Norwich Park Open Cut Mine near Dysart - Day In the Park

Last Sunday we went to the 'Day in the Park' at Norwich Park Mine, which is about an hours drive from here. We'd heard there were bands playing, and Miss Universe 2004 was going to be there so we were curious to see what it would be like, as it was at a coal mine after all!
We had to queue to get in, and once inside had about 1km walk to the event in a huge park. It was a really great day, and it turned out that nearly 12000 people attended!!
3 bands played who are well known in Australia, although I haven't heard of them: Thirsty Merc, Killing Heidi and Jon Stevens (who replaced Michael Hutchence in INXS for a while). The bands were all really good, and Miss Universe made several appearances on stage and stayed for the whole day, having camel rides and everything! There was a mixture of mine tours, mining equipment on display, rescue demonstrations and mining-related stalls, and also other general areas, stalls, competitions, food etc.

The proceeds for the day from donations went to the Wombat Survival Fund!! There are only 90 Northern Hairy Nosed Wombats left in the wild. The best part of the day was that we got to see a hairy-nosed wombat in a special climate-controlled trailer, they're quite big actually - and very cute!