Advertisement
Published: April 7th 2008
Day Seven: The following morning, or perhaps just slightly later that same morning, there was none of the usual 7 am stirrings and no usual wake-up music from the Pinky's lounge. Eventually we did stir around 9 am, mostly because the sun was coming in through 3 different windows and all hitting me in the face! The kitchen/dinning room was about half full but very quiet as a stumbled in. The boys were mumbling quietly into their cornflakes and several others were nursing their third or fourth of many coffees. With no structured programme for the day we were free to eat whatever we found in the student fridge (mainly cheesecake and other left over puddings!) so breakfast blurred into more coffee and a pudding brunch and on into random salad-and-leftovers lunch. We had been planning to walk down to the swimming hole and pick blackberries on the way, but we were all a bit dozy so ended up playing lots of games of cards, including some very violent and scary games of spoons, and planned Kirke's wedding to Liz's son Joe, including a honeymoon for Liz, Kirke and Me, leaving Joe behind! it was a bit random but sounded good
to me. They were also planning to marry me off to Jack to 'keep him in the family'! Talking of Jack, he had managed to arrive at the school having not paid and without sufficient funds, so stationhands Chris and Joost offered to drive him back into town to get funds while they did shopping for supplies. Of course as soon as everyone heard this they started making requests, so Jack ended up with quite a list, mostly Tooheys beer, goon (weird very fruity wine type substance) and phone cards! We did eventually make it down to the creek, but only as far as the stepping stones across the first paddock, where we sat looking for fish, dragonflies and more leeches. We started discussing cultural differences (the group being made up of German Laura, Danish Kirke, Dutch Dorien and me) and national pride, but this seemed to set Laura off on a massive rant about both how negative Germans feel about themselves and their country and how hard it was to feel any form of pride after the war. I am ashamed to say we did bait her a little with the whole towel thing, although she claims the English
do it too (probably because the Germans started it!). We were joined by Liz, Sandra, Jack and a very pretty strawberry roan horse that tried to drink Jack's beer, but Laura kept going, even on the walk back home for dinner! We did eventually manage to shut her up by saying that it was ok, we loved her!
Dinner that evening was awesome - massive portions of lasagne (Joost is an amazing cook and his talents were wasted at the school) followed by rice pudding with cinnamon..mmmmm! It seems everyone had had a good day relaxing, and we spent the evening watching Hot Fuzz (bit of English cultural education for everyone) and some action movies until about 1 am. Back to mustering the next day...
Sunday was our first sheep encounter and our first muster with a bit of responsibility. Thankfully Jewels had had her shoe replaced by now and had lost the limp. We rode out to a paddock called 'Number One' (very original), about an hour and a half from the house by the usual route but we took a shortcut across Bunny's and Python (where do they get these names?). Cole rode out with us
this time, the first time we had been mustering with him, so we were all pretty nervous. He split Kirke, Jack, Sandra, Dorien, Liz, Bianca and me off into the 'experienced' group and set us off alone to follow the fenceline all the way around to the highest point on the property and wait there while the rest of the students chased the sheep along the spurs and gullies to the far side. Mostly it was uphil and kind of tough but a beautiful ride and the view from the top was absolutely amazing. We had been told in no uncertain terms that we had to get to the top in good time, without tortting or cantering up hill (cardinal sin) and not to stand around chatting when we got there because we wouldnt be able to hear Cole talking. All the way up we kept checking if we were going in the right direction and had passed the correct gates and so on, and kept worrying that we were going too slow and Cole would already be there with all the sheep. But when we got there we could hear the rest of the group yelling down in the
valley but no sign of sheep so we relaxed and did a spot of Japanese touristing (taking endless photos), although every we heard a noise we'd all go quiet incase it was Cole. Eventually we spotted him on the far side of the paddock (total area about 500 ha) with a large group of sheep.. Although he was literally miles away we all went silent just in case he could somehow hear us talking, and we watched him single-handedly bring the sheep up towards us as the rest of teh students came up the hill behind us to form a block. The hill was incredibly steep around us but as Cole got close he insisted we move 50 metres or so off the top and come around to form a horseshoe around the sheep. For once Jewels was in a cooperative mood and moved off easily and was quite sure footed. Jack's horse Storm, with his enormous stride, was off before the rest of us had moved and Dorien and Sandra got left behind as Ralph refused to move (as usual) and Xanadu went the wrong way (as usual)! It was a bit tense for a minute as we were
desperate to get out of the way of the sheep so that they wouldn't panic and split or jump the fence, but eventually we got sorted, formed up the horseshoe and pushed the sheep on up to the rest of the group. On the way up the hill Sandra's horse Ralph had inexplicably dragged her leg into the barbed wire fence! She was ok, but had ripped up her trousers (her leg was saved by her socks!), so on the way down, as we passed close between trees and bushes Sandra's voice could clearly be heard ringing across the valley with "don't you dare f***ing walk me into the tree you f***ing idiot!". She doesnt recall saying this at all but everyone else does! We knew, with Cole out on muster, we were going to get another lecture and he didnt dissapoint. Mostly he seemed fairly impressed with our speed and competancy at mustering, but once again we had been riding without our reins crossed. His main problem with it really is that we dont have sufficient control without them crossed and could fall off. In the last few schools at least one person had fallen off each time and
every time it happens Brian has a major go at Cole, assuming that he hasn't taught is right or is not supervising enough. He did diversify slightly in saying that his horse is a spastic and tries to kill him at least 5 times per day, but if he can keep control of him then we can with our horses! There was a bit of victimisation, picking out individuals and explaining their faults, and although this was a bit embarassing for those involved it did have purpose and did make us realise how important it was to ride properly.
