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Hello again. Well Jeannette and I have returned safely from the antipodean continent of Australia. For those who may be interested I thought I would relate our experience of carriage driving in south east Queensland. There really is a place called Jimboomba, it's just along the road from Mundoolun. There are many places in and around the outback with equally unusual names, but it was at Jimboomba where we met Bob and Sheila.

In the local newspaper 'The Jimboomba Times', we had seen an advertisement stating that the Jimboomba Pleasure Drivers meet every week on a Sunday morning about 1 mile out of the village. Jeannette and I went along at 9.00 o'clock one Sunday morning. The group was described as people interested in anything to do with horses in harness so we did not quite know what to expect. It said some people attend with heavy horses used, not for work anymore, but for pleasure. When we turned up there were three or four horseboxes and the same amount of ponies with various traps. It was explained to us that the group do not meet in the summer months because of the extreme heat and all but three of them left as we arrived.

Robert and Sheila were about to sit down under a shelter from the sun to enjoy a cup of coffee. They greeted us warmly and offered us coffee and we soon became involved in conversation about ponies, carriages and the RDA. They, and a friend of theirs called Nancy, were amongst a hardy bunch who attended all year round and started early to avoid the heat of the day. Bob told me how he built his own trap from parts of various vehicles, cobbled together, the oldest part being the shafts that were nearly 100 years old.

Their pony, Akki, was untacked and grazing in whatever shade he could find. Robert told us how Akki was a rescued pony and how he had trained him to respond to voice commands. He said that he had a high verandah at home where he stood and threw carrots for Akki to find. He directed him by shouting 'left two, back three, right one' and so on. Sheila told me how she thought Akki had saved Robert's sanity after he suffered a 'sort of breakdown' after a serious illness. When Bob went to collect Akki, he brought him home in the back of his ute. (Utility vehicle or pick up truck). Akki was told to jump in the back, and that is what he did!

They offered to tack Akki up and put him to so that he could take Jeannette for a ride. Putting to was as follows: 'left two, stand - back three, stand, OK good boy' and it was all done! Robert then proceeded to drive Jeannette around a very large park with some gum trees and pretty coloured trees in the background. Later he gave the reins to Jeannette for her to take control and she drove for twenty minutes or so through the same parkland setting. Nancy was taking her pony, Kasper for a drive at the same time.

Upon her return, Robert and Sheila offered to get lunch for us. They had unloaded a large gas barbecue from the back of their ute and were busy frying free range eggs from their own chooks and toasting bread. We declined their kind offer despite their insistence that Sheila would drive into Jimboomba and get some sausages and bacon for us. Nancy, who had never travelled outside Queensland could not believe that the IOW was so small and had so many people living on it. Some cattle stations in Queensland are nearly as big as the Island!
"I guess you had to leave to make room for all those folks to move about a bit", she said.

We enjoyed their company and good conversation, leaving just before their lunchtime. I had spread the gospel a little about the RDA but they were already aware of the benefits of carriage driving for people with disabilities. One of their members had just one leg and one arm. He had taught his pony to help tacking up by lowering its head! We were unable to find a RDA group in southeast Queensland that had facilities for carriage driving and so were delighted to meet the Jimboomba Pleasure Drivers. Their kindness and generosity were so much appreciated by us both.