Heart of the nation: Noonamah 0837

IT'S the race that stops a pub.

Heart

IT'S the race that stops a pub. Held on every Melbourne Cup day since the'70s, the Noonamah Tavern Frog Race brings a splash of glamour - and high-octane, amphibian-based excitement - to this watering hole by the Stuart Highway, 50km out of Darwin.

Pictured is Suzan Yates, who won the best dressed prize last year with her lovely red ensemble. "I have to confess, it's from the op-shop," she says, "but I think it's important to mark occasions by dressing up."

If only the blokes in her local thought the same way. Many of them settle for a strange hybrid of top hat and tails over shorts, singlet and thongs ("The best of both worlds," is how one describes it).

Yates is originally from Canada, and she ended up here via a strange route: back in 1999 she was in East Timor with an NGO monitoring the referendum, and when it turned ugly she was among those evacuated to Darwin by the Australian air force. She was seduced by the relaxed pace of life, and the friendliness, and never left. The Frog Race is "emblematic of the Top End lifestyle", says the 47-year-old, who works as a bookkeeper. "It's fun and light-hearted, and kinda weird - in a good way."

In the lead-up to the event the pub offers a free schooner for every green tree frog that's brought in. They need 24; the frogs have other plans, though. "Every year, without fail, they all suddenly disappear," says bar manager Gail Arnold. "I reckon they know we're onto them."

Captured ones are put in a terrarium and fed on crickets ("There's no doping," she insists) until the big day. Each frog is auctioned before the race, which raises thousands for charity, and given a numbered leg-tag. Then they're all put in a bucket and tipped into the centre of a big circle.

The first one to jump out of the circle wins. It sounds like a hoot, but the money's serious: first prize last year was a cool eight grand. Says Arnold, deadpan: "It's the richest frog race in the country."