Sunday 9th June – day 27
Technically today was a day off, however we all decided to head over to Dina-a-Ling station to help our ‘neighbours’ out with some mustering and drafting. (If you can call people who live 40 mins along the highway at 120km/h neighbours) The country out there was quite a bit different to our station. On the plus it was fairly open (so easier to spot cows), there was only one creek (so didn’t get stuck trying to cross over it) and the paddock was a regular rectangle shape (so easier to navigate)… however on the downside, it was covered in Mitchell (aka MOUNTAIN) grass, with the added negative of lots of holes as well as huge tufts of grass AND giant moon rocks, all of which made for a very bumpy ride!! Anyway we managed to get the cows into the yards and spent the rest of the afternoon drafting them. These cows were nice and quiet, apart from the odd few Micky Bulls (a male bull minus the dangly bits) who gave us a bit of a charge. I realised that I’d chosen to wear a red shirt that day, I wonder if that had anything to do with the extra charges?! Didn’t get home until after dark, gave the dams a quick check to make sure that there was nothing bogged – all good. Even better was that we got paid, and a bottle of wine for helping out J .
Monday 10th June – day 28
Johnny (who works at the Walkabout Pub in McKinlay and is from York) came out to the station today to help out. We spent the morning feeding the weeners (hay and special feed), did some maintenance on the loader, and headed out on the standard water run to check all the lick tubs and make sure the water troughs were all in working order, as well as checking for any bogged cows in the dams. It was great having Johnny along, it’s a shame he didn’t manage to find suitable station work, I think he would have loved it, he certainly fitted in well!
Tuesday 11th June – day 29
We did our weekly Cloncurry food run, picked up some tyres and also loaded up on cow lick (feed). On the way back we stopped off al Eloise Mine to pick up some pods (which we will modify to make into some new super sized lick tubs). Apparently this mine is 1.4km deep and they mine for gold and copper. Luke used to work here, and said that its about 90% humidity and 60 degrees down there. Based on that I don’t think I will be heading for a job in the mines next, I’d be a gooey puddle on the floor in those conditions (plus the 12 hour, 7 days a week, 2 weeks on, 1 week off shift pattern sounds less than desirable!). Once we got back from town Nena and I set about changing tyres on one of the Utes. We are now pro tyre changers! (Not a bad skill to pick up really). Once all 4 tyres were put on we headed out to check all the dams and make sure the weeners are ok. Sadly another of the really little ones passed away, but the others were all ok, some are even looking pretty impressive – which is great news, the hay and special feed is obviously helping perk them up.
Wednesday 12th June – day 30
Luke had a meeting in town today, so we were left to our own devices all day, and man did we do well. We managed to get done all of the tasks Luke set us (with the exception of washing one of the cars). Started the day by taking all the pods off the truck from yesterday. We then used the loader to move three pallets of feed, and then hand stacked the feed into the shed (20x 40kg bags of feed = the equivalent of a heavy weights session at the gym!). We then moved onto the fun stuff; using a grinder (electric hand held rotary blade) to cut the pods in half to make feed tubs. It’s the first time I have used that type of powertool so was a little bit hesitant at first, but it was good fun and much easier than trying to saw it by hand. We both finished with all digits and limbs intact so it obviously went well. I won’t however be taking up the odd hobby of dancing with a grinder (see photo from show in Mexico) , those sparks bloody sting, even when you are wearing jeans and long sleeves! After lunch we put a new battery into the grader (big truck used to level roads) and transferred the older battery into the tractor (all without any glitches! proud.com) and then headed up to feed the weeners. I don’t know how Luke makes all of these tasks look so easy. The weener feed is in 1 tonne bags, so we have to use the loader to lift the bag of feed above the feeding troughs. One person then has to undo the shoot at the bottom of the bag, holding it closed to stop to it all coming out at once, and then scrabble along on their knees whilst the person in the loader drives it along the feed troughs. Sounds easy enough, but not when you are trying to hold back 1 tonne of feed, on your hands and knees!! Once we had successfully managed to put all the feed into the troughs, we had to get 8 very large bails of hay into the paddock. Nena picked the bails up with the tractor and then I rolled them into the appropriate places… sounds easy but those bails are bloody heavy. I suspect I will be a wee bit sore tomorrow. A quick whizz across to check the dams and the day just flew by.
After reading this back, it doesn't sound like we really did all that much, but trust me we worked pretty much solidly from 8am until 5.30 with the exception of lunch and a quick morning smoko (break) I am pretty sure that Luke is suitably impressed with our efforts…. Or at least he better be!
Thursday 13th June – day 31
Did the routine water run this morning, nothing to report back with as everything was in order. After lunch I set to cleaning the Toyota (inside and out) … No one is allowed in with their shoes on now! Once the car was clean, Luke gave us an introductory lesson in how to weld. Let me tell you it is nothing like Flashdance! It’s pretty technical and takes a good steady hand and patience. I hadn’t realised but the type of light and heat let off by it is enough to give you a suntan (hence the need for a large mask, gloves and heavy clothing.) I managed to do a few decent lines of welding but I think it takes a fair bit of practice to get the hang of it. No photos of my welding attempts, just imagine a bit of a wiggly, blobby looking line!
