Author: Columnist on Over The Walter Taylor Bridge

This week’s Australia All Over covered the country in a wide sweep—from the watermelon paddocks of Queensland to the backyards of Port Macquarie, and even into the remote mountain villages of Papua New Guinea. Macca kept the pace easy but steady, making time for stories that gave depth, texture and humour to what was, in the end, a classic Sunday morning episode.

• One of the more vivid calls came from Chinchilla, where preparations are underway for the Melon Festival, held every second year. A local organiser explained the workings of melon skiing, a signature event in which participants slip their feet into hollowed-out watermelons and slide across a plastic tarp covered in fruit pulp. “It’s not exactly a clean sport,” she admitted, “but everyone ends up laughing.” The event has grown from a marketing idea for local melon growers into a full-scale community celebration, drawing more than 20,000 visitors. There’s pip-spitting, a melon-chopping speed contest, melon ironman races, and even a tug-of-war with teams pulling through sticky pulp. The caller said there’s a practical side too—off-spec melons that would otherwise go to waste are used for events, and the leftover slurry is sent off to local pig farms. It was a story of rural inventiveness wrapped up in a good dose of silliness.

• From Port Macquarie, a caller shared the quiet progress of a long-term backyard project: a hand-built wooden sloop, constructed using traditional tools and native timbers. The hull is fashioned from spotted gum, bent into shape using steam, and fixed with copper rivets he sourced from an old boatyard in Newcastle. He described the sound of his drawknife on the timber, and how he tests each piece for grain and pitch before fitting it to the frame. The boat will carry a single mast, rigged for the calm tides of the Clarence River, where he plans to launch it. The work is slow—“you can’t rush timber,” he said—but he finds it satisfying. Macca asked him how long he’d been at it. “Four years,” came the reply, “But I don’t measure it in time anymore. I measure it in fittings I’ve finished.” The conversation was a quiet study in patience, tradition and solitary focus.

An interesting video about the Indonesian wooden boat building industry:

• A traveller called in from Central Australia, where he had been camping beside a temporary desert waterhole created by recent rain. At sunrise, he found himself surrounded by what he estimated to be tens of thousands of budgerigars—a vivid, swirling flock that descended in coordinated waves to drink and bathe. He described the sound of the wings—“a high hum, like silk tearing”—and said the waterhole had drawn in kangaroos, emus and even a few wedge-tailed eagles. He noted that budgies are common enough in the desert, but their mass flocks only appear when conditions are just right, which in this case followed a large outback storm. “The ground was red last week,” he said. “Now it’s green and full of noise.” It was the kind of call that reminded listeners of how quickly the Australian landscape can transform itself.

Here’s a video along similar lines:

• Another notable segment came from a station manager in the Barkly Tableland, who called in during a cattle muster already underway by dawn. Riders were out on bikes, assisted by dogs and a chopper, rounding up cattle across wide scrubland. He described the landscape as “yellow-green” after scattered rains, and said the cattle had spread far over the property’s outer paddocks. “It takes a day just to find them,” he said. The caller talked about the balance between helicopters and motorbikes—how the chopper does the spotting and tight turns, while the bikes and dogs handle the push into the yards. He noted this season has brought enough growth to avoid an early sell-off, but he’s still cautious. “One good rain’s not a wet season,” he added. Still, there was a sense of relief in his voice, and he said the birds had returned: finches, galahs and kites circling above the moving cattle.

A video featuring the Barkly Tableland:

• From Grafton, a wildlife carer gave an update on a young eastern grey joey that had been rescued weeks earlier. Found in the pouch of its mother after a car strike, the joey was hand-fed and kept in a hanging pouch in a quiet room. The carer described the process of gradually reintroducing it to the bush—first with native grasses in its enclosure, then supervised foraging outdoors. “He’s got muscle now,” she said. “He hops, but still stays close.” She expects to release him fully by June. Macca mentioned how stories like this often bring follow-ups, and sure enough, another caller rang in to share a similar tale of a short-beaked echidna found injured near Kangaroo Valley. That one had taken to soft-boiled eggs and mealworms and was now back digging in a bush reserve.

• From Papua New Guinea, an expat working with coffee growers in the Eastern Highlands called in during his early morning. He described the mist lifting from the forest slopes and the chaos of the Mount Hagen markets, where coffee beans, sweet potatoes, pigs and mobile phone credit are all traded in one place. He’d recently attended a sing-sing in a village outside Goroka, where tribes had gathered in full regalia—shells, ochre, and birds of paradise feathers—to perform their clan dances. He said the cultural depth of PNG was something Australians often overlooked, even though the Highlands were just a few hours north by air. He was helping coordinate a co-op model for smallholder farmers, many of whom grow Arabica beans at over 1,600 metres elevation. “They don’t call it highland coffee for nothing,” he said.