Now that the sheep had settled and the lecture was over we were ready to push the sheep, driving them all the way home to the woolshed back at the main house. We were still recovering post-rant when Cole called me up from the back to the front of the muster. heart in mouth, wondering what i had done to be singled out, i trotted on around and came up next to him. He told me then (as my heart hammered) that none of that applied to me, that i was doing really well and so now would be leading
the muster! yikes! relieved that i wasnt being told off but terrified of being in charge of 25 people and 50 sheep, he explained that i basically needed to become double-joined in my neck as i had to keep level with the front of the flock, keep the fence in sight but not get too close to the sheep, look ahead for the route, rocks, trees, holes and snakes, immediately behind for the gap between horses and across the group to ensure everyone was keeping up and in line and the scream team were doing their job! not too much pressure then! We did have Rachel and Darcy towards the back but we were supposed to be doing this by ourselves, and Cole rode off about 50 metres or so infront so i didnt really have him in earshot to help. Quick prayer and quiet talk to Jewels to behave herself for once, but she seemed to relish being in front, with no distracting horse bottoms to bite. We set off down the hill and i did feel like a bit of an owl looking after everything all around me but Jewels did an ace job being so responsive and
obendient, putting herself wherever i guided and not being the least bit stubborn. Pushing the sheep was a bit different to cattle as they tend to bunch together a lot more and rather than all walking at the same pace we had the front few going quite quickly, a middle nervous bunch that stopped and started and a lazy grazing bunch at the back. At times like these i thank God for the bossy streak in me as i directed people around obstacles, when to fill in gaps or kick their horses on and when the scream team should shout louder or stop shouting as the sheep got ahead of me. Cole kept an eye on us to start with but once he realised we were doing ok he wandered off again to the first gate. I had Nikki immediately behind me and Ulrika behind her and as we neared the gate the three of us trotted though ahead of the sheep to form a block and keep them near the fence as they came through. Most people had by now developed a reasonable stock sense to know when to push and when to let them walk, but i still had to stop a few from yelling at the sheep as they went through the gate, which would have caused them to either scatter, jump the fence or bolt ahead. On the other side the line formed up again and we carried on. Mostly it was fairly easy going and being at the front gave me a great view of both the scenery and countryside and the group as a whole and who was doing what. it was the first time that we all really had to concentrate and work together without direction and i could see some people were getting tired but we kept going and we didnt lose any sheep. Coming down the last hill the sheep could see the yards and started to speed up, whereas the horses were more concerned about the steepness and roughness of the hill as the earth slid out from beneath them so we had to go very quietly to stop the sheep from getting ahead. A couple of us drove the sheep right through the outer pens up to the shed, Cole shut the gate and we were done. Usually we have a bit of a collective high 5 at the end of tasks but everyone held their breath to see what Cole would say. He looked at his watch, and back at us, was silent for a moment, then said, "bloody fantastic! you got them home in under an hour and a half....fantastic....i cant fault your mustering (though was desperately trying to think of something!)....great!" At that there was a collective exhaling and massive smiles all around! This must be a world first!
After tying the horses up in the yard (most of them looked a bit indignant that they werent being unsaddled, Jewels just went to sleep) and having lunch we gathered back at the sheep yards. While waiting for Cole we took some group photos (i got nominated as jap with 25 people's cameras hanging off my arm!) and Rachel and i tortured everyone with the "peaches, peaches" game (the same as 'the moon is round' for those that know it!). Usually someone gets how it works within a few minutes and everyone catches on eventually, but it took DAYS for anyone to realise how to play, and even that was with a lot of hinting! The afternoon's lesson involved sheep flipping - much easier than calves by comparative weight and speed - treating sunburn due to eating weeds and slaughtering a sheep. We couldnt shear as there was none suitable and Cole's handpiece was broken. I have seen sheep slaughtered before so i wasnt much bothered but i was really impressed that the entire group chose to watch - we were given the opportunity to sit further away or not watch at all if we liked but nobody took it. It was kind of messy but sheep dont seem to have as much blood as you would expect. We started off all standing a few feet away from the slaughter shed but after it was killed and Cole started to butcher it people got curious and soon we were in the shed with him asking all sorts of questions. I dont know if it was the success of the morning's muster that had softened him a little or what, but he suddenly became quite friendly and open and was asking us if we were enjoying it and what we would change if we could, etc. Despite being a bit fierce i had already realised that he would be a great person to work for and a very fair boss. He was actually quite easy to be honest with and he laughed when we mentioned the bread and the weird lunch ingredients that you cant make into sandwiches! he also took his sunglasses off for the first time and he looked kind of odd without them - very small blue eyes and you could suddenly see exactly who he was looking at! When all that was done we fetched our horses and mustered the sheep back to their paddock. I think some people had forgotten that we had to do taht, and were already thinking it was beer o'clock! Thankfully it was much easier and quicker taking them back, though we had to plan the route ourselves (with me as lead musterer again) through a different set of gates! the sheep seemed to know where they were going anyway and didnt even try to break loose, which was handy as Jewels had one of her moments and refused to step over a fallen tree so i got behind! As the sheep dissapeared through the gorge back to their paddock i could only think of the nice hot showers!
That evening was karaoke night. With such a variety of personalities in the group it was quite surprising that everyone was really up for it, but the evening didnt start well as we couldnt get any of the microphones to work! In the end we just all sang along en masse, some more tunefully than others. Us hard-core karaokers stayed up until nearly 2 am (not entirely sure why!). I ended up doing Danny Boy solo but best by far was Oliver's "come on irene"!
