a serious issue, wear as underwear. A flip-flop is a much better description, why you say? Well what noise does it make when you walk? Exactly, case closed.

My late afternoon flight from Brisbane to Mount Isa swept in low over the rocky terrain with the last throw of the day’s sunshine casting an exquisite pink and orange glow over the surrounding earth – I was back in the land of the perfect sunset. We (Sue Fuller my awesome host for the weekend and I) headed straight for the action at the Mount Isa Rodeo, the event takes place over three days with Friday night action guaranteed – the street parade and Mardi Gras was my first appointment. I was to be a judge…and not for the last time!

The opening night is a free-for-all with the locals all coming out to watch the proceedings. There’s bull-riding, steer wrestling, breakaway roping, a huge bonfire and laser lightshow. It’s estimated that the population of Mount Isa doubles over this weekend.

Saturday morning dawns bright and early and I have an appointment to keep, ABC Radio have a station here that covers a vast distance and I give a quick interview all about why on earth I’m here – Rodeo of course!

Back at the arena I take up my place in the front row (no-one said it’d be quite as dangerous as it turned out to be) and get ready for some action. The red-dirt arena has a series of gates on the opposite side from which the bulls and horse are released with their mad riders firmly attached…until of course they are thrown off. These guys are totally nuts/brave/stupid which ever way you look at them, I mean come on there’s 1000kgs of angry, hyped-up bull sitting udder under you and you’ve got to try and hang on for as long as possible – seems like a recipe for disaster to me. But they can and they do hang on, sometimes all the way through to the bell eight seconds later. Points are then scored for style, length of ride, use of the spurs and there’s even extra points if you can crack your whip at the same time.

And of course they fall off…some almost walk off the beasts back, some go flying face first into the arena floor…and some lay there stunned by the impact! But THE single most important job they have to do is get the hell out of the way of the flailing legs which the bucking bull is cracking down with huge force. Again most make it…but some don’t. Rising limply from the floor under their own steam or sometimes with the assistance of the pick-up men (the guys who ride around after the bulls and horses once they’ve finished) these brave souls have a second-wind given to them by the applause from the crowd but then flop onto the paramedics bed once out of the public eye.

Brave – yes, tough – yes, reckless – maybe a little; but cowboys 100% and you’d better believe it! The competition covers the three days of the event with the culmination being the Sunday when the finals take place. These are the boys and girls who’ve ridden, wrestled, lassoed and fought for the title of ‘Best in Their Class’ and somehow survived to tell the tale.

For some reason I was kept well away from entering any of the events? I would have done of course…just to give it a go you understand but apparently even riding the young steers that the 7-9 year olds take on might be a little too much for someone as inexperienced as me. Oh well, I’ll stick to other sports then.

One of the Outback’s legends is Fred Brophy (you can find a short interview with him here) He runs a tent boxing arena that travels around the country to mining towns and events taking on the locals. We went to watch as five fearless Queenslanders took on his boys! I was to be one of the judges and had the easiest job to do – Fred’s guys won the lot! It’s all carried out in a very professional, lighthearted manner with no injuries apart from some dented pride.

Mount Isa has lots to do for the tourist too. I visited the old Underground Hospital that was built during WWII in case of air attack from the Japanese. The tunnel dives deep into the hillside and has been restored to its former state. There are reminders everywhere of quite how barbaric early medicine was – maybe I’m just too soft but the idea of teeth-extracting pliers and bowel-separators really turned my stomach.

Being a mining town the evidence towers over most of the city. A huge 236 metre high chimney shows where the working mine is but visitors aren’t allowed underground there any more. So Ron McCulloch, the town’s mayor at the time, thought they’d just dig another one. So he and several locals literally built another mine over a number of years costing $5 million. Hardtimes Mine has to be THE most impressive museum building I’ve ever been to…well been down into actually! The lift takes you down 20 feet to the network of tunnels they have created below and it really is a dark, cool mine! Bill used to be a miner before he retired and now he gives tours of the shafts, machinery and tells you all about the processes involved. A real eye-opener.

The buzz of the rodeo weekend is irresistible and once Sunday afternoon rolls around I regrettably have to leave to catch my flight back to Brisbane. I’ve had a superb time here and loved watching how the locals adore this event – it really is the backbone of life out here. Not just something that’s done for the crowds but real people earning a living doing tough jobs on the land.

Ok I didn’t get to ride a bull or lasso a cow but I was close enough to feel the thump of their hooves, smell the dust of the cages and feel the rush of adrenaline as the gate opened.

Thank you Mount Isa for a unique and crazy weekend!