tractor pull

Just after the parade in town, with fresh face paint on, I was whisked away to the Bullarto Tractor Pull out in the country. As my chauffeur/guide/friend for the day Paul put it, I couldn't have experienced two more diametrically opposed events in one day. And I loved them both. The tractor pull is just as it sounds, a gathering of vintage tractors having a pull-off, towing a levered weight and seeing who can make it the farthest, or even reach the end to make it a "full pull" (100 meters). It was great fun to watch the competition, getting feedback and commentary from Paul, and we both even got to announce a full pull, which is done loudly and dragged out as long as possible, wrestling match style. Paul was breathless and red-faced after making his proclamation, I was a little less powerful but no less enthusiastic. There were also beautiful vintage cars on display, and other events, including a mobile phone throwing competition for the ladies, and some competitive wood-chopping/sawing and sheep shearing. Really, couldn't have loved it more. It was the perfect day, sitting underneath huge eucalyptus trees on a sunny fall day, being surrounded by the noise of chugging engines and roaring chainsaws. Really, truly, authentically Australian.

Of course the brass band was there to serenade us all

Chucking mobile phones

Two-man saw vs. chainsaw

The sheep shearing (two of them) was just the start of a relay

See that saw-man getting ready in the background? He was next

And then some serious chopping

Before this man took over to finish it all

Pretty impressive

There were American models

And Australian. In a class all their own for the towing competition, truly powerful machinery

The weighted lever they pulled, more weight added the further they drove

The ultimate goal: full pull! 

A beautiful steam engine on display. Later in the day we caught it running and powering an old rock crusher

There they go!

Some of the drivers really made me feel like I was living in a Norman Rockwell painting

Cars on display

Even a few Triumphs! Really miss driving around San Diego in the TR250

Of course there was a portrait of the queen in the Bullarto Hall, along with tea and coffee and other treats

Bullarto is the highest railway station in Victoria, though now it only operates a tourist train between Daylesford and here