The first week at the school is always run the same, weather permitting, but the second week varies depending on the group's abilities and enthusiasm. As we seemed to be fairly good at both mustering and calf throwing (the last school had 21 people but only 4 could throw, compared to our 19 people with 14 throwing!) Cole decided to take us on a double muster the next day. I think the month at the trekking centre was doing me the world of good as i wasnt at all saddle sore yet (and the foot was healing, hoorah!) but there were definately a few people around not looking forward to an entire day in the saddle, not that we really had any choice! Jewels must have been given her name for being a bit of a princess because when i went to catch her she had lost ANOTHER shoe! i think she really just wanted a whole new set! As this was front one Cole banged a new one on straight away. They also didnt check our saddles etc today, trusting that we knew what we were doing by now, and if not it would be us who suffered! This was fine except that Corinna accidently stole my saddle! i went looking for it everywhere, then when i realised someone had taken it i had to check every horse in the yard before i found it! Ah well, we got underway soon enough, riding out to Top Monkey for the first muster, a paddock of around 300 ha but very steep and hilly and with a lot of shrubs and trees, hidden gullies and dams i.e. not the easiest muster. When we arrived there was a whole bunch of cattle (including some Brahman and Droughtmasters that belonged nextdoor!) right up near the yards so Kat sent Jack, Liz and I to play sneaky-sneaky trying to get around them and put them straight into the yard. Here we noticed a breed difference - next door's cattle immediately beggared off across the hill while our black anguses just stood there gormlessly, unaware of what we were trying to do. We gave up on the interlopers and just brought the anguses in, with the rest of the team forming a line (for the millionth time!) up to the gate. Kat was in charge today so she split the group roughly in half, with an even split of abilities, but she singled me out to go with her alone. the other two groups set off one to each side to do the usual sweep of the paddock and gather at the dam in teh middle (which we couldnt see and only roughly knew where it was by the sweep of her hand!) which Kat and i set off down the middle to flush any cattle out of the trees and scrub. Almost as soon as we set off she asked me if i was looking for a job and if so would i consider working there. I was a bit stunned for a second, having no idea that they were looking nor that she or anyone else had been assessing our abilities. I replied that i was looking for a job but wasnt certain that i wanted to work for the school because the pay, at only $150 per week, really wasnt very good (decided by Brian not Kat and Cole!) and i really wanted to go up north to the bigger properties and do the job for real, but i would think about it. She left it at that but i was pretty honoured to be asked. I later found out that Cole had also approached Jack with the same question but he had given the same answer! Still it was great fun mustering with Kat, being allowed to trot and stuff and generally be independent. We found a few older cows in the undergrowth and flushed them out, singing "ole, ole, ole" instead of shouting, just for variation, but mostly we saw kangaroos. They were everywhere! Each time we went though a patch of scrub there would be an erruption and kangaroos would dart out in all directions! I think Jewels enjoys doing things at her own pace rather than with the group, because for once she had her ears forward throughout and was really keen going uphill and through the trees and so on. Kat and i chatted about horses and working properties and the job being a woman and all that. Its so funny that she is so different from Cole but still they make a great team. On the far side of the paddock we met one of the groups trying to chase about 50 head down the slope. They were being a bit stubborn but suddenly they broke out and were hurtling towards us full pelt. At the last second tey veered off, bellowing mightily, especially the calves. Not quite how you are supposed to do it but quite funny and exciting all the same. Kat and i joined up with the group to push them all down the spur into the gully and on to the dam. We were given no direction so just worked together spreading out and forming the horseshoe and keeping the cattle moving. The other team were already at the dam with their cattle. With no Cole to yell at us and Kat having more confidence in our abilities, some of tried a bit of neck-reining, riding one handed, mostly so that we could take photographs! We did a good job getting the cattle to the yards, considering it was steeply up hill, there was around 70 head - the most we had mustered so far, and we had no help at all!
It had been very warm the whole week so far, but we were really sweating when we got to the top. Thankfully there were lots of trees around for shade, shared with the horses of course, where we could flop out for lunch. Jewels was lucky enough to get my apple core and 2 others i found in the grass! Top Monkey hadnt been mustered in a while, for various reasons, but partly because they hadnt had a group competant enough to cope with the numbers for a while, which meant that there were plenty of calves to throw and some of them were BIG! Sorting the calves from the cows and then the untagged calves we were a bit daunted by the size of a few and we were already planning ways to get all 14 of us onto one calf! But as Cole arrived and set up the branding gear i think he saw our faces and told us it was ok, he would rope the biggest ones. With the heat and a whole other paddock to muster and throw we started with the largest calves while we had the most energy. There were more people throwing that day than before but still a group of about 6 that didnt fancy it so they were heaped up with people's cameras and given the job of keeping the rest of the untagged calves out of the way. Cole made a noose out of rope and, deliberately pushing the largest calves into the mob so they couldnt escape, dropped the noose over the neck of the biggest one. he then laid the rope along its back, threw it under its back legs and looped it back around, all very gently and slowly so that the calf wouldnt really know what was going on. Cole turned to us and said 'are you ready?" we braced to throw ourselves on as he shouted "go" and hauled on the rope. The calf staggered sideways and backwards, rather confused as to why his backlegs didnt work properly anymore. He tried to fight it off and pull away, but the harder he pulled with his head the more the rope tightened around his legs and finally he keeled over with a thump onto the ground. Instantly we leaped on, 3-4 on the head to bend it around (very hard with so much neck muscle), several simply throwing their weight on top of his chest just to hold him down and Stefan and I together grabbed his back leg, braced and leant back. instantly we could feel the difference in strength as the calf made some serious effort to throw us off and get back up. but we held on, leant down deeper and Stefan and I checked our grip. The 3-4 people left not sitting on the calf did the honours of tagging and notching, with difficulty around so many people and their clothes, Cole castrated him and then gave us warning as 2 people had to get off to he could brand him. Stefan and I narrowly missed a hoof in the eye but he was done. So that he couldnt escape or get mixed up with the untagged calves we walled him off by the gate before I did the countdown (whoever has the back leg counts down as they are in the most dangerous position) and we all lept off him at once. As i was almost underneath him Kat grabbed me by the back of my collar and hauled me to my feet - much appreciated! As the now steer belted through the gate there was a collective whoop, quickly ended when we turned around and realised that we still had 11 more to go and they were almost as big! After the first one we soon got into a pattern as Cole roped another 2 or 3. I did want to have a go at tagging or notching but it never worked out that way. Every time i took the tagger i ended up being in exactly the right place to throw myself on the calf instead so i had to hand them over. We still had 4 more bigger calves to go but they were small enough for us to throw alone so we formed up smaller teams, encouraging those that hadnt had a go on the last muster to give it a try. By some fluke Stefan and I always ended up on the back leg together, the calves still being strong enough to need 2 people. We then formed the 'dream team' of Jack, Oliver, Stefan and I as we moved down in size. With only 3 little ones left Cole insisted that Sandra have a go so they threw one together, down to a 2 man team, and we threw the other two at the same time so that the taggers could do both at the same time. Finally we were done, well, we thought so, until we realised a couple of calves had escaped the pen! Kat mustered them back on horseback into a much larger pen, making them harder to catch. A couple of times we had hold but then got too near the fence so had to release or get trampled. We nearly lost the last one but i decided, as i was on the tail, that i wasnt letting go, and Sandra joined me, havint gained confidence from throwing the little one, thinkng if i wasnt letting go nor was she! We were fairly dragged around the pen a few times before the rest managed to grab on and stop him but we got him in the end. Mission Accomplished. having rejoiced that morning that my foot didnt hurt and i could get my boots on without wincing, i then realised that the last calf had stood on it again, in exactly the same place! man does that hurt when the adrenalin wears off! Oh well, no time to even take a look. After a quick drink we were back in the saddle and heading off to the next paddock, Number One, and the next muster.