Technically today was a day off, however we all decided to head over to Dina-a-Ling station to help our ‘neighbours’ out with some mustering and drafting. (If you can call people who live 40 mins along the highway at 120km/h neighbours) The country out there was quite a bit different to our station. On the plus it was fairly open (so easier to spot cows), there was only one creek (so didn’t get stuck trying to cross over it) and the paddock was a regular rectangle shape (so easier to navigate)… however on the downside, it was covered in Mitchell (aka MOUNTAIN) grass, with the added negative of lots of holes as well as huge tufts of grass AND giant moon rocks, all of which made for a very bumpy ride!! Anyway we managed to get the cows into the yards and spent the rest of the afternoon drafting them. These cows were nice and quiet, apart from the odd few Micky Bulls (a male bull minus the dangly bits) who gave us a bit of a charge. I realised that I’d chosen to wear a red shirt that day, I wonder if that had anything to do with the extra charges?! Didn’t get home until after dark, gave the dams a quick check to make sure that there was nothing bogged – all good. Even better was that we got paid, and a bottle of wine for helping out J .
Monday 10th June – day 28
Johnny (who works at the Walkabout Pub in McKinlay and is from York) came out to the station today to help out. We spent the morning feeding the weeners (hay and special feed), did some maintenance on the loader, and headed out on the standard water run to check all the lick tubs and make sure the water troughs were all in working order, as well as checking for any bogged cows in the dams. It was great having Johnny along, it’s a shame he didn’t manage to find suitable station work, I think he would have loved it, he certainly fitted in well!
Tuesday 11th June – day 29
We did our weekly Cloncurry food run, picked up some tyres and also loaded up on cow lick (feed). On the way back we stopped off al Eloise Mine to pick up some pods (which we will modify to make into some new super sized lick tubs). Apparently this mine is 1.4km deep and they mine for gold and copper. Luke used to work here, and said that its about 90% humidity and 60 degrees down there. Based on that I don’t think I will be heading for a job in the mines next, I’d be a gooey puddle on the floor in those conditions (plus the 12 hour, 7 days a week, 2 weeks on, 1 week off shift pattern sounds less than desirable!). Once we got back from town Nena and I set about changing tyres on one of the Utes. We are now pro tyre changers! (Not a bad skill to pick up really). Once all 4 tyres were put on we headed out to check all the dams and make sure the weeners are ok. Sadly another of the really little ones passed away, but the others were all ok, some are even looking pretty impressive – which is great news, the hay and special feed is obviously helping perk them up.
Wednesday 12th June – day 30
Luke had a meeting in town today, so we were left to our own devices all day, and man did we do well. We managed to get done all of the tasks Luke set us (with the exception of washing one of the cars). Started the day by taking all the pods off the truck from yesterday. We then used the loader to move three pallets of feed, and then hand stacked the feed into the shed (20x 40kg bags of feed = the equivalent of a heavy weights session at the gym!). We then moved onto the fun stuff; using a grinder (electric hand held rotary blade) to cut the pods in half to make feed tubs. It’s the first time I have used that type of powertool so was a little bit hesitant at first, but it was good fun and much easier than trying to saw it by hand. We both finished with all digits and limbs intact so it obviously went well. I won’t however be taking up the odd hobby of dancing with a grinder (see photo from show in Mexico) , those sparks bloody sting, even when you are wearing jeans and long sleeves! After lunch we put a new battery into the grader (big truck used to level roads) and transferred the older battery into the tractor (all without any glitches! proud.com) and then headed up to feed the weeners. I don’t know how Luke makes all of these tasks look so easy. The weener feed is in 1 tonne bags, so we have to use the loader to lift the bag of feed above the feeding troughs. One person then has to undo the shoot at the bottom of the bag, holding it closed to stop to it all coming out at once, and then scrabble along on their knees whilst the person in the loader drives it along the feed troughs. Sounds easy enough, but not when you are trying to hold back 1 tonne of feed, on your hands and knees!! Once we had successfully managed to put all the feed into the troughs, we had to get 8 very large bails of hay into the paddock. Nena picked the bails up with the tractor and then I rolled them into the appropriate places… sounds easy but those bails are bloody heavy. I suspect I will be a wee bit sore tomorrow. A quick whizz across to check the dams and the day just flew by.
After reading this back, it doesn't sound like we really did all that much, but trust me we worked pretty much solidly from 8am until 5.30 with the exception of lunch and a quick morning smoko (break) I am pretty sure that Luke is suitably impressed with our efforts…. Or at least he better be!
Thursday 13th June – day 31
Did the routine water run this morning, nothing to report back with as everything was in order. After lunch I set to cleaning the Toyota (inside and out) … No one is allowed in with their shoes on now! Once the car was clean, Luke gave us an introductory lesson in how to weld. Let me tell you it is nothing like Flashdance! It’s pretty technical and takes a good steady hand and patience. I hadn’t realised but the type of light and heat let off by it is enough to give you a suntan (hence the need for a large mask, gloves and heavy clothing.) I managed to do a few decent lines of welding but I think it takes a fair bit of practice to get the hang of it. No photos of my welding attempts, just imagine a bit of a wiggly, blobby looking line!
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