{"id":10057,"date":"2026-05-14T21:52:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T11:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bardonnews.com.au\/index.php\/2026\/05\/14\/the-may-10-show\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T21:52:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T11:52:16","slug":"the-may-10-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bardonnews.com.au\/index.php\/2026\/05\/14\/the-may-10-show\/","title":{"rendered":"The May 10 Show"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A Mother\u2019s Day Morning, From Camels to Code<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Mother\u2019s Day on Australia All Over<\/em> is never just about flowers and breakfast bookings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Macca observed at the top of the program, days like this can be both happy and sad. For some, it is celebration. For others, memory. Then came his familiar description of the show itself: a free trip around Australia \u2014 and around the world \u2014 on a Sunday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This particular trip took listeners from the Australian desert to Dutch war graves, from Olympic Dam to Mount Lofty, from giant cockatoo sculptures crossing the country to a woman ringing from Guangzhou Airport after cycling through the Somme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It began in the outback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walking to Birdsville the Hard Way<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Michael rang from Alice Springs as he prepared to join Andrew Harper and the Outback Camel Company on a month-long trek to Birdsville, marking 50 years since Rex Ellis established the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten walkers. Fourteen camels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For anyone imagining a leisurely desert ride, Michael quickly clarified things. The camels would carry water, gear and essentials. The humans would be doing the walking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He had trekked with Andrew before, but never anything this long, and there was no mistaking the excitement in his voice. This was clearly something he had been looking forward to for some time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macca, picturing those inland winter mornings, drifted into one of his familiar reflections about the clarity of the outback sky and that cold air that makes everything seem sharper and further away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael matched the mood perfectly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After years of travelling for work and staying in luxury hotels around the world, he said he preferred the \u201cmillion-star hotel\u201d of the Australian outback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It sounded like exactly the sort of thing someone about to voluntarily walk to Birdsville behind camels might say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hospitality\u2019s Super Bowl<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

From remote Australia, the program lurched into a completely different sort of endurance event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad from Edithvale was enjoying what he knew would be the last peaceful coffee of his day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A chef for 25 years and now running his own restaurant, he described Mother\u2019s Day as hospitality\u2019s equivalent of the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two hundred breakfast bookings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another 150 after that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then the inevitable late callers \u2014 usually dads, he joked \u2014 whispering into the phone in the hope a table might somehow materialise after suddenly remembering what day it was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macca understood the pressure immediately. One thing goes wrong in a busy service and the whole day can start sliding sideways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad laughed about the chaos, but the conversation shifted somewhere more personal when he explained why he still listens every Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a teenager, he used to listen with his grandfather, who had been an army cook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His grandfather died just before Brad began formal chef training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So while the restaurant world became his profession, the Sunday morning listening ritual stayed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A call that began with breakfast service logistics ended as something unexpectedly warm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seven Graves in a Tiny Dutch Village<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Chris Head called from the Netherlands, where he and his wife had travelled for an 80th anniversary commemoration for seven Commonwealth airmen killed in a Halifax bomber crash during World War II.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ceremony took place in a small Frisian village where locals still care for the graves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That, more than anything, struck Chris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not official duty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not ceremony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just ordinary people, decades later, still deciding these men matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Australian ambassador attended. British representatives were there. Family members of one of the dead airmen had travelled from France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris described it as deeply moving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And because this was Chris, there was also cycling involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He and his wife had brought a pull-apart tandem bicycle and were riding from Amsterdam to Copenhagen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macca suggested the Netherlands would be perfect because it is flat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chris corrected him immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, flat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But apparently always a headwind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Running for Marty<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Annette called from Melbourne, where thousands were gathering for the Mother\u2019s Day Classic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was running in memory of her friend Marty, who had previously survived breast cancer before the disease returned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marty died in February, before turning 50.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Annette has been a runner for years, so this was not some once-a-year act of noble suffering, but there was obvious emotional weight behind this particular run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macca managed to keep the tone grounded, joking about the brave but underprepared entrants who would spend the next several days unable to walk properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Annette laughed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, because this is Australia All Over<\/em>, the conversation somehow wandered to Woomargama, Holbrook\u2019s famous submarine, and the broader state of the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That should not work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It always does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mount Lofty Runner Reading About AI<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Linda from Adelaide rang while running up Mount Lofty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Actually running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macca immediately picked up the breathlessness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Linda insisted she was fitter than she sounded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She does the climb regularly, trying to stay under 40 minutes. Her best is 38.