Before, and even after, that day i dont think any of us really thought we would get through a double muster so well. Its just so exhausting each time, even just concentrating on staying safe and not getting trampled, but we did it. The second paddock was the one we had mustered the sheep from, but this time we were to drive them to the bottom and take them home by a different route, via Bunny's and Python. As the 'experienced' team split off we realised why Cole had mustered the far side alone the last time - it was mega steep and covered in sliding earth and dense trees. Kat lead us off then left us behind in pairs or threes to make our own way down each spur, flushing the cattle out of the scrub on each side. It was very slow going, letting the horses take their time, but it was good to get a breather. I was with Nina on Billy and Anja on ever-stubbborn-but-sweet Blazer. We didnt find any cattle so joined the other group that were forming the block by the dam with their cattle. They had found a couple of the largest bulls i have ever seen, that were enjoying themselves bashing eachother in the mud. I dont think Jewels was impressed - she wouldnt stand anywhere near them! Eventually the rest of the team came crashing out of the undergrowth with a good few cows and calves and another couple of bulls. Number One is a weird shaped paddock and not easy to see where you are aiming for, especially when you have to wade through the dam chasing bulls on a reluctant horse! There was more than a touch of improvisation as half the team continued to explore the remaining spurs for any more cattle and the rest of us picked our way through the gully with the odd bit of jumping and a lot of ducking through scrub. Jewels and Storm really got into it, biting the backsides of the cattle and Storm even pushed the calves along with his head! We lost Lisa, Ulrika and Stefan at one point as they werent able to jump over the creek at the bottom of the gully but were in such a tight space they could hardly turn back either! But eventually we all caught up and regrouped at the gorge before pushing them on home. It was the end of the day for the horses but not for us. Why the brand new yard set up was more difficult than the usual wooden ones out in the paddock i cannot fathom, but there seemed to be a lot of "we'll put that calf over there...then swap that one over...then put her in here..." for the first half hour. We were knackered and hot and sweaty and bruised by now but somehow Cole inspires you to keep going, and then Brian came out to watch so we felt compelled to do our best, just to prove that Cole HAD taught us well. We only had 3 calves to throw in the end - one large one with ropes, but they were total nutters and really hard to catch. The fatigue was also making people careless, getting in the way or trying to throw from the wrong side. It didnt help that one calf was half blind so freaked out when we grabbed it from the side it couldnt see! As we finished with them and returned them to the waiting herd in the horse lesson paddock, Chris drove up with the cattle truck, containing the neighbours lost cattle and another untagged bull calf, though calf hardly described him properly! He was about half grown and a total psycho! We put him in the crush to castrate him but he bulldozed his way through the headyoke and belted off into the herd. And so, off we trekked, formed a line and brought half the herd back in (twice, he escaped again the first time!), drafted him out and got him back in the crush. This time we had 4 people on the crush handle and 6 on the leg rope to stop him from kicking Cole in the head. Brian seemed happy enough and wandered off again, we brushed the dust off ourselves, took a deep breath and mounted up again to return the cattle to the paddock. Once again the animals seemed to know where they were going so we were pretty relaxed, drifting along with them, comparing bruises. I have to admit it was hard to muster the energy to wash Jewels and put the tack away properly at the end of the day. I just wanted a shower and a sleep! I now had cross-over bruises on my foot from being stood on and it was still swelling up. And still, it was one of the best days on the school - there is an amazing sense of achievement even as you collapse into a chair and almost nodd off straight away!
