Justine Streater and Quintina, winners of the Tamborine Equestrian Group CCI3* in February 2023
Just when you think that the wet years are behind us, with a soggy 2023 in the UK and a flooded Australia in 2022, the weather sneaks back up on the eventing world down under.
As the Bureau of Meteorology beats a retreat from the predicted El Nino weather pattern forecast for 2024 in Australia (no bad thing, as that is usually associated with high temperatures and bushfire), there has been no mistaking the swirling rain patterns on the nightly news. It has been decidedly wet in the far north of Australia and that wet weather with massive storms crept down to south-east Queensland, where the first FEI eventing competition of the year in Australia should be held in February.
Sadly, it is not to be. The Tamborine Equestrian Group CCI competition, to be held on 17th & 18th February has been cancelled after being lashed by rain and storms that felled nearly 100 trees at the venue.
“Unfortunately, Mother Nature is still keeping us on our toes, with the current wet weather on top of already wet grounds and the chaos the storms have created we don’t think we will have the grounds in appropriately prepped condition to hold the event” says Event Director Charlotte Price “We are currently working out if we can shuffle our calendar to work in another One Day Event and Showjumping day and will publish on our Facebook page as changes come about.”
The event, located just under an hour from Brisbane, home of the 2032 Olympic Games and the popular tourist destination of the Gold Coast, is just one of many in the area affected by extreme weather conditions in January. Many of the Gold Coast’s major attractions, including theme parks such as Dreamworld and Movie World, closed during the worst of the weather in a period that is normally peak season for tourists.
The focus is now on Tonimbuk in Victoria for the first FEI CCI event (giving people a bit longer to practise the new dressage tests!), where classes at CCI2*-S, CCI3*-S and CCI4*-S levels are on offer, alongside national classes.
We’ll miss being at beautiful Tamborine in February but we’ll be back in July for the Queensland International 3 Day Event (25th – 28th July) and in October for the Tamborine CCN (19th & 20th October) – see you there!
