Cootamundra is a small country town about 350 kilometres (5 hours drive) south west of Sydney. Famous for being the birthplace of Sir Donald Bradman (then just plain old Don) and for its cheap margarine, I went down to Cootamundra on the weekend not for a cricketing pilgrimage but for my cousin Malcolm's 21st Birthday party. This is the story of my exciting weekend. |
 Cootamundra in relation to Sydney |
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Here we are packing the car in preparation for the thrilling five hour trip to "Coota". When we were about half an hour into the trip I realised that I had forgotten to consider how our two cats would be fed while we were away. Hmmm - they needed to lose some weight anyway.... |
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Coota is an exciting place to visit, as evidenced by this photo. Leaning up against the pool fence is one way to kill a few hours, but does get boring after a while. |
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The invitation said that the party was being held at the Scout Hall, so we wandered the couple of blocks from our motel to have a look. Although it looked derelict from the outside, you could see by looking through the windows that it was actually completely empty inside. This was a little disconcerting given that the party was due to start in an hour's time. It turned out that it was actually at the other Scout Hall in Cootamundra. Whew !! |
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This is the birthday boy, Malcolm. The hall was decorated with various pictures and posters. I insisted that Malcolm pose in front of this one, showing ballerinas, which was obviously his favourite. Malcolm has just qualified as a teacher and if any of his students would like a copy of this photo just drop me a line. |
 (L to R) Kim, Sheryl, Linda, Pam, Sharon and Suzy |
Here we are having a swinging time in Coota. We chose this table because it was close to the fire exits and right next to the record player. It was also adjacent to the dance floor where the games were scheduled to take place (see below). From my chair I could control the music for the night, choosing from a vast selection of records containing all the great songs from the sixties. After subjecting everyone to Swinging Safari a few times I then switched seamlessly to Alvin and the Chipmunks. |
Following some complaints after the sixth consecutive rendition of Alvin's Harmonica I put Swinging Safari back on, but at twice the correct speed. After two more repeats Uncle Russell came over - and switched it to the correct speed.
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This is the ideal 21st Birthday present. A stinking ferret. Although it was only borrowed for a few days from a friend, Malcolm was told that the ferret was his. I told him to kill it as they live for a few years and need to be fed live mice every day. I'm sure their friend will see the funny side of it if he takes my advice.... |
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As I mentioned above, Cootamundra is famous for having cheap margarine. Or at least some of our country relatives think so. They came to town with eskys (coolers) and ice so that they could take supplies of the cheap margarine back home with them. Apparently margarine is 99 cents per tub in Cootamundra, as against $1.39 in Crookwell. |
I calculate that with an esky holding 20 tubs of margarine the savings are an amazing $8 (£3).
While the catering was handled by Aunty Gwenda (ably assisted by Trevor from the Five Dock RSL Club) the games were in the capable hands of Uncle Russell. Before dinner we were handed some word puzzles, and after a bit of thinking we were able to solve all but one. When I asked Uncle Russell what the answer was he told me he didn't know - he found the questions in an old family bible, but there weren't any answers...
Although the limbo competition (to the tune Swinging Safari in lieu of actual limbo music) was a real nail biter - Malcolm was narrowly beaten by a girl who must have been three feet tall - the highlight was the balloon stomp. This entails all the contestants tying an inflated balloon to their ankle with a length of string, then trying to burst everyone else's balloon by stomping on it. The person with the last remaining balloon is the "winner" (and as a prize got to keep their balloon). Although not playing, Sharon provided the entertainment by stomping on three people's balloons (including Malcolm) while they were waiting for the game to start.
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readings@bigpond.com.au |
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© R.A.Reading
Monday, November 23, 1998
