Firstly to our Gold Class customers , Norm and Vicky MacLeod . Norm is pictured here with Vicky on one of the yearly trips to the Midwest for some good old fishing and relaxation. As a matter of fact , Norm has been doing this for many many years as you will see from the photograph of Norm and his mates at the old original building at the Billabong Roadhouse ( Norm is on the right ).

And the irony of the third pic which unfortunately a car fire, took their faithful vehicle on their trip, many many years ago.

But I'll let Norm share that story with you.  And a story it is.

If you are in the area June July keep an eye open for these two wonderful true blue people. 

May 2011 and and a usual day at the Billabong, cooking away in the kitchen and one of the staff alerts me to a customer who would like to speak with me. It turns out to be John Kerr , who ran the Billabong Roadhouse some 40 years ago. 

John was on a trip with his daughter and son in law which thrilled me , no end , to meet the man i had only heard about. 

It was so interesting chatting with John about the challenges then and how they were still relevant today. 

Also in the pic is Harrold Crawford , the then station owner of Nerren Nerren Station, another bloke with true grit and local knowledge that you can only have from decades on the land.

A visit from John Kerr and Harrold Crawford.

Our Magnivicent Wedge Tailed Eagle 

On The 13 February 2010 , a small curled up animal on the other side of the highway, caught our eyes as we were busily serving a string of customers.  At first it looked like a baby goat , but none of us had the time to walk over to check on it. 

2 pm that afternoon our customer flow slowed enough to go and investigate .. It was a wedge tailed eagle, not very old but still an eagle. And it was all complete and very much dead. 

It seemed such a shame to see this opportunity go to waste, so we did some quick thinking to preserve this beautiful animal.

A call to the Academy of Taxidermy in Guilford was all it took.  The taxidermist Micheal Buzza answered the phone and directed us to what we had to do to ensure the eagle would be suited.

At the time Mike did mention that he was very busy in the middle of working on a giraffe ! Yes Giraffe in Australia. I had no second thought in giving Mike the job to do. 

Next challenge.  Distance , We were 750 km from Guilford. 

Coincidentally, a travelling representative and friend Glenn Ende had dropped in the day before and was driving to Perth, through Guilford on the 14th. 

Mike received the eagle, inspected it and once complete some 5 months after, drove the eagle and case he had constructed to the Billabong Roadhouse. 

The Work he had done was simply breath taking