Shopping on a Saturday in 1945
Going in to Tenterfield, a two-mile buggy ride
Grandma, Mum and Grandfather he did all the driving
Me perched up beside him Old dog alongside
Go Ted, let the pony have her head now
We'll fly along Casino Road
Hey Ted remember what you told me
Easy, whips don't lighten loads
Pull up at Hop Sing & Co store and general merchants
Granddad heads inside to buy some seed and bailing wire
Twelve gauge shotgun cartridges, salt-lick for the bayrol
Ice-cream for the half grown young man at his side
Then on to Kneipp and Son, leather-goods and saddles
Topics for discussion there are weather, beasts and fire
They've repaired the bridle that busted on a gumtree
When my pony threw me Tried to jump barbed wire
On we go the Royal Hotel Tucker, grog shop, talking
Neighbour farmers say g'day, exchange the harvest news
Seasons come and seasons go life remains a battle
Drovers talk of cattle. locky River ewes
Go Ted, let the pony have her head now
We'll fly along Casino Road
Hey Ted remember what you told me
Easy, whips don't lighten loads
Stretched across the homeward track tiger snake sunbaking
Granddad hits the brake to try and kill it with a slide
Just missed look out, now the thing's tangled in the back spokes
Blimey this is no joke everybody fly
Buggy stands abandoned ship grandma holds the pony
We all watch with baited breath as Granddad kneels astride
The back seat with his twenty two aiming for the right spot
Slowly squeezes one shot all that is required
Clamber back on board again set off at a fast trot
Granddad takes some flack about the nature of his slide
Hears it out good humouredly hard to raise his hackles
Winks at me and cackles don't know till you've tried
Go Ted let the pony have her head now
We'll fly along Casino Road
Hey Ted remember what you told me
Easy, whips don't lighten loads
There's the farm upon the hill shining like a beacon
Soon we're home, unloaded and the gear is stashed away
Suppertime by lantern light then round the piano
Family in tableau sing to end the day
Mountain bush and southern sky still the same as ever.
Graves upon the hillside mark the time that's passed away
Now I come to think of it memory has no curtain
Life was lived for certain old and in the way
Go Ted let the pony have her head now
We'll fly along Casino Road
Hey Ted remember what you told me
Easy, whips don't lighten loads