• In the studio, Kieran Kelly dropped by with an update on his upcoming trek along the John Muir Trail in the U.S. He unpacked his rucksack in the studio, revealing a lightweight tent, a battered journal full of bush poems from his grandfather, and a carefully wrapped billy. He read out one verse: “The wattle blooms where rain has passed / and quiet tea is brewed at last.” He and Macca compared the American trail culture—shelters, switchbacks, food canisters—with the more solitary and unpredictable nature of Australian bushwalking.

A great doco about the John Muir Trail:

• There were more quick calls before the morning ended: a beekeeper in Stanthorpe mentioned late-flowering ironbark had delayed their honey harvest by a month; a teacher in Charleville told the story of the 1902 meteorite that landed near town and sat outside the post office for decades; and a carpenter in Bega shared how he’s begun carving tool handles from reclaimed jarrah offcuts.

Listen to the podcast episode here.

Disclaimer: Brisbane Suburbs Online News has no affiliation with Ian McNamara or the “Australia All Over Show.” This weekly review is an attempt to share the wonderful stories that Ian broadcasts each week and add value to what is a smorgasbord of great insights. 

• Macca played a conversation about a call with Debbie in 2017, who ran a small grocery store. She pointed out back then the vast swathe of illegally imported cigarettes had come into Australia because the taxes on legal cigarettes had caused the price to go through the roof. Macca pointed out this was eight years ago and asked how much duty had been lost since then.

Here’s a video talking about the problem further:

• Audrey messaged in to point out that hotel prices had gone up well over 100% for the NRL Magic Round in Brisbane.

• Tony rang in from Moree. He was about to get into his chopper to shoot some feral pigs. He said the crop loss due to the pigs had been at record levels. Baiting and trapping was another way they were being culled. He said many pigs came with settlers, particularly Polynesian pigs. Tony had estimated that the pigs were ruining around $1 million of crop per annum in his area. Feral deer were also becoming very destructive throughout Australia.

Here’s a video about the Feral pig problem:

• Troy rang in from “the mighty Macleay” and he gave a shout out to “A Need for Feed” who supplied hay for the local cattle. “The Hayrunners” was another organisation that would do the same thing. He said in the last 10 years his farm had been flooded out three times, burnt out twice and encountered the worst drought in his memory and the cattle price dropped by 60% at one stage.

More from a Need for Feed:

• Pikey was 20km from Waratah in Tasmania and he was cleaning up after the loggers had been in to cut the plantation down and replant. He and his son were about to head off on a cray fishing trip over Easter on the west coast. Cray fish season starts in November on the west coast, where you are allowed to catch and keep five per day and take 10 home. On the East Coast it starts in December and you are allowed to catch two per day and take four home. Macca thought the prawn season also started at the beginning of April.

A video on crayfishing in Perth:

• Jim was driving from Geelong to Canberra, he had been to the Avalon Airshow on Friday. The F-35 and the Super Hornets were the star attractions. He said there was a crash but he didn’t know the details.

More on the crash:

• Lesley from Murtleford rang in to tell the story that her son went to the Avalon Airshow when he was 13 and loved it. He had just called her to say he had a done a fly-by at Avalon this year in his A330 Tanker which he flies all over the world refuelling RAAF planes.

More on the A330 Tanker here:

• Bob rang from Quilpie, he was a 4th generation farmer, and the floods had caused him to lose about 4000 sheep as well as 30-40km of relative new sluicing fencing. He hadn’t lost any sheep in 27 years previously. The biggest flood he had ever seen, he was waiting for it to subside, he was just about to shear 5,500 sheep.

More on Quilpie’s Floods:

• Mike from Chinchilla called in. He worked at a small thermal coal mine, near Miles. He had worked there for 8 years, separating the dirt from the coal. The paddocks were looking great, lots of kangaroos around. He lived in Ipswich, week on week off living in a camp 25 minutes from the mine. He was an electrician in the wash plant. The coal was for export to South East Asia.

• Susan called in from Yaraka, which was high and dry in the headwaters, thinking of others who were not so lucky across Western Queensland, where weekly rainfalls had been the equivalent of 2 years worth. She said the original rainfall forecast started at 10mm then 15mm then 50mm then 75mm then 200mm in 2 hours. Macca pointed out the rainfalls some places had suffered in 24 hours:
  
  Rollingstone 511mm
  Waroonga 455mm
  Quilpie 400mm
  Charleville 300mm
  Winton 280mm

• Michael from Broome via Japan wrote in about the fact it was “Sakura” time in Japan, with the cherry blossoms starting to bloom, being at their best for only a week.

