Emerald

During our trip down from Ayr to Melbourne we happened upon the town of Emerald. We hadn't planned to spend any time there but we found out that the rodeo was going to be on that weekend so we ended up camping for 2 nights! I can't say you'd ever find Emerald in a tourism guide but it is a lovely little town in the middle of nowhere and I would definitely go back again if I was in the area.

Emerald sits right on the Tropic of Capricorn!

There is even a Yellow Brick Road leading to Emerald City!

Here is the bridge that we slept under ;)

And here is the kids playground that we played on

Cows have right of way around here

The rodeo was cool! The horse riders were so skilled, I was really in awe. The bull riding and cow tackling wasn't really to my taste but then these people rely on the cows for their livelihood so I don't think they would do anything to really harm them. The atmosphere was really good and we had a fun time.

So these girls had to steer their horses around 3 of these drums as fast as they could. I couldn't believe the speeds they were going!

This man had just jumped off his horse, at speed, and grabbed this calf by the horns. The timer stops when he manages to flip the cow onto its back

And of course the junk food was great! This is called a Dagwood Dog - a hotdog dipped in batter and fried. The ketchup is to provide some vitamins.