Day 99 – Tuesday 26th October 2021 – ? Km

An early start this morning again, this time we are off to the Roma Saleyards, the largest cattle selling site in the southern hemisphere. We are there by 8.15am & the auction has already started, today they are selling around 8,500 cattle. We meet a volunteer guide, a retired worker from the saleyards called Geoff, he is very informative & explains the history, the types of cattle, the breeds of cattle & the sales process. Geoff then takes us on a short walking tour of the cattle yards & the live weight weighing system & explains the process of moving the cattle through the vast complex of pens. He explains the auction process & we watch & hear an auction of cattle in progress. It is very quick & very hard to understand what the auctioneer is saying. We thought we would be there for at most an hour, but it is 3 hours later before we finally leave & head back to the van for lunch.

On the way we stop & take a photo of a really great horse made out of rusty steel, further on we stop at an Aboriginal sacred land, where 3 elders are mainly responsible for a simple bush park & a glass display cabinet with some boomerangs, a couple of birds, echidnas, an Aboriginal painting & their flag on a tree trunk – I think maybe it is still a project in progress.  A little bit further on another stop because we spotted some art.  Most of the art has been removed, either sold or the artist took it.  We see two magnificent black cockatoos made out of corrugated iron – really good but the going price is $20,000.  There is also a sculpture of a baby magpie & a soldier.  It is a shame that we missed out on seeing the other art pieces.

After lunch we head back to the Visitor Information Centre for the guided tour we missed yesterday. We are taken around the static displays of drilling rigs & equipment & given a thorough talk on the history of the gas & oil industry of the Roma region from start to the present day. It was very hard work in the early days, with the equipment & technology improving significantly since then. We look at a large drilling rig that was abandoned in a paddock on a farm for more than 50 years before being relocated into Roma by the local Apex Club & becoming the star attraction at the Visitor Centre. Afterwards we have high tea, sandwiches, scone sized mini dampers, jam & cream. Very tasty.

Next we go back into downtown Roma & visit Ace Haberdashery, my goodness, this store has very narrow aisles because they are packed to the rafters with all sorts of fabrics, craft items, pots, pans & stuff. It is amazing to walk in here & see it all.

Back to the van & before too long it is time for the sunset tour at the Visitor Centre. This is a detailed talk on the big drilling rig, including the history, the men that worked it & how it came to be. Very interesting & informative. At the end we are treated to a shot of port, it is very nice, we keep the shot glass as a souvenir.  Then it is out to the sunset outdoor theatre that is set up to represent a drilling camp. The video is very informative about the history of the discovery of gas & oil in Roma on Hospital Hill & the many different holes drilled in the search for gas & the many companies & men that were involved.

Back to the van then showers, a glass of red (too full from afternoon tea to eat) & bed. Another great day.