Drovin' pics

Blong over due...

THIS IS FOR YOU MOM! I had a rather curt email from my mom this morning claiming that her fingers were getting sore from checking our blog so she wasn't going to bother anymore - imagine that! So I have decided that since Dan has fallen off the blog wagon I will have to jump back on it for the both of us. I am going to go way back to the second week of June and give you all a long overdue update on the infamous droving trip!

Dan, Sam, Tom, Josie and I packed up our swags and horses and headed off early Monday morning to meet up with the rest of the drovers. In case you were wondering, Sam's father had donated nearly 1700 cattle to a local camp draft (rodeo style event). The drove consisted of walking these cattle from a station 80 km outside of Clermont into the showgrounds in the town. In total there were about 30 people involved (and over 50 horses) and Dan and I were very lucky to be the only foreigners so we really got the outback experience! I rode my horse, Gorie and Dan rode the new love of his life, Bow. In fact, I often found Dan snuggling and hugging Bow when he thought I wasn't looking but we won't tell anyone else about that.
We would rise every morning around 5 and be greeted by our cook, a lovely VOLUNTEER named Vicky who would cook 4 meals a day for all 30 of us on a camp fire. Pretty impressive work if you ask me. After a hearty meal involving as much beef as you could ask for we would set off for the day. There would always be 5 or 6 people leading the cattle, 6 or 7 on the end bringing up the tail, while others floated along the side to keep any strays off the road or to chase any back into the mob that were brave enough to escape. Needless to say I usually stuck to the rear (where the cattle were especially slow) but did manage to chase a few back in from time to time (which was pretty tricky as Gorie was more interested in eating than chasing). We would stop for a couple of hours at lunch time to let the cattle rest and would take turns eating and being on "lookout" for any wanderers. At this time I would get out of lookout duty as I would watch the kids while some of the parents would go back to our previous nights camp, pick up the trucks and any spare horses and take them ahead to our new spot so they would be there upon our arrival. We would usually roll into camp at around 5 or 530, just in time for a few beers around the camp fire and a necessary strech of the legs. It was definitely a shock to my system to ride a horse for 8 hours a day (considering I had been on one about 6 times at that point!). Sore knees and raw backsides are definitely an inevetible part of a droving trip. In the evenings Dan and I slept in our tent while other people slept under tarps or in the backs of their trucks which they used to carry their horses. It was definitely different to camping in Childers as we did EVERYTHING (and I mean everything) outside, including eating, sleeping and showering.
I think the highlight of Dan's trip had to be when a group of backpackers pulled over to the side of the road and asked if they could take a picture of us... as we had on our full bush get-up* we blended right in - I guess they didn't notice the accents.
After 5 solid days on horseback hearing Dan say "This is the life" we finally arrived in Clermont, very dusty, dirty, tired and in desperate need of a hairbrush (we lost ours a while back). We then headed back out to Mellaluka, enjoying the prospect of a bed, shower and toilet but very, very thankful for the experience and all of the amazing people we met along the way.

Needless to say a lot has happened since the second week of June and I will add some photos this evening of the trip and some more details and goingson in the world of Dan and Ash. Until next time ... the cowboys.

*When dressing in the bush it is compulsary to wear the following, with absolutely no exceptions: blue jeans, collared shirt, cowboy/riding boots, spurs, bandana around the neck for ladies, widest/biggest cowboy hat imaginable, leather belt.
It also helps to fit in if you have a sun burn/tanned skin on the lower half of your face and a stark white top half and say the phrase "fair dinkum" as often as possible.

Map of Mellaluka

So what i have done (mainly for Dads benefit) was plot on this map where we are and how much land it covers. Along with the neighbours places (both of which i have worked on). If you zoom in you will get the idea... it was just an experiment so hope it worked!

All the faint lines inside the boundary are fence lines, paddocks range from 9,000 acres down to 50 odd, and lanes.

Anyway, all is great here, we are off droving on monday for 4/5 days. What we are doing is walking 2,000 head of cattle from a station into town on horseback across the old stockroutes. Its around 80km and involves camping out, really looking forward to it. We have both been getting our horses and ourselves ready for it this week. We both have new horses; Ashleys is called Gory (a moody and grey horse that kicks up often but she has been cantering this week!!! sammy is very proud!) and mine is a large palamino horse (sandy colored) named bow (who walks faster than all the other horses trotting due to his size).
Nonetheless we are pumped up and ready to go!! Another once in a lifetime experience!



View Map of Mellaluka in a larger map

Just your average Sunday morning....

Well we have been lucky to have a long weekend off as Sammy took the kids up to Townsville to visit Bruce for the weekend. They left Friday morning and after Dan and I finished our work we decided I needed a bit of practice on the motorbike so we headed off to the airstrip to do some figure eights. I think Dan will attest to how unbelievably good I am at riding it and once I return home I will not say "I told you so" to everyone who thinks I need to improve my driving skills but instead will point out a certain sister of mine who backed into a car in the Tim Horton's parking lot. Her name starts with a Court and ends with a ney. After our very successful driving lesson we headed off in search of koalas. We have yet to see any of these furry little fellows and were told that they live in and around a creek on the property. Sadly we still are yet to spot one though we did see a bunch of wild baby pigs .... and got out of there pronto before their mother returned.
Today we headed over to the neighbouring station just to pick up a few things... or so we thought. When we got there Bluey (pronounced BLOO - ee), the owner, was just about to milk the cow - not like at the Van Dinther farm, the good old fashioned way. Of course he made us have a go and Kelly, today, I milked a cow. I must say it wasn't enjoyable as the cow peed while I was mid-milk but I managed keep the situation under control. I must also add that those teets have incredible range as I was sitting up on a fence about 4 metres away and still managed to get sprayed at one point. Just when I thought I had had enough excitement for one day good ol' Bluey told Dan he needed a little help with the pig. Doing what you might ask? Just a little old fashioned castration. I didn't really help with this too much except to hand over the scalpel and disinfectant but Dan had the admirable task of holding the pig down during the "operation". I must say that if you think you have ever heard a pig squeal you haven't heard anything until you have heard it squeal whilst losing its manhood. My ears are still ringing.
As our morning was so action packed I think it is about time for me to head off and relax with a book; that is, if Dan hasn't hidden it on me again.
Much love to everyone, ash and dan xxoo

