You may remember that a few weeks ago, the day the quilts were aired in fact, the word went out that there was to be a mass procession of bikers down through Canowindra’s shopping centre.
With my video camera at the ready, I waited with great anticipation for the spectacle of dozens of grizzled, bearded hard-core Easy Riders parading along Gaskill astride their growling, bellowing hogs.
But what invaded us instead was the putt-putt, clatter and occasional backfire of the first motorbikes that were ever made, Nortons, Triumphs, Royal Enfields, BMWs, even ancient Harleys, veterans of the years from pre-1900 to the First World War.
It was a delightful surprise, and yet another in a long series of surprises that have struck me since I moved to Canowindra with my wife Jan almost exactly one year ago. After living and working all over the world for the past 45 years Canowindra, for me, was supposed to be a final reluctant acceptance of late age, a place of tranquil rural retirement.
Far from it. From the day we arrived here I’ve never worked as much, or enjoyed constant toil so much, in my life.
Apart from continual renovation and upgrading work on our little house and halfacre block this quaint old town of just 2,000 people has kept me constantly on my toes ever since the first gaseous gasps and sighs of the National Ballooning Championships earlier this year erupted right over our roof.
I spent an entire week filming this incredibly dramatic spectacle, and you can find the video program I produced on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hs4zvM1j25o.
After the ballooning spectacular came the Canowindra Show, and after that the astonishingly realistic Ben Hall commemoration, the first and no doubt finest goldfields/ bushranger re-enactment I’m likely to witness. I’ve filmed it all, and in my own grateful tribute to Canowindra, the town of constant surprises, I’ll film every event – cultural, artistic, social, sporting, community, whathaveyou – that goes on here for the next 12 months, producing a professional Promotional and marketing video called “This Is Canowindra.”
I want the outside world to know all about Canowindra’s people, history, events, special attractions and simple charms, so if you’ve got something you think should be featured in the program — or in this fortnightly column — phone me on 6344 1205 and tell me all about it.