Ute Town

I've been thinking a bit about utes recently (as you do..).  We live in a part of the country where the ute reigns supreme as the vehicle of choice for many people.  Just to clear things up for my international readers - Australians say ute as a short form of utility vehicle.  Other countries often call them "pick ups".  In Australia a "pick up" means something entirely different... As I have said before on this blog, a "pick up" is what a single farmer tries to achieve when he heads to the pub on a Friday night.

Anyway - utes are a very practical vehicle for Australian farmers (and farmers all over the world).  You can put all sorts of things on the back, be it animal, vegetable or mineral.  There are different types of utes too.

There is the sensible farm ute.  These are the workhorses of the ute world and tend to be Toyota Landcruisers or the like.  We use these a lot on The Farm.   Toyotas, in particular, tend to go forever and be very reliable.  We carry hay, livestock, fuel tanks, fire equipment and all sorts of other essential stuff on the back of our farm utes at various times of the year.

There are also the cool, young country boy utes. These are more of your glamour variety ute (forgive me for using the words ute and glamour in the same sentence). This type of ute has attached shiny metal bits that serve little purpose and lots of sticker, decal type things. At least two heavy duty aerials also tend to hang off these utes.  I don't necessarily think you need the two-way radio to go with the aerials. Having at least two of these aerials seems important though.

Country boys use these utes to try and look cool and do something called "circle work" in paddocks. Basically circle work is like a donut or broggy - doing this keeps the young adult male amused for hours - or at least until they run out of fuel or some essential engine part falls out of the bottom of the ute.

Apparently a cool ute is very attractive to young females too - having a ute helps the driver to "pick up".  Plus a swag in the back also means the ute owner is always ready for action if he gets lucky.  Another necessary ute accesory is some sort of device to keep beer cold.  An Engel car fridge is the best, but a decent esky is OK at a push.

I am continually amused by some of the stickers I have seen on this type of ute..  My two favourites so far are

"No Ute, No Circle."

"Save a horse, ride a cowboy."

Apparently for maximal coolness you need a Holden ute.  Unless you are a Ford person apparently.  Basically these utes need to look the part and make a hell of a lot of noise to tick all the boxes.

Utes/Pick ups seem to be a cross cultural trend in rural areas.  I took this photo in Argentina.

An Argentine Ute

I doubt it would stand up to the rigours of circle work but I bet some Argentine farmhand has given it a try.

There is one other type of ute that we see around our area.  That is the old faithful ute.  Someone has owned and loved it for years.  It doesn't have any of the cool shiny accessories.  It is more like an old comfy pair of boots.  These utes tend to come with bench seats, a sheep dog and an owner who wears some sort of hat.

So there you go - a quick explanation of the ute.

An Old Holden Ute

Take care.  Hope everyone is having a great day.