Out to the range for check in and catch ups.

The range is well set up, super organised, good distances, and a whole lot more!

The Frontier Shooting Club have really put things together well for an excellent week of shooting and fun.

A few range pics!

Shooter packs

The gold coins are a head start for all to gaining an entry in a prize draw. Earn 5 gold coins and swap it for a $5 note, write your name on the back and your in the draw. The more clean stages, the more chances – every clean stage earns you a gold coin. Great concept.

Tomorrow is the start with long range rifle, cowboy clays and the .22 side show alley.

Looking forward to slinging some lead down range!

Kat xo

We made a visit or two with Slap Happy and Lusty Pearl whilst in town. Albeit not participating in cowboy shooting now, they were instrumental to cowboy shooting in this region and both their sons very accomplished in more than this discipline also.

We headed out this morning to seek some parts to fix the car but will need to look at it later as it’s more than just a couple new plugs.

Out to Silverton for a quick look again we drove to the Mad Max 2 Museum.

As we’ve visited the galleries before and it’s too early for the pub we hit up the Bakery for a coffee and apple turnover.

22km’s back to Broken Hill and around another 10km’s out to the Living Desert Sculptures.

An interesting visit to interpretive works by many sculptors from around the world.

We could have walked another 2.2km trail but the flies were keeping us from venturing far!

Back into town again we made our way to the Line of Lode Miners Memorial in grand prominence overlooking the city of Broken Hill.

The cafe/visitors centre is no longer operational but the memorial is unique and recognizes some 800 miners from 1800’s through to 2019 that have lost their lives working the mines in Broken Hill.

It’s a poignant space looking out from the mullock (pile of mining waste material), formed of steel timber and glass.

For some reason there is an oversized park bench up there also……yep, you know I had to! 😂

Thanks Broken Hill for a little more history and culture! Tomorrow we move onto South Australia.

Stay safe in your travels!

Kat xo

On the road again, like a band of gypsies we go down that highway, …on the road again…..

Jack and I set out at a reasonable time this morning – mainly to let the wildlife do their thing and hopefully not encounter them on the road.

It’s a long drive of nothing from Broken Hill through to Virginia now. The train track follows along beside as we headed on through these little places…

…and it had a pub.

Oodla Wirra and a quick stop at the quarantine station to make sure no fruit vegetables or livestock been taken into South Australia.

Terowie ….Why Yargowie who ya gonna sell the beer to?

Gallett then Burra, the map diverted around town but we went back in for a pit stop.

What a quaint, looked after, little town.

The fields then turned greener as we head down into even more sheep/merino farming country entering into Gawker region and northern Adelaide hills.

We are finally in Virginia, South Australia – ready to drop gun carts, check in, unload and get set for the week ahead!!

Kat xo

Awoke to clear skies and not a breath of wind. Compared to the previous evenings fire storm like winds, 32C/89.6F temperatures and enough to blow a dog off his chain!!

Ready for the next leg to Broken Hill, we pass through Warren – ‘wool and cotton capital’ has a massive track side f Ed and fiber production delivering straight to trains ready for shipping.

Only just caught a glimpse on the fly of their painted tank (don’t think it was a silo) with wheat down the side of it.

Next was Nyngan where we are now classed as ‘Outback’ well outback NSW. Dirt is changing colour to rich reds, it’s dry and the roads are flat.

Onward through Cobar (old copper mining town) to Wilcannia the road is long and inhabited with emu and goats…and plenty of them!

A few more hours of long roads of nothing to finally arrive in Broken Hill, Australias oldest mining town established in 1883. Silver and lead has been mined from one of the largest and richest orebodies in the world.

There’s a whole lot more history to this town than just the mining industry although it is the major factor.

More tomorrow! Safe travels for those heading south tomorrow!

Kat xo

Two days packing, prepping, finalizing orders ready to get on the road to South Australia.

Left at sparrows fart to get on down the road with a full day – 11hrs – including stops. Traveling time 9hrs40mins. Yo arrive in Gilgandra in time for beer o’clock. ‘Cause that’s how we roll! 🤣

It was a spectacular start to the day heading out and over the Great Dividing Range with a perfectly clear sky, temperate weather, coffee and sighting fairly close up a hot air balloon.

The view back to the coast was hazy, ready for a pleasant day ahead.

Over the hills and far away, we hit more central areas and let me tell you, it looks so dry out here already I think we may be in for a seriously hard Summer ahead for our farmers.

We managed to get up close and personal with a wallaby on the way, taking out the interior hub covers from the left front passenger wheel. Very lucky with no panel damage though.

A little further down the track a new life given with seeing a calf just born. Nature sure is special.

Stopped for a refuel at Gunnedah before swapping drivers and making the final leg into Gilgandra.