Already there was a plan for a massive muster of Back Paddock - all 700 ha of it - on the Wednesday because Cole knew there were some oversize calves that needed doing asap, so with that in mind, Tuesday was a relatively chilled out day replairing the cattle yards in Woolcheque. Brian faffed around half the morning, changing his mind over what he wanted everyone to do and which staff could go with us, making Cole even less inclined to make us work hard considering the previous day and the day to come. Because the school minibus is out of action we were driven out to the paddock (horses were resting) in a 7 seater 4WD and the back of the ute. I opted for the back of the ute, and we had a very pleasant drive admiring the scenery, watching roos boing away, bouncing through potholes and coming scarily close to the edge of the track. We were going to do some singing but then realised Cole had the cab window down and we didnt really want to annoy him any more that he already was! having proven ourselves capable of building a floodgate, replacing broken posts and rails in the yard was relatively easy. Some were tasked to remove built up earth from around the gates and to throw it onto the loading ramp for extra grip, the boys set to digging out and replacing the broken posts while the rest of us learnt how to do Queensland twitches, used to tie the rails to the post and tighten them together. We then added braces between the rails to support them when the cattle crashed into them, and hooks for tying the horses to. As ever it was pretty warm and Cole didnt want us to kill ourselves so we worked at a nice steady pace, to a reeeeeeally long lunch admiring the lizards and sunbathing and generally enjoyed ourselves. There was a lot of discussion about jobs and it was then we realised that all the stationhands were leaving at the end of this school, leaving only Kat and Cole if they didnt recruit anyone now. Jack and i then realised why they had already approached us, and it did make me think even harder about whether i wanted to stay, but the lure of better job up north on bigger stations was pretty strong. Cole also implied, and not for the first time, that he was thinking of leaving himself and wasnt exactly promoting the job, though i think he was being fairly honest about it all. After lunch we did a little more fixing before heading home again. The rest of the afternoon was spent at Pinkys playing cards, reading and generally just chilling out. I appreciated the rest for the sake of my foot. The following day was to be Bianca's birthday so Liz, Sandra, Kirke and I had contrived to bake her a cake ready for the party the next day. With everyone feeling fairly lazy and chilled out, and planning to have an early night ready for the muster tomorrow, it was fairly easy to get rid of her up to Pinkys for the evening while we raided the kitchen. There was a slight sense of too-many-cooks but as the scales were fairly dodgy and we had no recipe we kind of needed as many people's input as possible! I could just about remember the quantities for Never Fail Chocolate Cake (thanks mum) but couldnt remember if we put baking powder into it. We figured it couldnt do any harm if we did so i went on a hunt for some in the cupboards. i found a jar with said label on it, with a latex glove instead of a lid, but it looked kind of granular rather than powdery. there was nothing else and we figured it had probably just got wet at some point, so we threw some in. As Liz stirred the mixture i looked more closely at the 'baking powder' and wasnt quite so convinced, so i tasted some. it was kind of bitter and not that unlike soap powder! i was not keen on mentioning it now that we had already put some in the cake, but i thought i better had incase the mix now tasted disgusting. everyone else had a taste and we couldnt really agree on what it was, probably not soap powder considering the quantity and where we found it, but probably not baking powder either! but we tasted the mixture and you couldnt tell so we figured it would be alright and carried on! By then it was already about half 9 am we were supposed to be out of the kitchen by 10 so we didnt disturb Brian, but with the cake being sooooo big it took aaaaaaaaaages to cook. We kept checking on it but it was just going very, very slowly from the outside in. We were trying to be quiet but there was about 8 of us in the kitchen, trying to wash and dry up, but mostly having towel flicking fights, so eventually Brian did come in to see what was going on. We were very apologetic but he seemed to find it quite sweet and funny that we were baking a cake in 'the middle of the night' as he put it! Finally it was done, we covered it in baking paper and hid it in the cupboard to decorate it the next day, and retreated to bed. Well, that was the plan, except Kirke, Jack and I ended up spending several hours vegged out on the sofa on Pinky's verandah, under the blanket, talking rubbish. We didnt realise the time until after 2 am!
Today was to be our last (sob) but biggest muster - Back Paddock, all 700 ha of it. By the name its one of the furthest paddocks from the mainhouse, next to Woolcheque where we did the first muster. We had both Kat and Cole out with us that day but after a very successful few days we were a lot more comfortable in his company and really beginning to enjoy having him around. I kept thinking how good it would be to work for him on a proper station. We arrived at the paddock in the far top corner and were aiming to muster the cattle to the floodgate on the far bottom corner so we had a lot of land to cover and a long way to push them. Kirke, Laura, Sandra, Oliver and I were separated off first, to cover the whole of one side of the paddock and form the block at the floodgate. I felt kind of bad for Oliver, who had been struggling to keep up on rides and wasnt very confident on his horse Thugalina (who comes up with these names??) as he felt he was too heavy for her so didnt want to push her on. Cole made out like we had to look after him and he was just to ride along the top fenceline while we covered the hill, even though i think he can look after himself and just needs some confidence and reassurance that Thugs isnt about to drop dead or anything! Anyhew, we set off, forming up the usual line across the hill, which was a bit tough going as the grass was very long, there were a million thorns and plenty of scree, rocks, logs, fallen trees and scrub to get though. it was also very steep so as we spaced out we couldnt see the whole line - we had to do a kind of Chinese whispers to ensure everyone was still lined up and in sight of at least one other person. Kirke had the end of the hill and was acting as lookout as her horse Whiskey was the most cooperative of the group - Jewels was sulking about going across rather than up or down the hill, and Raplh, who by then had many unrepeatable nicknames, kept stopping dead. Cole had been a little vague about where exactly the floodgate was, but logic dictates that it must be somewhere along the fenceline and at the bottom of the hill so we merrily, if slowly, dawdled along with absolutely no cattle on our side of the hill at all. We could see the others splitting into groups and running the cattle down the spurs and there seemed to be a lot of them. We lost Kirke over the end of the hill at one point but she rejoined us at the bottom when we eventually found the floodgate. There was already about 15 head standing in the shallow water, that Darcy had driven down a few minutes ago, and as we formed the block the rest started to flood through. There was about 200 head i think, plus calves and bulls, the biggest group we had mustered so far. Cole and Kat covered the far, very steep, hill and soon we had the whole mob together. Usually there are at least 5-6 people in the scream team but because there were so many cows we needed more in the lines, to keep them in order as we drove them to the yards, back in the middle of the paddock, leaving only Oliver, Sandra, Kat and I to drive them on. Feeling fairly confident in my riding abilities by now, i managed to shoot some slightly shaky video while bellowing my head off and trying not to slide down the banks. It was fairly rough ground with mudholes and lots of scrub and trees and the 4 of us had quite a bit of space to cover each. We did lose 2 calves at one point but Kat expertly gathered them up again. It was a fairly long drive back to the yards and half of the line on the left had to stand with their horses in the dam to block the cattle off and get them into the yards. Jewels got really into it, behaving herself and even pushing and biting the cows to make them move! As we were getting them into the yard she took a massive bite out of the bull right infront of me! i thought he was going to swing around and bash us but he just glared and then turned back.
