From the Tram

We are at Murchison.  We've had the most wonderful afternoon and evening with my dear friends the Clarkes.  The kids and I are sleeping in Marg's renovated and restored Tram.  Yes.  It's an actual Tram!  

Yes, it feels dislocating to not wander down last thing at night to say goodnight to the horse I grew to love so much.  There's a horse with a great name currently living in "Her" paddock...  His name?  Halfblood Prince..  Fantastic!!!  We of course love Harry Potter.  My sister also thought it was cool, when she phoned to check up on me, thinking we were arriving today, and wondering why she hadn't gotten my usual 'we're on the road, dang it, we're later than we hoped', or the 'just finished a stop, took longer than hoped, on our way again' kind of messages.  The Clarkes of course called Black Caviar "Princess", so it's sort of cool that a horse called Halfblood Prince is currently in her paddock.

We've had a genuinely lovely night.   They are wonderful people.  Again I reflect on the wonder that was Black Caviar, of the difference she made to our lives, and to the wonderful people who I've met because of her.


Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 29, 2013 at 7:30 AM

    Ohhhhhhhhh!!! I love this photo .... sigh! I often ponder what is "it" about Nelly that have so many thousands of people love her. What is it about her that attracted hoards of people like me who barely know the back end of a horse from the front?

    Yes, she has charisma. Yes, she has an uncanny ability. Yes, Australia hasn't had a horse like this in many, many years and it will probably be many years before we see another one. Her full sister maybe .....

    But there is something else ... I remember seeing her at Morphettville. I was star struck like a giddy teenager as were the 34,000 other people there that day. I made a 200km round trip by car, train and bus just to get there by the time the gates opened and that was a short journey compared to some. South Australia was in Black Caviar heaven, she led every nightly news bulletin for a week, she sneezed and there was a news flash ... it was incredible.

    One thing that sticks in my mind about her first run at Morphettville is the generosity of her owners, Peter Moody and Luke Nolan in sharing her with us, as they always did. After her stunning win, Luke took her all the way back down the Morphettville straight to where the very last spectators were and trotted her slowly back so everyone could see her.

    And Nelly looked up at the thousands crammed into Morphettville with such a satisfied look on her lovely face .... "Ah, my adoring fans. They have all come from all over Australia just to see me and I love every single one of them."


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