What makes travel experiences special are where you find yourself away from the popular tourism spots to experience the local culture.
And that’s what we discovered in Croydon, far north Queensland with their annual annual Poddy Dodgers Festival. “Poddy Dodgers”, you may ask? It’s a local term we discovered, meaning the same as cattle rustling. That’s what made the place famous in the 1980’s when rustlers stole around six thousand cattle. It wasn’t the first time. The same happened in 1869 with the theft of a thousand cattle.
With that much national fame, the town launched their annual Poddy Dodgers Festival. While we were fortunate to experience their culture, we definitely would have looked like outsiders. We just didn’t have the big enough brimmed cowboy hat for a start. We did however have a crack at taking on the locals in the cross saw log sawing competition. As well as lending a helping hand in the bar!
But what was dust and flies earlier on the Savannah Way has now since turned to rain and mud. We reckon we just made it to the bitumen before we may have got rained in for a few unplanned extra days. It’s just another part of the adventure… 🙂
…and if you would like to find out a bit more about the Savannah Way, here’s a brief overview of where we have been this week: