The Cattle Station

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19/11/2008

From Airlie Beach we took a ride to Kroombit in the 'Insane Asylum' driven by Uncle Buck. It was an epic days driving, leaving at 7am and arriving eventually in the Australian Outback by early evening.

Uncle Buck was a legend playing many random games on the bus including this...On half on the windscreen he drew a grid with squares, there were teams of 3 and about 10 teams. Each team had a square and you got a point every time a bug splatted on your square.

After a while of driving we stopped for a session of bare foot lawn bowls in which myself and Lee hammered fellow travellers Charlie and Amanda.

When we arrived we checked in so to speak as it was just a wooden bench with a cashbox and allocated our rooms. The rooms were literally converted sheds or small barns.

Shortly after the group gradually made their way down to the seating area where there was some meat on a sawn off tree trunk covered in flies. They wouldn't tell us what the meat was but most people tried a bit and it turned out to be Goat.

Dinner followed which was spit roasted beef with veg and some soup. Up next was a whipping lesson. We each stood on top of a crate and were handed a whip. The guy in charge gave us a demonstration and then it was our turn. I got there in the end making a resonable noise but i couldnt do it consistantly.

The next activity was riding a mechanical bull. I lasted two bucks before i came flying off - which was more than alot of people, however there were a few that stayed on for about 10-15 bucks.

I bought some beers from the makeshift bar manned by a bloke sleeping and a cockatoo. Played more random drinking games.

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The next morning we were awoken by a unique wake-up call. A guy on a motorbike approached and then fired a gun right outside our rooms. Mental!

To get to fields we had to take another short trip by vehicle. Most people took the bus but a few of us took the landrover. It was to turn into the most bumpy off-road trip of my life, flying up and over unnegotiable bumps and mounds, through extremely small gaps and sharp bends. The guy driving had said before 'there aint no seat belts but if there were it wouldn't make a difference', and he wasnt wrong. It was head banging, spine busting stuff. All of this before 7.30am

Now fully awake it was time for Clay Pigeon shooting. I was up second, the first person had hit 0/5. I pulled the cartridges from my pocket and geared up with the ear protectors. The bloke showed me how to hold the gun etc and i was ready. The first one exploded to my suprise as i nailed the pigeon. As did the 2nd and 3rd. I couldn't believe it...then bang i got the 4th. 4/4. Finally feeling the pressure and my own expectation i missed the 5th as it curled into a tree line, howvere i got a round of applause from everyone watching.

The Goat Rodeo. Our teams of 3 entered the ring team by team and the object of it all was to catch a goat by lassooing it around the horns then drag it back to the side,tip it over and mark the goat with a metal stick. The winner was the one who could do it the fastest. Our turn came and we entered the ring. The girls in my team was in charge of capturing the goat. She failed so myself and Lee started to chase the goat around the ring until we caught it and dragged it back. I was in charge of picking the goat up and holding it to the floor while Lee marked it for 3 seconds. We didn't win.

Our final activity at the Cattle Station was goat herding. I mounted my horse named Muse and got to grips with the starting and stopping while wobbling around a fair bit. We walked for about 15 mins to a field full of goats and had to round them up and move them a few fields down the land. I got quite good at the horse riding thing although i was nervous when we had to go down and up some hills and it started to gallop.

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