Teach and be taught

Mellaluka Station

What a life! After 3 weeks WWOOFing (volunteering for room and board) on a cattle station in central Queensland Dan and I hit the jackpot and started a job at a nearby station working as a governess and a stationhand. We are working with an awesome family and I am teaching the kids, Tom -7, Josie -5 while Dan works with the cattle. The people we work for are Bruce and Sammy and they couldn't be more accomodating. Sammy has been working with me in the school room for the past couple of weeks helping me get the hang of the distance ed system the kids use as they are 150 km from the nearest town. Dan has been busy working for the station next door as Bruce has been away getting his pilots license. In fact, tomorrow he is working for yet another station and is getting picked up for work and dropped off in a plane. Needless to say he is pretty excited and we are thoroughly enjoying ourselves. We work from about 7-6 and have the weekends off though tend to spend most of our time playing with the kids and learning more about the station life. Last weekend we headed off with Sammy and the kids to set some red claw traps. To me they appeared to be a cross between crayfish and lobster and were mighty tasty. All was going well as the first three traps we set caught us probably 50, however, the 4th trap was stuck to something on the floor of the river bed. Now one might think that Dan would wade in to get the trap out, but no, he sent me out on a log to try and fish it out. My balance isn't the best and of course I fell in - but not up to my knees as expected, up to my neck in muddy brown river water. Now grandma, don't fret as there aren't any crocs up here but I will tell you it was disgusting!! Fortunately I was able to get the trap out and as you will see below Dan didn't help, he just snapped pictures.

Yesterday was especially exciting as we saddled up the horses for the first time and got to ride! As Dan has slightly more experience :) than me he was allocated a lovely mare named Gemstone while I got to ride Tommy's horse named Goldie. Goldie is 20 and very gentle so she was wonderful to learn on and now I can trot! Believe me, it's not as easy as it looks but I feel as though my days at the VanSlittenhorst farm are long behind me.

Needless to say we are having the best time and really enjoying living in "the bush". It is unbelievable how skilled you have to be to survive out here and everyone at home would be shocked to see how often I drive - manual AND offroad, sometimes while dragging dead cows - it's an interesting life. As you can imagine Dan is in heaven with the 4 wheelers and motorbikes as well though I tend to stick to 4 wheeled motorcars.

We aren't sure how long we will be here at the moment but for a few months at least so if anyone cares to contact us our number is +61 749835002 and if anyone cares to send us anything our address is

Mellaluka Station

Clermont

Queensland

4721

Much love, ash and dan xxoo

Backpacking to Outbacking!

So this is just a quick message to all those we havnt managed to get hold of. The story is that we are on a cattle station. It has no phone , tv or radio so the rest of the world has been a mystery. We are 200km from the nearest town and the neighbours fly in via planes and hellicopters. it is certainly different to st marys and bromyard.
It is amazing though.... i have accomplished a childhood dream and am a real life cowboy! Mustering 100s of cattle! Ashley has been mastering her off road driving (there are no roads) and drives the big tractors. She and I also have butchered cattle and pigs (little gory i know). The wildlife is amazing everywhere you look there is something new.
Which btw....I did shoot a 7 foot kangaroo (very proud of that)...(they are a major pest here like rabbits or raccoons in uk and canada)!
But the station lifestyle is great, looks like we are taking a road train with some of the animals soon....over 50 meters in length!
There is so much to tell you but i literally have no time this connection only comes on for few mins at a time!! will update later;
we are safe and loving it!!

Some interesting factoids...

As many of you know (or many of you don't) our next plan of action when the planting ceases is to head into the Northern Territory of Australia which is widely considered the almighty Outback. Now I have been reading Bill Bryson's Down Under (for the second time) and he points out that in spite of Australia's size we pay very little attention to it in the western world. Case in point, who knew that in 1967 the Prime Minister of Australia (whose name has escaped me at the moment) was washed out to sea with a strong rip tide never to be seen again. I bet not many of you! How many people knew JFK was assassinated?!?!
Furthermore, to illustrate just how enormous Australia REALLY is, in 1993 there was a seismic event quite similar to an earthquake in the Western Australian outback. The few people anywhere near the event claimed it caused "beer cans to dance off tables" (a quote straight from Bryson) and a few truckers claimed to see flashes of light in the sky. Scientists pondered the phenomenon for a few days as the activity they recorded was nothing at all like a typical earthquake and they couldn't find any crater to indicate that an asteroid had hit the earth. They mustn't have thought about it very long and the mystery event never made front page news. 5 years later they discovered that the same Japanese terrorist group responsible for releasing poison nerve gas into the Tokyo subway system in 1995 owns a 500,000 acre plot of land in Western Australia... and conveniently employs two former soviet nuclear engineers. So in short, the world's first non-government nuclear bomb was launched/deployed/set off in the Western Australian outback and there wasn't a soul that noticed - except for the guy whose beer fell over. That's Australia for ya!