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her ideal Mother\u2019s Day sounded surprisingly appealing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her children work in hospitality, so they were unavailable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her husband was off playing golf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She would have the house to herself and spend the day reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No complaints there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Macca asked what she was reading, the conversation took a sharp turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Linda is a software engineer, so this was more than casual interest. She spoke thoughtfully about AI\u2019s implications, prompting Macca to recount a recent conversation with Gerry Harvey about how quickly businesses are being forced to rethink everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there the discussion wandered into robot anxiety, technological acceleration, Mars, and humanity\u2019s odd habit of racing toward uncertain futures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It could easily have sounded ridiculous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, it sounded like two people from different vantage points trying to make sense of a rapidly shifting world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bay of Islands and the Brain Drain<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ross called from New Zealand\u2019s Bay of Islands, where he and his partner now live after moving from Sydney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His partner is a New Zealander, and the move had been part of the long-term plan for years before COVID complicated the timetable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now settled in Paihia, Ross spends time around the local sailing club, helping with youth coaching and enjoying what he described as a kind of mini Whitsundays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macca wanted to know what life felt like across the Tasman at the moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ross answered plainly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cost of living is high. Jobs are tighter. But what concerned him most was the steady movement of younger New Zealanders leaving for better wages elsewhere, particularly Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He described it as a brain drain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conversation never became political or combative. It sounded more like two people recognising the same demographic pattern playing out in different places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ross had done Sydney to Hobarts in years gone by and plenty of offshore racing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These days, life is quieter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But he clearly loves where he is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seven Days On, Seven Days Off<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Aaron called from outside Olympic Dam, rugged up against the desert cold and using one of the now-free public phones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has spent more than 20 years in mining and described the rhythm of seven days on, seven days off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, the money matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what Aaron kept returning to was time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A full week off at a stretch changes what life looks like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stack a little leave onto that and suddenly proper travel becomes possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He spoke warmly about the camaraderie at the mine and the people around him, even shouting out a mate working nearby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was none of the caricatured mining swagger sometimes attached to these conversations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mostly, Aaron sounded like someone who genuinely enjoys the life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That did not mean pretending the arrangement is easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He openly acknowledged the reality that FIFO only works because the family at home makes it work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then came his \u201c40 before 40\u201d list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forty things he had never done before turning 40.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A rodeo at Murray Bridge was already ticked off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bungee jumping was next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the end of the call, he was also trying to claim one of the program\u2019s medium T-shirts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two Giant Carnaby\u2019s Black Cockatoos Crossing the Country<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Truck driver Eric Durin had freight guaranteed to attract attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two enormous Carnaby\u2019s black cockatoo sculptures, built in Brisbane and heading home to Moora in Western Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seven metres tall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not exactly subtle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eric admitted he had been \u201cconned\u201d into hauling them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everywhere he stopped, people wanted a look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At one point, some of the support structure started coming apart, forcing an improvised roadside repair involving drills, screws and practical bush engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eric sounded more amused than irritated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Queensland roads, however, did not emerge from the conversation especially well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cotton Snow Outside Bourke<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Lenny from Dartmouth rang while driving a pilot vehicle behind slashers near Bourke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The image he painted was extraordinary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cotton drifting across the highway in enough volume to make it look like snow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Macca immediately wanted photos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lenny, who had clearly seen plenty in his years on the road, also described the harsher realities of the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roadkill everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kangaroos, goats, foxes, emus, wild cats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dry country has its own brutal arithmetic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Listeners could hear him pausing mid-conversation to radio warnings about approaching traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Live radio in the middle of nowhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tania Finds Her Groove in Mount Isa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Tania Kernaghan called from Mount Isa after spending several days immersed in the sort of event that clearly appealed to Macca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 1940s-themed gala at the Underground Hospital Museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vintage music. Wartime nostalgia. Dancing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tania admitted she had spent much of the evening happily tapping her feet and quietly hoping someone might ask her onto the dance floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Underground Hospital itself became part of the conversation \u2014 wartime fears, northern Australia\u2019s vulnerability, and the remarkable history that remains beneath the town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then came the Queensland Music Trails finale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what lingered from the conversation was not the event schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was Tania\u2019s affection for Mount Isa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The landscape impressed her, certainly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the thing she kept returning to was the people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That unmistakable outback sense of community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n