Sorry, sorry, sorry - I am alive I've just been a wee bit slack at getting this posted up!!
Here we go, grab a cuppa tea to keep you going, it's a long one! .....
Friday 14th June – day 32
Day of fencing. Whilst the others worked on making some new hay spears to fix onto the loader, I headed out in the morning to check the fences in Nora Creek and Boroma Paddocks. This took me right up until lunch time, and I got to see parts of the paddocks I hadn't seen before (I am hoping this will help me navigate the paddocks better when it comes to doing more mustering). Found a few holes and broken wires so got to work fixing this up using the chain straighteners. I quite enjoy fencing, but this was the first time I have been out on my own fixing them up, so it took a few attempts (along with expressing a few choice cuss words, kicking the car tyre and having a bit of a paddy!) before I was able to get the straighteners working correctly. After lunch I headed out again to check another couple of paddocks, this time I went out on the quadbike so got to have a bit more fun tearing around and making my way across the riverbeds. I wish I had taken some before and after pictures to show off all my hard work. And because it’s Friday we headed off to the usual Friday night tennis and caught up with all the gang.
Saturday 15th June – day 33
Once the weeners had been fed we dolled ourselves up and headed out to Cloncurry for the show. Sadly we missed most of the show (equine events, crazy motorbike stunts etc) as we spent too much time playing cards and having pre drinks, although we did get to see the demolition derby and the pretty spectacular firework show. Most importantly we were there for the disco so spent the night dancing away and listening to the live band. (Who were very amusing and even performed our request of Tenacious D, Tribute.) After hours of dancing and laughing we dragged ourselves back to the house we were staying at for the night and crashed out.
Sunday 16th June – day 34
Recovery day. Not much can be said about today, I spent most of it in bed reading and snoozing!!
Monday 17th June – day 35
Water run in the morning, and then I went out on the four wheeler checking fences in two of the paddocks. Again I forgot to take photos of my beautiful repair jobs.
Tuesday 18th June – day 36
Cleaned the other house and cottage today ready for the big boss and his guests to stay this coming weekend for the McKinlay races… It’s been a while since the house and cottage have had a proper intensive clean so it took a fair bit of elbow grease to get the place spick and span… (Even with the head start Marie gave us when the Harrisons were staying) I felt like Kim and Aggy in How Clean is Your House, and by the time we were done the house looked great.
Wednesday 19th June – day 37
The radiator on the quadbike has a bit of a slow leak, so today I donned my mechanic overalls and got to fixing it. Unfortunately unlike in a car the quadbike doesn’t have a bonnet, so in order to get to the radiator I had to disassemble most of the external plastic guards (panelling), steel framework and bulbar. I was so terrified of forgetting where all the nuts, bolts, screws and rivets went that I made sure to draw a diagram and take photos of where all the various bits went. It took me most of the day to do this. Taking it apart was relatively easy but putting it back together proved to be a real pain in the butt and got me a little hot under the collar at times. The biggest problem is that the plastic panels have twisted (due to numerous altercations with cows/bulls/trees/rocks etc) and so trying to get things to fit back together proved tricky, but I did it. Just another skill to add to the list!
Thursday 20th June – day 38
Water run in the morning and then we headed out to the racetrack for a working-bee (helping to get things set up and ready for race day on Saturday). The weather has turned pretty chilly and the clouds even spat out a little bit of rain this evening. Who would have thought that I would be wearing multiple layers a beanie and gloves in the outback during the day! I hope it warms up a bit in time for the races otherwise we will all freeze in our pretty dresses!
Friday 21st June – day 39
Left at 6am and drove 3 hours out to Mount Isa to get Jet fuel for the big boss, Peter, who is flying in tonight with his friends and family. Isa is the largest town in the nearby area and has a reasonable selection of clothes shops and even has a nice big Coles and Woolworths (supermarkets) … or so we have been told. After driving three hours there we got there only to find out that all the shops were closed due to the Mount Isa Show!! Typical, it’s just as well myself and Nena already had outfits for the races sorted!!. Fortunately the place that sold the Jet Fuel was open, so it wasn’t a totally wasted day. Had a bit of a drama on the way back from Isa as one of the front tyres blew and ended up bouncing off out into the bush, even the rim came off… this time we stood and watched Luke fix a new tyre. Once we finally got home we went to check on the weeners and give them their feed. They are looking much better although we lost another two, not sure why as they were quite large healthy looking ones, the only thing I can think is that the recent cold weather got to them. Once we were finished we got to meet the big boss, Peter along with his family and some friends. After the usual introductions we headed into McKinlay ‘town’ to the Walkabout pub for some dinner. Complements go out to the Chef who happens to be the lovely Johnny. The food was scrumptious but the portion sizes were ma-hooo-sive! I guess they normally feed hungry truckers. I had to ask for a doggy bag to put some of my lamb chops in.. still had some room left for pudding though! After gorging on great grub we did the usual Friday night tennis social before heading home to get some beauty sleep ready for a big day at the races tomorrow.
