After the show in Mt Isa, we were booked for our first show in the Territory! We were all excited about it as we’d never been in that state before.
We left Camooweal around 11 am and embarked on what we think is the most boring drive we’ve been on in all our travels so far! The distance to Tennant Creek from Camooweal was almost 500km’s with lot’s and lot’s of nothingness in between! To quote Sheppard and Ford in Stargate Atlantis: “I’ve never seen so much nothing!” “And I’ve never gone so far to see it!”
We didn’t get a photo at the border because of the graffiti on the sign.
We arrived in Tennant Creek , a town of around 3000 people at around 7pm. Lots of Aboriginal people were just wandering the streets. We checked out the town then headed to the showgrounds to set up camp.
Next day we talked to the show secretary who had only found out the day before that the Superdogs were even coming to the show! We walked around with him while the thought about were he could set us up to perform. Really the only place to set up was round the back and mostly in the sun. We asked for some chairs so we could set up a place for the audience only to be told “we don’t have any chairs, all the locals will just sit on the ground.”
Our first performance of the day didn’t have many people watching which was disappointing and made it hard for the girls and the dogs to stay positive and perform their best. After that performance we headed off in search of some chairs (that they apparently didn’t have) and we found all of seven (7) of them! And for our next performance we actually had people come and sit in them! Never once did we have people come and sit on the ground! Lesson learned: if you want a present audience, set up some chairs!
Another piece of advice we were given by an elderly gentleman who watched our final show of the day was: give it your best even if there is no present audience and then the dogs will also give their best. He was right!
It was a hard day, about 31 degs and we were looking forward to spending the afternoon/evening relaxing. We bought some cold drinks and headed back to camp. As we were relaxing and thinking about dinner we noticed a very drunk Aboriginal male heading over to our camp. He came and stood beside Mike (who was washing the dishes) just looking over his shoulder! Rather disconcerting to say the least. He then staggered round and sat down under the tree about 1 metre from our table and watched us from there!
On looking round we noticed all the other showies packing up and getting ready to go and decided we didn’t want to be in the showgrounds on our own! So we told the girls that we had a change of plan and we were packing up (at 7pm) and leaving as we didn’t feel that it would be safe in a tent. I’ve never seen our girls pack up so fast! By 8pm everything and everybody was packed into the van! Our usual pack down is about 2-3 hours!
We headed off, had dinner outside a gas station and hit the road back to QLD! Spent the night in our small (3 person) tent with 5 people in it and the older girls and dogs sleeping in the van. We woke to a beautiful day, being Mike’s 50th birthday! With still about 400k’s to go we decided to postpone his birthday till later and packed up and headed east!
We are now regrouping after a busy time and preparing for our next gig at Mt Isa’s Paws Hoofs and Claws Christmas in the Park fundraiser on July 27.
We put the chairs in the only patch of shade!
Chana and her crazy dog Lassie!
Jessica and her energetic dog Tess!
Jasmine and her smart dog Sparkie!
Chantel and her pretty puppy Freya!
If you want the Superdogs to perform at your show, festival or fundraiser, please don’t hesitate to contact our agent, Mac Brothers Circus.
While in the Territory the Superdogs were also interviewed by ABC Radio. You can find the audio HERE.
Always good to keep up with your travels n happenings. You are a good writer! Love ya
ReplyDeleteSounds like an interesting experience. Also, you might have already thought of this, but would it be practical to install some sort of over seat strecher/hammock beds in the van for short stopovers. Perhaps something like the one in Lauren Fisher's bus.
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