A quick glance at the calendar shows almost a third of the year has passed, and seemingly in the blink of an eye.
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The hard, harsh heat of January and February has gone leaving the lovely days of autumn with even the sign of the first chill in the air (the doonas are escaping from the cupboard and even the hot tap in the shower is getting some exercise).
The turn of Easter is a signal that winter will soon be upon us and with it the winter sports, the tourist season and of course, all the wonderful events that make the north-west so great.
Arguably Julia Creek kicked it all off with its massive Dirt N Dust festival, which brought thousands to that small town a couple of weeks ago for a weekend of triathlons, races, rodeos and more.
This weekend we have the special one-off event in Mount Isa, the Triple J One Night Stand.
This too is expected to bring thousands of people from across Queensland, and possibly beyond for what is likely to be one of the biggest concerts in the country this year.
The concert was a great get for the Mount Isa City Council and Mayor Joyce McCulloch has been hinting strongly of another major announcement in the weeks to come, another “coup for the city” in her words, though at this stage I have no idea what it might be.
Mount Isa and other centres in the North West will host the Great Western Games in the winter school holidays and of course the Mount Isa Mines Rotary Rodeo is shaping up to be a big one with more entertainment announced this week.
Cloncurry is not missing out either.
It hosts the Arthur Beetson Outback junior rugby league carnival in May, has the Cloncurry Show in June with the Queensland 150 steam train visiting, has the Merry Muster in August and then of course the Cloncurry C150 celebrations in September which are still being finalised.
Not to mention the fact the town has won the right to host the Outback Tourism awards in November.
Throw in other regional events like the Gregory Canoe Classic, the Quamby Rodeo, the Camooweal Drovers Festival and more, there is plenty to be excited about in 2017 in the Great North West. DB