Saturday 22nd June – day 40
McKinlay races baby!! Time to get dressed up and fancy again; who would have thought life in the outback could be so sophisticated?! (although after looking through the photos from the night, I think the sophistication ended at the fancy clothing!) What a great day and night. I managed to get a few photos of the horses (especially for you mum), had a bit of a flutter and won $7 (from a $5 bet), however I was having such a good time that I forgot to collect my winnings!! Oops. Highlight of the evening was watching the Lions vs. Wallabies rugby game. GO THE LIONS!! J yippee!! The Ozzys took it reasonably graciously, more so than I would have had the result been the other way around! (and thank goodness we won, all that backchat I was giving out would have slapped me in the face if we lost) Once the game was over I put on my dancing shoes and twirled the night away to celebrate our win J. It really was a great night dancing with all the gang. I think the combination of dancing for hours and alcohol meant that when it came to camping I didn’t feel cold at all. Although I was wearing tights, thermal leggings, jogging bottoms, thermal top, fleece, t-shirt and was in my minus 6 sleeping bag, inside the swag (a heavy waterproof/wind resistant canvas sack which has a thin mattress and bedding in it that you roll out and acts as your tent for the night and is usually rolled out wherever you happen to fall!) All in all it was a very fun day and evening – totally worth the SPLITTING headache that I woke up with!
Sunday 23rd June – day 41
Considering we had been dancing away until gone 1.30 am the night before, we were all up and about at 7.30. I think it was the smell of bacon and eggs coming from the caterers that tempted us all out of our swags. I had the best cup of tea that I have ever had from a polystyrene cup, which managed to revive me sufficiently in order to get everything packed up. We all then did a breathalyzer test to make sure we were under the legal drinking limit (as we had been advised that the Mount Isa road police were pulling people over and checking) and headed home to say goodbye to Peter and his family before spending the rest of the day chilling out watching movies and playing Monopoly deal (which by the way I continue to dominate!) Fab weekend, think I need to go on a detox for the rest of the week though!
Here we go, grab a cuppa tea to keep you going, it's a long one! .....
Friday 14th June – day 32
Day of fencing. Whilst the others worked on making some new hay spears to fix onto the loader, I headed out in the morning to check the fences in Nora Creek and Boroma Paddocks. This took me right up until lunch time, and I got to see parts of the paddocks I hadn't seen before (I am hoping this will help me navigate the paddocks better when it comes to doing more mustering). Found a few holes and broken wires so got to work fixing this up using the chain straighteners. I quite enjoy fencing, but this was the first time I have been out on my own fixing them up, so it took a few attempts (along with expressing a few choice cuss words, kicking the car tyre and having a bit of a paddy!) before I was able to get the straighteners working correctly. After lunch I headed out again to check another couple of paddocks, this time I went out on the quadbike so got to have a bit more fun tearing around and making my way across the riverbeds. I wish I had taken some before and after pictures to show off all my hard work. And because it’s Friday we headed off to the usual Friday night tennis and caught up with all the gang.
Saturday 15th June – day 33
Once the weeners had been fed we dolled ourselves up and headed out to Cloncurry for the show. Sadly we missed most of the show (equine events, crazy motorbike stunts etc) as we spent too much time playing cards and having pre drinks, although we did get to see the demolition derby and the pretty spectacular firework show. Most importantly we were there for the disco so spent the night dancing away and listening to the live band. (Who were very amusing and even performed our request of Tenacious D, Tribute.) After hours of dancing and laughing we dragged ourselves back to the house we were staying at for the night and crashed out.
Sunday 16th June – day 34
Recovery day. Not much can be said about today, I spent most of it in bed reading and snoozing!!
Monday 17th June – day 35
Water run in the morning, and then I went out on the four wheeler checking fences in two of the paddocks. Again I forgot to take photos of my beautiful repair jobs.
Tuesday 18th June – day 36
Cleaned the other house and cottage today ready for the big boss and his guests to stay this coming weekend for the McKinlay races… It’s been a while since the house and cottage have had a proper intensive clean so it took a fair bit of elbow grease to get the place spick and span… (Even with the head start Marie gave us when the Harrisons were staying) I felt like Kim and Aggy in How Clean is Your House, and by the time we were done the house looked great.