We had been a bit too quick and efficient at mustering today so Brian hadnt yet arrived with the lunch. It wasnt quite as hot as before bu there was no shade at the yards and a couple of people went off with heatstroke by the end of the day. The delay allowed us time to sort the cattle from the calves. The whole mob were gathered in the end pen so we ran them through in smaller groups, turning the untagged calves away behind the human line. I was on the sorting gates, alternately letting the sorted cows back through and the untagged calves into a smaller pen. Once again some were a little overgrown for throwing, and definately a bit wild. At one point they let too many cattle in at once and Cole had to yell to shut the gate and stop the flow, saying "i dont really want to die today!". Cattle sorted, Brian arrived so we crashed out in any shade we could find, behind the truck or in the trees by the dam, for lunch. I was very glad i had brought the suncream and my hat in the truck that day. Brian wanted to muster Back Paddock again in the next school so of the 15 or so calves we had drafted, we picked out some smaller ones and let them go. Despite having done this several times there were some major discrepancies in method, including Oliver trying to bearhug a calf's neck and bodily drag it through the gate - not so successful. And of course, in the scrum someone startled one of the larger (it had to be the larger one!) calves, which promptly stood on my foot, again! Seriously, that was like the 3rd or 4th time and all on the same foot! No time for sympathy, pity, hobbling or limping, we had plenty of work to do and we wanted to get it all done as soon as and get back in the shade. Rather than the usual throwing or roping methods we had used before, this set of yards were metal and relatively new and included a race and drop crush. So to catch them we ran 3-4 down the race at a time (with people standing on the bars nudging them with their feet and holding their tails to stop them backing up). at the end of the race is a small gate leading into the drop crush. The animal goes in, you squeeze the nearside into it, making it lock in position, then drop the whole thing down onto its side (with a tyre underneath to take the impact). i had never seen one of these before and they looked pretty good and were less physically demanding than catching and throwing them. They are designed so that you can tag and notch the ears, castrate and brand at the back with only one additional person holding the back leg. It worked pretty well for the first few, but the next one was so big when we dropped the crush it sprung open and and the calf escaped! After that we had Oliver stand on the crush once we dropped it to keep it shut! There were a few issues in the race with idiot calves backing up or trying (and one succeeding!) to turn around. It was hard to stop them as you dont want to get in behind them for fear of being crushed. The catch on the gate at the end of the race also broke, meaning we had to hold it shut most of the time. This was fine until one of the calves surged forward, bust the catch and the gate swung open and smacked Cole in the face! oooooh not a good move! He wasm, unsurprisingly, highly unimpressed by that, but we had told them it was broken! In the end we did have to rope two that were too crazy to get into the crush and i finally got to have a go with the notchers and taggers as Jack had the back leg. I was working with Kat on the head end and she agreed to brand my hat for me at the end, a fitting souvenir i thought to an excellent experience. She used the brand just after it had been used on the calf, so it wasn't so hot it would go through the leather. A couple of other people wanted theirs done after but the heater was already turned off and by then the iron was a bit too cold. All done, the cows were let out to drink at the dam, we consumed the last of the water on the truck and mounted up again. Anja went back with Brian as she was too ill with heatstroke to ride, leaving Darcy to tow her pony Blazer, who wasnt too amused by that! We headed back via a rather random route acros the hills, which was nice for me to see the rest of the paddock, though it was crazy steep in places. The horses always impressed me with how willing and able they were to keep going for hours in such terrain.
We had told the staff about the cake-making, as we had used the kitchen and a whole bunch of ingredients etc, but as we had apple cake for tea (very yum!) Joost decided to stick his lighter in the middle as an inpromptu brithday cake for Bianca. She was well chuffed, us bakers were a bit put out scared that she would not want to eat more cake later, but relieved that she still clearly had no idea what was going on. It was one of those nice, balmy evenings where everyone wanted to just sit out and chill, but of course we had to get rid of Bianca so we could finish the cake. We employed several people as babysitters but Dorien went of to the toilet and left her and Ulrika had been drinking wine and forgot! it was getting almost desperate at one point as we were finding every reason possible for her not to go in the kitchen. i even offered to wash her coffee mug! and amazingly she never cottoned on. Jack was hard at work copying and cutting out a silhouette of a cowboy that we were going to dust cocoa around and the rest of us were rolling out the base of white icing and a barbie pink heart and B for bianca. We were all hard at it, with a few others up at Pinkys decorating the lounge with streamers and balloons. All was going well until i leaned over the counter of the kitchen and realised Bianca had come in looking for people to talk to as all her minders had left her (again!). it was pure comedy as Sandra, Kirke and I kind of mustered her into a corner, forming a block and talking about anything we could think of to keep her near the door where we couldn't see. To me it was really obvious that we were up to something but she still didnt twig. Desperately thinking how we could get rid of her again, Ulrika suddenly reappeared again, looking very shame faced, and suggested a twilight walk - nice! off she trotted and we were free at last to get it all sorted. During Jack's trip into town her had managed to get some sparklers so we surrounded the cake with them, plus a few candles in the middle, and trooped off to Pinky's with a large knife and a roll of kitchen roll. Some genius person had managed to get Bianca there but kept her down the side so we could slip in a arrange the cake. Darcy and Joost were on look out outside and said she was coming so we lit the sparklers and everyone looked to the door in anticipation...but then she diverted into the toilet! too late for the sparklers, but we did have 2 left so we very quickly swapped the burn ones for the new ones while Joost hurried her up and finally we got organised, having her come through the doors as we broke into "Happy Birthday!". She was totally stunned, which was just pure comedy considering the number of slip-ups we had had or nearly had, and really loved the cake. obviously we hadnt tasted it after it was cooked so we were very glad that it went down well and everyone seemed to have plenty of space to eat some! Bianca then had to dissappear for a while to call her parents but we had a great party afterwards. I was totally shattered by the end - it was more tiring that mustering!
