Kasey Chambers was organised to perform at the chairman’s reception, but was “stage bombed” by another legend of Aussie country music.
Chambers was part-way through an acoustic version of her first hit The Captain, when Troy Cassar-Daley sidled up and joined her bandmate Dingo on harmonies.
Cassar-Daley was invited to stay and join Chambers in a duet of a Merle Haggard song they sang together many years earlier - Big City.
The weekend was officially opened by NSW Minister for Agriculture and Regional NSW Tara Moriarty.
Another special guest from Parliament was Attorney General of NSW Michael Daley, who also attended last year’s Muster and was keen to get back to the event again.
Troy’s Deni tour
Kasey Chambers was not the only one who enjoyed a surprise drop in by Cassar-Daley during the Muster weekend.
Even though he was not set to perform until Saturday night, he arrived early enough to enjoy the Ute Muster and explore our community.
He popped into a few shops in the Deni CBD on Friday morning, and happily posed for photos with anyone who recognised him.
He also dropped into Yarkuwa Indigenous Knowledge Centre’s Art Shed program, where he spent time with the youngsters.
Unexpected stars
It wasn’t just the invited celebrities who were turning heads at the Deni Ute Muster during the weekend.
Social media star Josh Neille was spotted by a fair few followers in the Muster crowd - which was probably not hard with his trademark blonde dreadlocks and headband.
Josh has garnered a fan base for his videos of his wildlife rescues and animal interactions, which also feature his family.
There were quite a few reels of the family enjoying themselves at the Muster, posted to Josh’s ‘stories’.
Muster traffic jam
It might have caused a little bit of chaos and some local frustration, but how good was it to see so many people to attend the Deni Ute Muster, there was an all-day traffic jam?
When the traffic jam started cars were lined up from the Muster site to the Deniliquin Stadium on Ochtertyre St. The two are about 7.5km apart.
As more Musterers arrived, the line stretched along the Cobb Highway (Echua Rd) to about Scott Rogers Lane which is a further 3km, or so.
The congestion worsened when people tried to find shortcuts, leading to a back-up of cars through the Deni CBD.
Police help out
With the traffic jam, many locals and local workers were caught up in the chaos.
If you had to travel across Hardinge St or go to or from north Deniliquin, you were arriving late to your destination.
The congestion started about 8am, and didn’t fully die off until about 5pm.
Thankfully, local police made themselves available to help local services with their clients.
“A big thumbs up to local police who provided escorts through gridlocked local traffic on Thursday morning to ensure our seniors and disabled citizens could still get out of town, in the Intereach community cars, for medical appointments,” reader and Intereach volunteer Beth Coffey wrote to us.
“Great work, Emma (Intereach) for organising everything for us.”
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