Montana Aussie Adventures with Erin-Jay

It’s amazing how quickly this year has passed by us.

It’s August already and this weekend saw a very busy reporter. I started out by stopping in at the Trap Shooting competition here in Plains and was completely blown away at the amount of competitors I saw and just how gorgeous the club grounds looked for the event.

It wasn’t hard to understand why I have heard there are so many people that enjoy trap shooting at our local club.

From there, I made a quick stop at the Softball Tournament at Amundson Sports Complex. Watching the competition over two fields, actually brought back memories of myself playing softball as a kid and young teen. I have always loved the games of baseball and softball, as it was one of my family sports growing up.

My father actually played for Australia for a couple of games in the 80’s as he was more than a fair talent when it came to the game.

My father was mainly a pitcher, but he could play any position if need be, and was my coach all the way from tee-ball to fast pitch softball in southeast Massachusetts, where I grew up.

Though it wasn’t the high level competitive tournament that we see during the summer months, it was great to see many locals that put together a team for the weekend event.

After a quick stop there, I headed over to Mineral County for their annual County Fair. Now, I have never experienced a County Fair before. Our equivalent back in Australia is what we call a ‘Show’. They are slightly different, but same base foundations. There are the carnival rides, horse/cattle events. There are poultry events, crafts, and so forth. But, nothing like I experienced on Saturday night.

One of my biggest highlights was when I met two Australians! Yes, not one, but two, One, being the cutest, was Wallaby that was part of the petting zoo.

She was so cute, and just in true Aussie fashion, she was having a mid day nap in her hanger bag that was set up in her pen.

Though the wallaby is also a marsupial, they are smaller than a Kangaroo. They are much smaller than a Roo, but you definitely find them all over the country.

Up until then (and let’s be honest she was still my highlight of the weekend), I had been watching plenty of locals enjoy food, the 4H auction and some music by Kelly Hughes.

As the night went on, the locals were treated to a fantastic rodeo. Here is where I met another Aussie that resides in Dillon. Dan Williams who is from Augathella Queensland, was competing in the Saddle Bronc event.

What a wonderful way for me to be introduced to a real American County Fair just ahead of the Sanders County Fair to which I am told is by far the best weekend of the summer.

So until next week … Hoo Roo