Back Roads on ABC TV – Claire Harris and Kate Strong quit their jobs in early 2022 and set off on a Boot Scootin’ line dancing tour of Australia. Raising money for local charities, they travelled through WA, SA, QLD and the NT.
Now, Heather Ewart is joining them as they Boot Scoot their way through Tasmania.
Living in their car as they go, their nights are filled with hoedown crowds of 100 or more, teaching newbies what the veterans learned years ago; that line dancing can make you feel pretty good.
Author Rachael Treasure is one convert. She found the Boot Scootin’ girls on Facebook and it changed her whole perspective on life. She invited them to hold a hoedown at her farm near historic Richmond in Tassie’s south, which like all the others is about raising money.
In Tasmania, they’re helping a not for profit, mental health charity called Rural Alive and Well – or RAW. RAW is a charity that works with different country industries to keep an eye on people’s mental wellbeing. Heather meets Paul Jordan, respected skipper of the ‘Diana’ fishing boat moored in Hobart, whose life was turned around with the help of RAW.
With the final Hoedown near Smithton in the states north, Heather visits The Grumpy Goat Co. run by Alyssia and John Coates. They take a slightly different approach to mental health, running a care farm where local youths reap the benefits of helping to look after 80 goats!
Production credit: Executive Producer, Brigid Donovan.
Back Roads – Monday 14 August, 2023 at 8.00pm on ABC and ABC iview (episode 15)
TV Central ABC content HERE
