Country music lovers from Injune, Roma, Yuleba, Wallumbilla, Miles, Wandoan, Cameby and Southbrook recently boarded the Slim Dusty Express from Roma for the Slim Dusty Music Festival at Kempsey.
Palmer’s Coaches provided its new corporate coach for a comfortable journey to Kempsey via Inverell and an overnight stop.
The group got into the swing of things early when the coach pulled up at Boggabilla – Ian Duff pulled out his guitar and sang the Wobbly Boot Hotel on the footpath in front of the hotel.
Locals looked on, passer-bys beeped their horns, the owners were amused, and the resulting video was shared over 2000 times from the Injune Tourism Facebook page.
There was a packed program on arrival, including a visit to the Slim Dusty Centre, known as “An Australian Life In Song”, which contains a wealth of stories and memorabilia from Slim and Joy McKean’s days on the road and their life together.
“Old Purple” and the caravan have their forever homes in the museum as well as the old bull catcher from Peppimenarti.
On display are all of Slim and Joy’s golden guitars and gold records. The group could have spent all day there but the Slim Dusty concert was calling.
The Slim Dusty Festival goes for a week but the Injune tour group only attended on Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning.
Artists from all over Australia entertained the crowd – some standouts were Taylor Pfeiffer, a banjo girl who yodelled, Jeff Brown, Amos Morris and the Travelling Country Band.
On Saturday night Joy McKean hosted the Slim Dusty Family Show, and on Sunday, Dianne Lindsay and Pete Simpson with other artists presented a morning of gospel and country songs.
After a few hours at the Sunday concert the group headed for home via Coffs Harbour, another scenic route.
Everyone was in good spirits and led on by local legend, Wave Jackson, all joined in the fun, laughter, jokes and songs for an entertaining and unforgettable bus trip.