Sunday, April 10, 2005
Bundanoon... is Brigadoon.
So I went down to the Southern Highlands of New South Wales this weekend for the 28th annual Scottish Highland Gathering at Bundanoon. My best mate's pipeband was playing down there so a mate and I tagged along. We stayed at an unoccupied house owned by Adam's family friends in Moss Vale.
It was a pretty hot and dusty day which really really sucked nuts but it was made all the better by all the 'ot and sehk-seh boys in wee skurrrts! The surprising thing is that there weren't only just the older generations at this gathering; there was quite a good youth turnout. Before I make this next comment, I remind you all that I'm not a dirty old man - I am, after all, 18 years old so I'm classified as a dirty young man. But phwoar, them Scot's College boys-- me go gah gah.
The Scot's don't do things by halves. When they rename the hamlet of Bundanoon Brigadoon for that one day every year, they even change the sign at the railway station.
Before I deal with the other happenings at Brigadoon, I NEED to mention this bloke - known to us only as FREAK '96. Bundanoon is a small town - and the grounds that the gathering was held on even smaller - so after a while, you tend to see the same faces throughout the course of the day, despite a turnout of around 20,000. This boy became somewhat of an obsession for Steph and I. We first bumped into him at the railway level crossing and we kept running into him throughout the day. He was goooooorgeous!
Like I said before, the Scot's don't do things by halves. All the bands that attended Brigadoon mass together and play a few tunes while marching up and down the field. Yes, single bagpipe is pretty irritating. By extension, you'd think several hundred bagpipes would be several hundred times more irritating. But surprisingly, that isn't the case. Along with bass, tenor and snare drums, the whole thing comes together pretty nicely and it's quite impressive.
One of several Scottish Terriers sighted. They're soooo cute! I want one.
One of the big events at Brigadoon is when the big strong men in kilts lifts big round stones and put them on top of barrels. Impressive. The heaviest stone is 160kg and they have to lift five of them as quickly as possible, the record being 17 seconds!
"Fudge People: we make our own fresh fudge". Ha! This caught my eye for reasons that may of may not be clear.
And now for Southern Highlands related, but non-Scottish festival related photographs.
Four 81-Class and two 48-Class locomotives in Moss Vale's Up Yard.
Pacific National's GM 81-Class locomotive 8146, shut down in Moss Vale's Up Yard.
Listening to:
Title: Days Like These
Artist: Jon Reichardt
Album/station: Bitter Sweet Song Therapy (2005)
Length: 4.20
So I went down to the Southern Highlands of New South Wales this weekend for the 28th annual Scottish Highland Gathering at Bundanoon. My best mate's pipeband was playing down there so a mate and I tagged along. We stayed at an unoccupied house owned by Adam's family friends in Moss Vale.
It was a pretty hot and dusty day which really really sucked nuts but it was made all the better by all the 'ot and sehk-seh boys in wee skurrrts! The surprising thing is that there weren't only just the older generations at this gathering; there was quite a good youth turnout. Before I make this next comment, I remind you all that I'm not a dirty old man - I am, after all, 18 years old so I'm classified as a dirty young man. But phwoar, them Scot's College boys-- me go gah gah.
The Scot's don't do things by halves. When they rename the hamlet of Bundanoon Brigadoon for that one day every year, they even change the sign at the railway station.
Before I deal with the other happenings at Brigadoon, I NEED to mention this bloke - known to us only as FREAK '96. Bundanoon is a small town - and the grounds that the gathering was held on even smaller - so after a while, you tend to see the same faces throughout the course of the day, despite a turnout of around 20,000. This boy became somewhat of an obsession for Steph and I. We first bumped into him at the railway level crossing and we kept running into him throughout the day. He was goooooorgeous!
Like I said before, the Scot's don't do things by halves. All the bands that attended Brigadoon mass together and play a few tunes while marching up and down the field. Yes, single bagpipe is pretty irritating. By extension, you'd think several hundred bagpipes would be several hundred times more irritating. But surprisingly, that isn't the case. Along with bass, tenor and snare drums, the whole thing comes together pretty nicely and it's quite impressive.
One of several Scottish Terriers sighted. They're soooo cute! I want one.
Adam's pipe band. It was quite hot during the day and I don't know how he survived, carrying that bass drum all day.
What's this blog without a cow or two? Highland Cattle at Brigadoon.
One of the big events at Brigadoon is when the big strong men in kilts lifts big round stones and put them on top of barrels. Impressive. The heaviest stone is 160kg and they have to lift five of them as quickly as possible, the record being 17 seconds!
"Fudge People: we make our own fresh fudge". Ha! This caught my eye for reasons that may of may not be clear.
And now for Southern Highlands related, but non-Scottish festival related photographs.
Four 81-Class and two 48-Class locomotives in Moss Vale's Up Yard.
Pacific National's GM 81-Class locomotive 8146, shut down in Moss Vale's Up Yard.
Listening to:
Title: Days Like These
Artist: Jon Reichardt
Album/station: Bitter Sweet Song Therapy (2005)
Length: 4.20
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mikey
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