I love the silo art here in our western regions but woke to miss the photo opportunity for the water diviner set. Certainly didn’t miss this one as we got back to the highway – a beautiful portrayal of Dorothea Mackellar’s ‘I love a sunburnt country’.

Arrived to very windy and hot conditions, the making of bushfire weather but it will subside tonight to 10 degrees cooler than today, making for a pleasant trip through to Broken Hill.

Travel safe for those also making the trek to Nationals!

Kat xo

A great weekend catching up with another great bunch of cowboys and cowgirls out at Biloela for the Queensland State Titles.

Some 89 shooters turned up for 12 great stages and side events.

Wasn’t our best matches but it seemed that way for plenty of others also which made for some surprising results.

Some of the categories didn’t have enough lady shooters to warrant a separate category, however that just means that for some of us shooting what is actually an ‘open’ category it is just as easy to pace yourself against the men – we are usually looking at their times regardless!

Ladies joined ranks in the open categories with myself in Gunfighter, Pearl Starr in Senior Duelist, Montana Lily in Classic Cowboy and Katie Younger in B-Western.

And how did we do?

I was 2nd in Gunfighter (Deadwood Gunslinger 1st, T-Bone 3rd), Pearl was 1st!! (Virgil Earp 2nd, Clog Wog 3rd), Montana Lily was 1st!! (The Breaker 2nd, Will Penny 3rd) and Katie was 2nd with hubby Robb n Co 1st.

Jack won Elder Statesman (CTM 2nd, Horseshoe Harry 3rd) and finished 6th overall!

I picked up a few gold’s in speed events and a silver in long range. Finishing 13th overall and 3rd lady, so close behind Pearl Starr.

Congratulations to overall winner Chuck Wagon and overall ladies winner Lil’ Backfire!

Thank you to all the crew at Cowboy Creek for all your hard work and dedication,

See some of y’all at the next shoot!

Kat xo

This past week saw us venture all the way down to Little River, VIC – a 2 day drive – for the 2023 Greater Victorian Territorial and Victorian Single Action State Championships.

We stayed at the beautiful Little River B and B spoilt much! Beautifully restored, this 1840’s bluestone house has a number of guest rooms with high ceilings, fireplaces and all the amenities.

The common area features a small kitchenette bar area, dining table, pool table and memorabilia adorns the walls.

Friday we headed out to the Eagle Park range facility for the Wild Bunch RO Course and then after lunch 4 stages of Wild Bunch to round out the day.

Videos will be up on Facebook.

Main match began – 4 stages Saturday, with team and speed events, bbq and swap meet that evening – 4 stages Sunday with .22 side event, banquet and raffles, final 4 stages Monday followed by lunch, shootout with top 8 men and top 4 ladies finished off with awards.

Jack and I both made it to the shootout, making it through to our second rounds.

Awards were given out along with more raffles afterwards. Congratulations to the Little River Raiders for hosting an awesome match!

Congratulations to all those that placed or won in their categories. Jack finished 1st Elder Statesman and 5th overall, Kat 1st Lady Gunfighter and 6th overall.

Overall winners and Top Gun Shoot Out winners were Cool Hand Luke and Kathouse Kelli.

Was great to catch up with so many and make new friends also. Until next time on the trail….

Kat x

Jack decided we should take a little sight seeing trip around the place today and got everything planned and in the maps.

Taking us off the main highways we are heading for our first stop at Natural Arch Cafe.

Passing through Advancetown and onto Natural Bridge, in south-east Queensland. It’s name is taken from the natural rock arch (and home to one of the largest glow worm colonies in Australia) in Springbrook National Park and other parts of this natural wonder extending into Lamington National Park to the west.

Missed the photo from the winding road with a view back to the Gold Coast skyline.

We are lacking in correct footwear for walking any distance today but did a brief recon to the Natural Arch cave and will be back out of school holidays to see this.

The Cafe unfortunately was not open, they are renovating and so we missed out on our first stop for Devonshire tea.

So now we continue to Chillingham, through winding roads, mist covered hills and valleys. this now takes us into New South Wales and the Tweed Valley.

Chillingham is a tiny little town with the school having opened in 1904, Post Office in 1923, although the Telegraph office had been open since 1913.

On through Crystal Creek, there is a beautiful rainforest retreat here. https://www.ccrr.com.au/

Driving through the cane fields we can smell the mill ahead. Wasn’t a very ‘while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads’ kinda moment but the mill for Sunshine Sugar operating as usual.

Oooooo Husk Distillers! We are definitely coming back here and will have to bring others with us. What a treat!

Definitely should have booked ahead but took a casual seat in the cane chairs and ordered a Husk Paddle.

