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Published: March 1st 2007
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Ridin' them in!
Mustering the cattle (Jonny is behind the brown cow - 3rd left). Are you guys ready for a surprise?
We have just realised as we sat down to write this that no one knew what we have been upto, in fact we didn't even know until the day before we went!
We have just spent 3 days being Cowboys!!!!!
On a real working cattle farm!
We thought that it would be something completely different and it didn't disappoint.
So here goes, light up the campfire, get some firewater and settle down for our yarn y'all....
We left Bundy and travelled to Rockhampton (yep, you guessed it - Rocky) with the intention of going to Great Keppal Island until we picked up a leaflet for Myella Farm Stay. It didn't take much convincing for us to decide that it sounded like a lot of fun! So after a quick phone call we found ourselves on a minibus at 6:30 the following morning that took us through the Mount Morgan range, which was home to one of the world's largest gold mines.
On arrival at Myella we had (another) brekky by the campfire before
Whoa there!
Cowboy Jonny struggles with a very excited Salt'n. changing into our cowboy outfits and being pointed in the direction of a horse! Now, I'd never riden a horse before so was a little intimidated by the size of Salt'n, my steed for the morning. Jill had Summer as her ride, who seemed to lack the 'enthusiasm' of Salt'n. Before we knew it we'd been shown the basics (how to stop!) and were sent out to tackle our first job.
We met up with the other 'crew' and had the task of mustering the cattle from one paddock to another, this sounded daunting enough and was made worse by the sight of a slightly annoyed bull 'squaring up' to one of the instructors as he (the instructor) tried to move him along! Anyway, we managed to complete the task without too much drama and after 3 hours we managed to climb off and waddle to find some lunch.
At this point i'd like to continue a theme that has been running throughout our blogs and talk about food. For the 1st time in nearly 6 months we had proper homecooked food which was delicious. That's all i'm going to say because i can't
Feeding time
Jill getting maternal with an orphan 'roo. find the words to describe it and do it justice, just to say that Olive was a cooking genius!
The afternoon of our first day was spent racing around the farmlands on 2 wheels rather than 4 legs - this was much easier as the motorbikes stopped when YOU wanted, didn't walk around in circles and didn't randomly stop to eat grass! After a very thorough lesson and a few laps of the training track - which involved standing up for at least one lap!- we were off to test our skills and nerves around the 7km farm track. This was great fun and Jill found a new favourite hobby!
Late afternoon was spent feeding the selection of handreared orphan 'roos that also lived on the farm. These were one of many 'roos that we saw whilst out and about, but by far the cutest ones. They lived in a 'sling' which mimicked the pouch they would've lived in, and could be hung up on pegs when they had been fed!
Before a delicious dinner we rode the motorbikes across the ranch to sit and watch a spectacular sunset (The tree
Milky Milky
Getting to grips with the teets! in the picture is a Bottle tree, can you guess why?).
The first task (after brekky of course) was to milk the dairy cows, again a first for both of us, which was an interesting experience! We weren't very good at it but managed to produce some milk from the udders so we felt a little successful! Then we had to feed the chooks (chickens to everyone but Aussies) and search for eggs. It was a little bit like Easter without the chocolate. Jill managed to find the one egg, which the hen was actually sitting on!
It was then time to saddle up and hit the trail, Jill kept Summer and i had a new friend called Mustard, who was a little less spirited but liked to eat at all opportunities. We went on a 4hr trail ride around the farm during which we saw a mob of grey 'roos and a red 'roo. This ride seemed to go on for ever and we waddled even more when we eventually got back for lunch.
In the afternoon we went on a Scorpion Hunt. I went off on the bikes to
Whippin' it up!
A crackin' photo! the search area, whilst Jill rode in the comfort of an air-conditioned 4x4. We went different routes and on the way Jill's group stopped and held a bearded dragon and found a perfect snakes skeleton (unfortunately i had the camera with me!). When we all met up we started the scorpion search. I was successful and found 2, one apparently was quite big for the area. We also found a red back spider (this time Jill wasn't tempted to move it!), stick insect and lots of millipedes.
Back at the ranch we both learnt to crack whips with success, Jill was slightly better than me. And after catching ourselves with the whip on the back and legs (which did hurt) we gave in and learnt to lassoo! We were now feeling like true cowboys!
The final morning we had the job of rounding up the horses from the various paddocks on the motorbikes. This was great fun as we could ride off-road and chase the horses who really didn't seem too bothered by our presence, regardless of how close we got and how much we revved the engines!
The morning ride
Lassoo!
I nearly caught it but it mooooved! involved mustering 14 cattle and moving them to another paddock. As there was only 5 of us it was more of a challenge and took 2 attempts in order to keep the cattle together. With a lot of teamwork (and a stick to threaten Summer with) we managed to move the cattle. During this muster we also watched some wedge-tailed eagles soar above us, which was quite a sight!
Then we had the job of bringing home Norman the rodeo bull for the afternoon's big event. Norman wasn't too happy at being separated from his lady friends. We were all expecting a bit of a fight but once he saw the calibre of the mustering team he came quietly. The only slightly hairy moment was when the numbers were 3 vs 5 in the cattle's favour and they had local knowledge, however superior horsemanship won the day.
After lunch it was rodeo time!
Feeling brave i approached Norman on foot to move him into the Rodeo arena. With my cowboy swagger and making a lot of noise i thought i looked the business, Norman thought otherwise and lowered his head in a 'I weigh
Rodeo!!!
Norman tries his best to throw the fearless cowboy off! 800kg so p*ss off!' gesture. At which point i lost my swagger and backed away (whilst Jill laughed hysterically in the background) and tried to find a big stick.
Once Norman was in the arena and we were all hyped up ready for the carnage the rodeo began. I climbed bravely on to the wild beast (in fact it took 3 running jumps to clamber aboard) and sat waiting for the wildest ride of my life to begin............ however nothing happened as Norman had been hand reared and riden from a young age! Lyn (the daughter of the family who ran the farm) had spent all morning building the rodeo experience up and was now very amused because she knew full well that Norman wouldn't give a monkeys about being riden!
In hindsight we should have realised that the Health and Safety risks of bull riding are probably to great to allow a bunch of backpackers to ride a bucking bull. But hey, when i tell this story after a few beers it will be slightly different!
Unfortunately this was where our cowboy experience ended and we had to change back into our civvies
Jillvil Knieval
A Hells Angel in the making. and return to reality. We both left feeling like we could have stayed longer but further adventures were calling! To be continued.....
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Kathy (Mum)
non-member comment
Lone Ranger & Tonto?
What a wonderful experience, love the pic with the decoration and the caption definitely apt. Where are the suntans guys, all faded away under the shade of the mango trees no doubt. Those little roos aah! Bet Jill wanted to bring one home. Where are you off to next ... more adventures in the outback? Loads of love xxxx