Polo Crosse @ Euberta

Not to be mistaken for plain old polo, polocrosse is perhaps the mongrel version of the regal game. The difference, so it was explained to me by a very knowledgeable lass (that's her in the last three photos), is that at polo you eat caviar and drink Moet while at polocrosse you eat salt 'n' vinegar chips and drink rum...

I'd watched polocrosse from a distance, sitting up in the grandstand at the Sydney Royal Easter Show, but I had never been up close, nor had I been to a fair dinkum country carnival so it was certainly an experience, arriving at the Euberta showground to be met by a scene of chopped up fields ringed by horse floats, trucks and pillars of light blue smoke from the many camp fires rising slowly into an overcast sky with the thundering of hooves and vocal, tongue-in-cheek jeers...

Under leaden skies two players battle for the ball

Players look on as their team vie for possession

The agility of the rider and horse is nothing short of impressive!

Shooting for goal

BYO toy ute and John Deere excavator...

Watching for the throw in

Charging down the field, hooves thundering on the turf

A mammoth hit dislodges the ball from an opponents racket

If you want to know more about polocrosse or are interested in finding your closest club, check out the Polocrosse Association of NSW's homepage.

As always make sure you head over and like my FB page to keep up to date with everything that's going on.

Carcoar, Charlie and Colleen

Doorway - Icely Street, Carcoar

Over the Easter long weekend, our family made the usual trip from Junee to Katoomba; this time though, with the Good Friday holiday, we had the rare opportunity of making the trip in daylight!

The Belubula River runs through the
center of the village.

Carcoar is a small village, nestled in the Belubula Valley partway between Bathurst and Cowra in the State's Central West region. At one point it was the third most populous town west of the Great Divide, but has now slipped back to a sleepy but charming little village. The village itself, with its sheltered position, small cottages and numerous deciduous trees is reminiscent of a small English country village.

As a child and in my early teen years, I visited Carcoar quite often with my father to visit two sisters - Rita and Thelma, both well into their eighties - who owned a farm we used to fish, hunt and camp on. And because of this I have very fond memories of the place.

 While Nic and Lilly did a lap of the main street I wandered about with the camera.

Entrance - Icely St, Carcoar

Carcoar Courthouse

In the doorway of the local grocery shop sat an old bloke with, what I guessed to be his wife, standing behind them. Seeing the opportunity, I approached and asked whether or not I could take a couple of photos.

Their names are Charlie and Colleen...

Charlie and Colleen

Charlie and Colleen

After taking a few photos I got chatting to them both, asking about their history with Carcoar. As it turns out they both not only knew of my father (he had been visiting Rita and Thelma for a long time before I came along) but remembered his name, occupation and where we came from and all of this 15 or so years after our last visit.

Charlie finally displayed his dry sense of humour with his
explanation about the boxers' stance...

 As we were chatting Charlie quickly got up from his seat on the front step of their shop and took on the stance of an old school boxer. Looking behind me, a young boy stood there, mimicking his stance. Charlie took a couple of shuffles toward the boy who, with a bit of a chuckle took off to hide behind his fathers' legs (the family were walking down the main street). With a wry smile and seeing the confused look on my face he explained "Only one in town I still have bluffed..."