Blogs from Clermont, Queensland, Australia, Oceania

Chill out time... read more

Day 9 Monday 11th July 2011 Clermont to Charters Towers “Interesting” cabin we stayed in last night – really a dressed-up and expensive “donga”! But it was quite comfortable, and Clermont is a mining town with accommodation in short supply, so I guess we shouldn’t complain. There is only one habitation on the Gregory Development Road, which seems quite empty of any sort of traffic, so a good road to travel north on and avoid all the caravans and tourist coaches. When we climbed out of the car at the one habitation, Belyando Crossing, it was warm (finally) and I took my trackies off and put on shorts – yay! There were loads of Apostle birds at the roadhouse – maybe even a gross of them: 12 X 12 (ho ho). They were very tame, even ... read more

Hi guys, sorry it's been so long since my last blog entry. Suzie (one of the girls I met on the OutBackPackers course) and I have spent the last month working on a property about an hour's drive from Clermont, Queensland. So hot - it reached 40degrees quite a few times. Worked from 6.30am - 5.30pm six days a week. Was tough but amazing!! Got to go mustering on horseback quite a few days. The first day we went out on the horses we were out for over 9 hours and only got off the horses for an hour at lunch! Spent lots of time on quad bikes and driving around the paddocks in 4x4s. It was 60,000acres - didn't even see all of it. The water run to check the dams/troughs took 4 hours and ... read more

This is probably as close as I will ever get to being farmer Polish Paul. Nevertheless, I feel pretty good about my marginal contribution to the grain harvest in Queensland this season. We're still in the harrowing stage, which is the preparatory work well before the seeds go in the ground. Driving the John Deere 8400 day in day out while it pulls a harrow, a wide marvel of engineering made of steel, which is designed to knock down the seeds and break the stalks of remaining plantings and weeds. Manning this green beast 12-13 hours a day takes its toll on the body and mind. One learns to keep occupied after listening to the same cd four times a day. Yeah, at least it comes with a cd player and A/C, sweet! My mornings begin ... read more