Our final day on the school was to be mostly a crazy day of fun. Because we had worked well the day before, and generally, Cole rewarded us with an hour's lie-in, which was bliss (for those who got it!), and i'm glad Joost remembered and apparently played the music at 8 and not 7! I wouldnt know because this was my designated morning to milk the cow. I was supposed to me milking with Steve but as he had left the school early i was to be doing it alone, which didnt bother me, until Ronny offered to help. There was now a long-running joke over Ronny's pink Bjorn Borg boxershorts, so i said that was fine, he could help, but he had to do it in just his boots, hat and boxers! I was joking but he agreed anyway, but i didnt really expect him to do it. We met at 6.15 to have coffee before starting and he was fully dressed so i thought he had decided not to do it or had forgotten. i did casually mention it but he said, "yeah i know, but its cold so i'm not stripping off until we get there!". Rachel turned up soon after to supervise so we trotted off to the cowshed and got started. Both Ronny and I are pretty good at milking so Rachel left to do some jobs in the kitchen while we got started. I went first but as i turned around to talk to him i realised Ronny was hanging his shirt over the calf pen and had indeed fulfilled his promise! it was just so funny, especially as on the photos it almost looks like he's not wearing boxers at all! He was pretty cold and found it pretty tricky to find a clean patch on the log stool we used but he was a great sport. He got dressed again before Rachel came back so i was the only one to be priveleged enough to get that view, but there were plenty of giggles at the breakfast table later when i passed the camera around!
Our last day and our last day with the horses was to be mounted games and going swimming again. This time we had persuaded Sandra that she would be having a go, to the extent that Cole said he would go in with her! Some of the horses were sore from the long muster the day before so Laura swapped for Anja's pony Blazer, as she had left that morning to meet her parents, and Dorien took Steve's pony Taffy. The games were set up down by the creek, just down the drive from Pinky's and were supposed to teach us an appreciation of our horses and test our new skills. Accordingly, the first game was to weave in and out, on foot, trotting (or dragging) our horses with us. We were in 2 teams, randomly assigned, but in almost all games the other team won. Some of the horses refused to trot in the first game, including Jewels, but when we got to do it again mounted she behaved herself even if she wasnt particularly fast! We also had a bit of a relay putting sticks into the top of the poles then taking them down and putting them in a bucket. if you missed the bucket you had to get off and try again so several of us got good at flying dismounts! The only game we won was apple bobbing, where we had to do the weave then fetch an apple out of a bucket of water. Jack went first for our team and was a little over-enthusiastic, spilling most of the water and totally soaking ourselves. Liz, on the other team, really struggled to get the apple in her teeth, which was why we won. I swear we should have been allowed to let the horse fetch the apple - Jewels would have been amazing at it! The last game we each had to take a boot off and give it to the staff. Cole kept us busy at one end of the paddock, facing the wrong way, while the others hid them. My boots had a small piece of string on the tag so would be easy to spot but i went round the paddock in the wrong direction and found it much nearer to where i started. The horses got totally over-excited with not only Jewels having a swipe and she even did a mini buck and broke into a canter as we headed to the 'finish line' - i came joint second. Eventually everyone found their boot except Bianca - she looked everywhere but couldnt find it and the staff wouldnt give her clues. We couldnt see it either so couldnt help, but eventually she spotted it on the saddle of Darcy's pony, Nellie! it was a resounding loss to our team but really good fun. The second time swimming was colder than the first, a lot clouder and not as warm a day generally. quite a few people decided not to have a go this time, which meant everyone else got more turns. Sandra borrowed Dorien's pony Taffy to swim with and true to his word Cole waded in there with her, stripped down to his jeans, whic Kirke felt compelled to take lots of photos of, on my camera! Anyhew, Sandra did amazing and Taffy was hilarious, stomping in the water and snorting as he swam. Jewels was a stubborn as possible to start with, but the water was very nice on my foot. My first attempt ended in almost disaster as Jewels struck the bottom rather suddenly, surging upwards and knocking me off balance, so that i very ungracefully fell off her back and into the water. She quite happily just wandered off so Kat had to catch her for me! Much embarassment from me (the only fall in the whole school!) but much hilarity for everyone else! My last try was almost as bad as Jewels had clearly had enough (there were some distant rumbles of thunder!) and instead of turning back across the swimming hole she decided we were going straight up the bank and back to her tying up post! without a saddle or boots i couldnt really do much about that, but certainly not my greatest display of horsemanship! As we started saddling up the thunder got closer and suddenly the heavens opened and we got an instantaneous and very thorough drenching! With by bad foot i couldnt get my boot back on very easily and by the time i was ready and mounted up everyone else had gone on without me! But it was ok, Kat had hung back and we soon caught up, with Jewels doing her usual accelerate-past-everyone-then-barge-into-a-spot manouver! It wasnt that cold or anything and it was a nice change from the constant heat but the others seemed a bit miserable so i started singing (loud and wrong) "i'm singing in the rain," with some appropriate horse-related lyrics! Jewels and Bay, Stefan's horse, did their usual sidetrack to bite chunks out of the cattle mineral block on the way home and someone said it was like a date, like in "Lady and the Tramp" but with horses!
