Small Town AUS

I've been WWOOFing with a woman named Evelyn who lives in the small community of Tomerong. Anyone who's ever lived in a small rural community would feel right at home here. There's one shop that also serves the role of the post office and local hang out, a small primary school and a community center. Folks in town banded together over the last couple of years to fight a proposed landfill nearby and just this past month or so it went final that the landfill (tip, as they call it) was dead in the water. At the occasional (three a year in 2011) Tomerong Community Night the mood was celebratory as they marked the end of the landfill issue. Community night consisted of a potluck, an open mic session and some karaoke as well.

The sunset out the back of the community center was so much more beautiful than my blasted camera was willing to show.

Bev read two pieces of original poetry; one about community involvement that involved flaming sambucas out of eucharist cups (no lie) and another about using the f-bomb when folding fitted sheets. Bev recently won a prize at the Kangaroo Valley Folk Festival for a poem about the refugees on Christmas Island. Her book is sold at the local shop/post office. I might rustle one up.

Chris and Jordy, recent additions to Tomerong, performed Hit the Road Jack even without the father who typically plays guitar but he's in the Royal Australian Navy and out on exercise in Townsville.

These four sisters performed a stand up routine, of sorts. Jokes included:
-What do you get when you cross a crocodile and a rooster? Crocodoodle-doo.
-Did you hear about the two fish that went all the way around Australia? Yeah, they end up in Cairns. (Aussies pronounce "Cairns" as "Cans.")
-What do you get when you cross a kangaroo and a sheep? A woolly jumper. (A jumper is an Aussie term for a sweater.)

Jamarama Outcasts, a local ukelele club, performed You are my Sunshine and Waltzing Matilda (the crowd sang along, me too) and a precious little song I'd not heard, Pearly Shells.