Needless to say we had a well earnt weekend ahead of us as there was no work on Saturday! Knowing this we decided to slip back into town to do a big shop for the next two weeks and touch base with society (no reception and minimal WiFi at the station). We also made the most of being in town and had a cute date night at the drive in movies! Only $5 each for 2 movies, we unpacked our snacks and set up at the back. It had a vintage feel to it as the sound from the car speakers crackled from the use of old school equipment. To survive the movies, we had to sling the speaker provided into the car and crank it on max. What a night we had!
Back to The Brook the next evening we were refueled and ready for another action packed week. On arrival we noticed our resident shower frog was having a tasty snack! Starting with some minor cleaning jobs through the house (including Mark’s dream job of driving a ride on lawn mower) we were soon called out from the mundane scrubbing of walls, into the field. This time heading over to the small yards (only a 2 min drive from the homestead) we found ourselves drafting another mob of cattle. This mob was fairly fresh on the scene as we found them a bit more of a struggle to feed them through the process. Finding ourselves in muddy, swamp like conditions with drizzle really testing our moods, the afternoon flew by as the last of the cattle were drafted.
With fresh faces the next day we found ourselves tagging cattle before they were relocated to another paddock. In our minds, helping the farmhand would be a breeze by simply moving the cattle through the yards – oh how wrong we were. After demonstrating with a couple of cows, Nay was then placed on the “crusher” (a device to hold cattle in place) and Mark was on the end of the tagging mechanism. Together we were a well oiled machine. Once the nerves subsided from the first few inexperienced moments, the farmhand sent cattle to Renee where she held the cow in place and Mark then tagged (similar to piercing a person’s ear). We also learned how to dehorn the more mature cows that snuck through when younger. This prevents these horned cows dominating the mob in regards to food and water and minimizing potential injuries to humans. We swapped places with excitement flowing through our bodies as we shared some laughs and frights, while disgruntled cattle made for some interesting moments as we tagged their ears.
The next few days blurred by as one stayed back at the homestead and the other took the ranger out with the farmers to muster more cattle. In this scenario, it was an entirely different world to the week before. Being the only driver in the ranger, lead to quick decision making as our ears were glued to the cb radio awaiting the next order. Driving through unchartered terrain with grass almost 3ft tall in some places, was one hell of an experience. Nay came back with stories of running over a coil of barbed wire laying camolagued in the grass which caused all types of complications. To make matters worse a couple of hours later, she ended up with a puncture over 30mm in diameter. Upon pulling over, Nay discovered that she had ran over a tree root approximately 150mm long and 30mm wide and had to yank it out of the tyre. Mark had a small chuckle after these stories were shared. Lucky for him, his mustering experience the following day lead to no misfortunes. He still had a fantastic day to remember as he burnt through the unknown terrain mustering the mob of cattle and chasing after cheeky cows that wanted to go astray. Each evening led to stories being swapped as the one who was left cleaning at home could only live vicariously through the stories of the musterer that day.
As the week was winding up, we had one final day of drafting cattle in the far yards. Being pumped for a friday, moods soaring, the day began with some wild and cranky cattle. The kids of the farmer had joined us in the yards for the day and helped move them while also using the fences as a jungle jim. Moods were slowly dropping as dark clouds were rolling in and cows were less obedient (in a handful of cases we were having to sprint up fences as we were charged!) Churning through the 1200 head of cattle we finally made it to the end. One last job of moving them to another paddock and we were clocked off for the day. If only it was that easy. Driving in an old Cruiser with no driver door and minimal brakes, a storm came rolling in to really ruin a Friday evening. By 5:30pm we were dirty, muddy and stunk with a variety of scents on us. A slow cruise back in the ranger with an icy chill blowing in and mud flapping through the windowless doors, we were spent. So pleased it was the weekend we were in bed early and keen for a rest…