More about Sakura time here:

• Macca loves racing pigeons and he talked about a big auction for racing pigeons that was just happening in Yaguna. Steve was the President of the Central Cumberland Racing Pigeon Federation, the biggest federation in Australia. He said there were over 600,000 competitors in China, with prize money for some races upto $3million. Recently, the Chinese bought a pigeon called Armando for 2.8 million euros and many are sold for over 1 million euros. Competition distances range from 100km. Pigeons were used heavily to send messages in the war, and when the Pigeoneers (the people who trained and managed the pigeons) came back from the war they competed and brought their skills, which dominated local competition. The Australian National Racing Pigeon Board are promoting the efforts of the Pigeons in the wars. Two particular pigeons were given galantry awards, Dickens Medals in PNG. Sadly they had to be euthanised due to quarantine laws when they came back to Australia. They were only known by their ring numbers so a competition will be launched in schools for the students to propose names for these two pigeons.

Here’s a short video with then-92-year-old Keith Wrightson about his history training pigeons in WW2:

Macca said homing pigeons commonly fly at 68 km/hour or so but with a tail wind they have been known to hit 150-170km/hour.

• Macca spoke to Dr Mark having just landed a 40km fish. His passion is fishing. He caught a big Kingfish recently but always throws the larger fish back to maintain the breeding population.
  
  
• Paul called in and felt that more people should get their heart checked. He felt the angiogram was the only way to really know about many issues, he had discovered he had an artery that was 85% blocked but he had suffered no symptoms.

• Trina from Rolleston, wrote in about Baked for Love. They will send baked items to those in Western and central Queensland who had suffered in the floods as well as pass on other donations.

• Cathy, the Mayor of Winton, rang in to talk about her area’s flooding. She said that Winton turns 150 in April and the town will have a major celebration April 11-13, despite the major floods. She mentioned Winton is the birthplace of Qantas, as well as being ther Dinosaur Capital of Australia, and they have the Boulder Opal. See more here.

• Macca had received a very underwhelming response from Australia Post regarding the theft of $400 in cash from four separate Christmas cards. Another example of a phrase he feels is very relevant in modern society – being treated as a non-person.

• Larry from Lockhart rang in whilst feeding his ewes about the Dunny man’s hat. He said he rembers the Dunny man when he was a kid and he said the reason why they had a flat hat was because when he lifted the dunny can (which full would have been about 30kg in weight), he had to put a finger from his left hand around a ring on one side and then put his right hand underneath and lifted it onto his shoulder. Then his left hand was holding onto the top of the dunny can and laying flat on the top of his head. That’s how the phrase, “as flat as a dunny man’s hat” came about.

An old lady recalls her dunny man:

• Craig called in from Toowong. He was about to climb Mt Everest. He’d been a few times but he was aiming to get to camp three, which is 7.3km above Brisbane. He was going with a lady who was having her 3rd attempt to get to the top. He’s 61 and started trekking 12 years ago. He said most of the problems occur on the return journey, when people can get careless.

• Ripper rang in from Harvey in WA to talk about the Country Fire Games, where firies compete on putting fires out. He said the Victorians typically win.

• Jason rang in to review the local cricket scene. He related that SA beat QLD in the Sheffield Shield Final, with the largest run chase in history after being 3-28 and eventually getting 270-6. He said keep an eye out for a young Queensland bowler, Callum Vidler, who’s speed is being clocked in the 150s km/hour. In grade cricket, in NSW Parramatta were playing Fairfield-Liverpool, in Victoria St Kilda were playing Carlton. In SA Teatree Gully were playing Kensington, in WA Universities were playing Joondalup, in QLD, Sunshine Coast were playing Northern Suburbs. In Tasmania, the University of Tasmania were playing Kingborough.

Sheffield Shield Day 4 Highlights:

• Dr Jan rang in from the Mornington Peninsula, to say she is the oldest Australian to reach the summit of Everest. She did it in 2012 on her 68th birthday. It was her 3rd attempt after 15 years of climbing. She ascended from the Tibet side.

Here’s her story told a few years ago:

Listen to the podcast episode here.

Disclaimer: Brisbane Suburbs Online News has no affiliation with Ian McNamara or the “Australia All Over Show.” This weekly review is an attempt to share the wonderful stories that Ian broadcasts each week and add value to what is a smorgasbord of great insights.