MMCC Saves the Day

Recently I spent 10 exciting days in Tamworth for the National Cutting Horse Futurity held at the newly purpose built AELEC (Australian Equine and Livestock Event Centre). This annual cutting horse show is the pinnacle of the Cutting Horse Industry with this year’s total prize purse in excess of $540,000 with a further $85,000 in trophies. Over 4500 head of cattle were used over the duration of the show and over 520 horses stabled. Needless to say the cream of the cream in cutting horse flesh, trainers and riders are in attendance. I was in horse heaven -  10 days of being able to view first hand these incredible animals performing, browsing amongst the many traders selling their wares,  and entertainment in the main arena some evenings.

There was just one problem, communication, as I was to camp on site. I needed to keep emails up to date and, since I might be interested in purchasing a horse, I needed access to internet banking, view my digital photos, play DVD’s etc.  I needed a laptop. I quickly discovered there was nowhere I could hire a laptop short term. Then I remembered the MMCC, who were willing to hire the club’s laptop to me. The next issue was just how was I going to gain Internet access. A visit to the Telstra store solved that problem. I had recently upgraded my mobile phone from CDMA to Telstra’s Next G network. I was able to purchase for $10 up to 150mb internet access for one month. I used my mobile phone as the modem.  It all worked a treat and let me tell you no one was more  surprised than I was that it all worked with the minimum of fuss, something that I have found rare when dealing with computers/telecommunications. I did purchase a horse and did all the transactions online which was very impressive, kept my emails in check, watched DVD’s and checked out my digital photos I had taken. I was happy.

So thank you to the MMCC who really saved the day for me. What an awesome resource we have on the mountain.

Kerrie Darby
Somersby