Sipping on Husk Pure Cane, Husk Bam Bam and Husk Botanic was a great pre lunch experience.

We made a couple purchases, checked out facilities and headed to the next stop.

Our lunch stop today is Tumbulgum Tavern on the very edge of the Murwillumbah River. For now it’s beer, bruschetta and seafood!

So much rain and flooding of recent but it’s hard to tell where it had been. We asked the waitress and where Jack is showing us, is the height it came to! Take that plus the extra 4 ft off the verandah to the street and then whatever the drop is to the River level. They lost everything from fridges, poker machines, ovens, food stock. One of the reasons why we came to support this region. They had it up and running again in two weeks!!

Omg! What a feast! We are about to explode!

Now we are winding our way round across the opposite side of the river, through more rainforest, back into suburbia and Queensland, on to Burleigh Barrels Brewery.

Great view back to the ‘twin towns’ from up on the hill.

A quick stop to a very busy Burleigh Barrels for a beer paddle of Tower 18 Lager, Pandanus Pale Ale, Last Wave Amber Ale and a Headland Hazy IPA. Jack’s pick was Tower 18 and I have to say I enjoyed the IPA the most out of all of them.

Well, roll me on home, I’m full as a tick!

A great day out with the man. Happy Easter!

Kat xo

Patsy Cline, one of country and westerns beloved singers. She had a very successful career during a short 8 year period.

Patsy first performed as a 15 year old on her local radio station. Over the next few years she performed and her local performances caught the eye for appearances on television with Connie B Gay’s, Town and Country.

Her first major hit which I’m sure many of us know, was ‘Walkin’ After Midnight’.

She moved to Nashville, Tennessee to further her career in 1958. She became a member of the Grand Ole Opry, changed record labels and went on to produce other hits such as ‘I Fall To Pieces’ and ‘Crazy’.

A plane crash saw her career and life end way to soon at the age of just 30. As an influential performer of the 20th century, she became the first female performer to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, has been portrayed in films and her music still lives on to this day.

Now we have the back story, let’s get to the craftier side of this blog and the gorgeous outfits that Patsy used to wear.

Did you know Patsy Cline’s costumes were said to have rivaled those by Nudie Cohen?!

Hilda Hensley, Patsy’s mother, handmade the designs Patsy came up with. After Patsy’s death, she loaned the costumes out to the Grand Ole Opry and were on display for many years.

Dang, don’t recall any there on our visit in 2014!!

ANYWAY! I got a request for info from my favourite B-Western cowgirl, the one and only, Lil Magill! Could I produce two of Patsy’s outfits for her. Ohhhh yes, yes, yes!!

So true to our usual preparation, Lil sent me the ‘paint chips’ from Texas, USA to Queensland, AUS so I could begin the hunt for said fabric.

This was where my research began! So the first outfit was to be orange, more a burnt orange, usual fringing, bling, snaps and style! This one was to be similar in keeping with wagon wheels and steer heads.

Now research told me that the original outfit was in fact red and the fringing was actual leather. We’ve done that before with the Annie Oakley outfit so we went with the normal chain fringe.

Patsy’s outfit.

And Lil’s version.

Now I must add in here that from what I had read from the Christie’s auction site and other Patsy and Hilda information I found out that Hilda had done the appliqué in felt. So felt it had to be!!

Now just this evening as I write this blog, further information has told me that the next outfit was in fact Royal Blue in colour. One of Patsy’s most favored outfits worn, it had faded over time.

Lil wanted the next one in purple and whilst the colour match wasn’t as good as I would have liked it now seems fitting that it is slightly off!

The ‘Star of Texas’ I shall call this one, is as best I could work out from Patsy’s blue star version.

I am without a picture of Patsy wearing this one.

Here’s our creation.

They’ve arrived safely in the US a few weeks ago now. So if you’re heading to the Texas State Championships soon, then keep your eyes peeled because Lil Magill is sure to be adding the accoutrements, boots and special hats to make these stand out in the crowd!!

Thanks again Lil for allowing me to be part of this process! Loved every minute of the research and production once again.

Kat xo

A great match with The Gamblers, some very exciting news with Little Shot getting her first ‘Clean Match’ and TrailRider also getting his first ‘Clean Match’. Woo boo! Way to go cowgirl and cowboy!!

Was a great day, a few more of us got clean as well 😉 so will be interesting to see results.

The weather stayed kind for the most part, with just the odd little shower that didn’t ruffle our feathers – or make the tables too wet for staging.

6 stages done with 2 derringer stages at the end, thankful for the use of Mad Dog Tannen and Prairie Joy’s – that was a whole heap of fun. Look forward to bringing mine soon.

Beers and cheers at the end!

See you on the trail.

Kat xo