This was the last evening at the school and the last school for all 4 of the stationhands, so the party that night was awesome. Everyone had filled up at dinner on the usual fare plus eating up the leftovers and were in a good mood, having had a really fun and chilled out day, and up for a party! There was lots of dancing, especially from Oliver and Kat as he had agreed to stay on as staff, along with Bianca. Brian had called Jack and I, and a couple of others, into his lounge that evening to see if we had made a final decision and try to persuade us if not, but in the end both of us said no, although i said i might go back after i had done my stint at the vets in Victoria, if i didnt have another job and they still needed staff. So Brian called everyone else on the school is, trying to persuade someone to stay! I think the problem was that the pay was poor for the hours worked at Brian is a little sexist, letting the girls do all the horse stuff but making the boys spray weeds by themselves, often for weeks on end. Oliver had been looking for a job for a while so he agreed, having really enjoyed and i think received a boost in his confidence, and Bianca was going to go WWOOFing, which doesnt actually pay at all, so figured this was better. She was pretty nervous about it, as everyone else was going (except Kat and Cole) and she and Oliver didnt always get on, but she's a very good rider and i think she'll really enjoy it in the end. I hadnt packed my stuff or anything, and we were leaving at 9 am the next day, but still the party went on for a long time. Some of us spent half of it piled on the the sofa, about 6 of us on a 2 and a half seater! We had a last few games of poker and someone had worked out how to transfer pictures between cameras so there was a lot of memory card swapping! We had had such an amazing time, such a brilliant experience and learnt so much. I think it has been one of the few times when i have felt really comfortable and able to be me, somewhere were my skills were really useful and i loved putting my new found riding skills to use too. I had been nervous that, as i am often not that socially comfortable, i wouldnt make so many friends but everyone was so great and i dont think anyone was left out. Apparently we were one of the few schools that really gelled, where the different nationalities didnt split off. i think only Jack and I were really looking for a station job, and everyone else was just travelling on, but there were plans to meet up in different parts of the country and a reunion in London next year. i have no idea what time we went to bed in the end, but i know everyone was really reluctant to leave the party.
We had left some honest but perhaps brutal comments to Brian in the book, as encouraged by Cole. Apprently thats the only way anything changes - his voice or opinion carries for very little. As such we commented on the weird bread and sandwich fillings, and that he didnt appreciate his staff enough to pay them properly. We all praised Kat and Cole and the stationhands as much as we could, they had been awesome. A year or so ago Kat and Cole were having to live in Pinky's as there was no second house on the property, but after several schools commented in the book that they should have their own house and some peace and quiet Brian did indeed build another one, so who knows what effect our comments have had. The few complaints we had certainly didnt detract from the overall enjoyment of the course, but i certainly felt that you have to be honest and not pretend that EVERYTHING is wonderful if it isnt. We were all heading in different directions so after a final group photo at the Leconfield sign we were bussed back to Tamworth. Some people were staying for a few nights, Lisa and Ulrika were off to Byron Bay and the rest of us headed back to Sydney. Those that were staying came to the station to wave us off and there was lots of hugs and mobile number swapping. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone, especially Stefan who i had really got along well with and enjoyed his weird sense of humour. A good few of us were heading to Sydney, but most hadnt got a ticket (inc me) but were very lucky as it was Feb 29th so all fares all over the country were only $29!!! even in 1st class!! which was sadly fully booked, but we did get half a carriage to ourselves and i love Aussie trains because the seats swivel around so you can face eachother. We were a bit hyper to start with, playing a lot of stupid, noisy games. Kirke was sadly the first to fall asleep, and so retribution was carried out for her very funny but forked-toungue comments during the school, as we drew a Jack Sparrow-esque moustache and beard on her face, in bright green! It took ages for her to wake up again and by then we were all struggling to hold the giggles in and Jack was almost not breathing! But she didnt realise for another whole 10 minutes when she went to the toliet, past a lot of other people. she was gone quite a while and came back looking not so amused and still with a faint line on her top lip! She got me back later though when i said she couldnt draw on me, because my skin doesnt like ink, so instead she stuffed her smelly socks under my nose! i then found out she had worn that same pair for the entire 11 days of the school - eeeuw!! Kirke has some pretty strange eating habits (she's pretty much just plain strange!) so while the rest of us ordered hot dinners from the buffet car she opted for a carrot and wasabi. We had been admiring the brand on my hat so Kirke decided to 'brand' Dorien on her hip, in wasabi! it was quite amusing but we werent sure what she was going to do with it now, until she suddenly lunged forward and licked it off! she went a bit red in the face after that, it was a bit strong! but that did inspire her to squirt some in Jack's mouth when he fell asleep! Eventually we did quieten down and everyone (apart from Liz) slept the rest of the way.
The original plan had been to go out for a 'sushi and karaoke' night but it took us ages to find a space in a hostel (there being 7 of us!) as we had forgotten it was the Mardi Gras that weekend! eventually we got sorted with a bit of bedshuffling for Mat as he spent most of the night in Ronny and Nina's double room then moved to our (all female!) room at 6 am when they check out! The search for sushi was not so successful and as we were all starving by then we opted for pizza in a takeaway that was either run or frequented by the Mafia! there were several guys sitting around in the hunched, dark suit and shades, one even sporting a broken wrist. i made a couple of comments but they all got nervous and told me to shut up! we were also rather too tired to bother with karaoke as well, so in the end we walked down to Circular Quay to admire the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge in the dark. It was beautiful - very well lit up with all the arches and domes in different shadows, and all the little lights on the bridge. It was great just to sit out and chill, talk nonsense and admire the view. At one point we found a possum on the wall, which caused great excitement and a whole bunch of idiot tourists to try and poke it! We also had ice cream on the way back, which someone definately tastes better at midnight! It was an excellent ending to a really great 2 weeks and definately unforgettable.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.159s; Tpl: 0.025s; cc: 11; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0792s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