Wednesday 19th June – day 37
The radiator on the quadbike has a bit of a slow leak, so today I donned my mechanic overalls and got to fixing it. Unfortunately unlike in a car the quadbike doesn’t have a bonnet, so in order to get to the radiator I had to disassemble most of the external plastic guards (panelling), steel framework and bulbar. I was so terrified of forgetting where all the nuts, bolts, screws and rivets went that I made sure to draw a diagram and take photos of where all the various bits went. It took me most of the day to do this. Taking it apart was relatively easy but putting it back together proved to be a real pain in the butt and got me a little hot under the collar at times. The biggest problem is that the plastic panels have twisted (due to numerous altercations with cows/bulls/trees/rocks etc) and so trying to get things to fit back together proved tricky, but I did it. Just another skill to add to the list!
Thursday 20th June – day 38
Water run in the morning and then we headed out to the racetrack for a working-bee (helping to get things set up and ready for race day on Saturday). The weather has turned pretty chilly and the clouds even spat out a little bit of rain this evening. Who would have thought that I would be wearing multiple layers a beanie and gloves in the outback during the day! I hope it warms up a bit in time for the races otherwise we will all freeze in our pretty dresses!
Friday 21st June – day 39
Left at 6am and drove 3 hours out to Mount Isa to get Jet fuel for the big boss, Peter, who is flying in tonight with his friends and family. Isa is the largest town in the nearby area and has a reasonable selection of clothes shops and even has a nice big Coles and Woolworths (supermarkets) … or so we have been told. After driving three hours there we got there only to find out that all the shops were closed due to the Mount Isa Show!! Typical, it’s just as well myself and Nena already had outfits for the races sorted!!. Fortunately the place that sold the Jet Fuel was open, so it wasn’t a totally wasted day. Had a bit of a drama on the way back from Isa as one of the front tyres blew and ended up bouncing off out into the bush, even the rim came off… this time we stood and watched Luke fix a new tyre. Once we finally got home we went to check on the weeners and give them their feed. They are looking much better although we lost another two, not sure why as they were quite large healthy looking ones, the only thing I can think is that the recent cold weather got to them. Once we were finished we got to meet the big boss, Peter along with his family and some friends. After the usual introductions we headed into McKinlay ‘town’ to the Walkabout pub for some dinner. Complements go out to the Chef who happens to be the lovely Johnny. The food was scrumptious but the portion sizes were ma-hooo-sive! I guess they normally feed hungry truckers. I had to ask for a doggy bag to put some of my lamb chops in.. still had some room left for pudding though! After gorging on great grub we did the usual Friday night tennis social before heading home to get some beauty sleep ready for a big day at the races tomorrow.
Saturday 22nd June – day 40
McKinlay races baby!! Time to get dressed up and fancy again; who would have thought life in the outback could be so sophisticated?! (although after looking through the photos from the night, I think the sophistication ended at the fancy clothing!) What a great day and night. I managed to get a few photos of the horses (especially for you mum), had a bit of a flutter and won $7 (from a $5 bet), however I was having such a good time that I forgot to collect my winnings!! Oops. Highlight of the evening was watching the Lions vs. Wallabies rugby game. GO THE LIONS!! J yippee!! The Ozzys took it reasonably graciously, more so than I would have had the result been the other way around! (and thank goodness we won, all that backchat I was giving out would have slapped me in the face if we lost) Once the game was over I put on my dancing shoes and twirled the night away to celebrate our win J. It really was a great night dancing with all the gang. I think the combination of dancing for hours and alcohol meant that when it came to camping I didn’t feel cold at all. Although I was wearing tights, thermal leggings, jogging bottoms, thermal top, fleece, t-shirt and was in my minus 6 sleeping bag, inside the swag (a heavy waterproof/wind resistant canvas sack which has a thin mattress and bedding in it that you roll out and acts as your tent for the night and is usually rolled out wherever you happen to fall!) All in all it was a very fun day and evening – totally worth the SPLITTING headache that I woke up with!
Sunday 23rd June – day 41
Considering we had been dancing away until gone 1.30 am the night before, we were all up and about at 7.30. I think it was the smell of bacon and eggs coming from the caterers that tempted us all out of our swags. I had the best cup of tea that I have ever had from a polystyrene cup, which managed to revive me sufficiently in order to get everything packed up. We all then did a breathalyzer test to make sure we were under the legal drinking limit (as we had been advised that the Mount Isa road police were pulling people over and checking) and headed home to say goodbye to Peter and his family before spending the rest of the day chilling out watching movies and playing Monopoly deal (which by the way I continue to dominate!) Fab weekend, think I need to go on a detox for the rest of the week though!
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