It's been 7 weeks since my last post and I have just returned to the city of Brisbane where I find myself back in my safehaven - the library - catching up on emails, organising new transport and accommodation arrangements, sorting out documents and looking through all the pictures Ive taken. Its dull and rainy outside, quite a welcome contrast to the climate of the last couple of months.
I concluded the last post hoping that some good karma comes my way. And I'm happy to report that it did. I left brisbane at the end of the last post to start 3 weeks cattle work on a family farm in Blackall (Central Western Queensland) on a mission to accumulate more of my 88 days regional work that I need to complete to be able to apply for my second year visa.
Good karma came in the form of a well paid, well accommodated and catered job with a nice local family. The work was varied but mostly I was riding a motorbike every day going out to muster cattle, move them across large paddocks and into the yards where we would draft them into groups and brand the young calves before moving them back to their paddock and starting a new paddock the next day. It was tough going at times but when everything went to plan it was actually very relaxing and easy. I was also carrying out general maintenance and manual labour during my first week there.
The family were nice and easy to get on with but I soon came to grow tired of their routines, habits and bland personalities. Plus the farm environment and routines of the work involved were getting stale and during my final week with them I was really quite bored and not wanting to be there. During working in the yards one afternoon a man came over to collect some cattle that had strayed from a different cattle property and I got talking to him. Told him I was finishing working here soon and low and behold he offered me 6 weeks work at the property he works at. 6 weeks was the exact amount of time I needed to finish my 88 days. The ony thing was, it was more cattle work. I thought about it for a few days and decided to just go for it. It couldn't be any worse than my first farm experience so I took him up on the offer as to be fair it was still a good offer...accomm and food included and $600 p/wk which is a great wage considering I have next to no cattle experience or farming history.
His name was Red and he was a real life stockman (or cowboy, if you like) he rode horses - not bikes. He had a 6th sense for interacting with cattle, could get them to do whatever he wanted. (Unlike the previous guy I was working for). Knew the way of the bush inside and out and knew the land and the habits of the cattle like the back of his four fingered hand. Quite a small bloke, not quite jockey size though, but rough tough and ready for anything. Listening to his tales of his previous jobs and his encounters lassoing wild bulls and hunting pigs and dogs made me realise what a sheltered life we live in back home. He must have broke nearly every bone in his metal supported body and he's been working out in the bush since he was 13. Didn't go to school and didn't know who his parents were. But a real genetleman and an intelligent person nonetheless. However, I had the misfortune of making a few mistakes and when he gets angry, wow he went off the hook alright!
Red didnt own the property. He worked as a main contractor for the owner - Ashley Adams (who is the cousin of the previous guy I worked for - Andrew Adams). The property - Darracourt - is probably the most successful cattle station in the district of Blackall. I later found out this is undoubtably because Ashley Adams is a Paralympic (and Olympic) shooter! He was Australia's number one and former world number one Olympic and Paralympic champion. Red looked after everything while Ashley was away at tournaments all over the world. When I started working there he was at the championships in Germany for a few weeks. When I finally met the guy he was nicer than I thought he would be. And very keen to show me things and teach me stuff (anything from guns to car mechanics) which was really good fun. He broke his back when he was 19 and has been in a wheel chair ever since but there's not much he can't do. He fixes anything and everything that gets broken and jumps onto bikes and into cars with no trouble at all. I'd describe him as a nice, funny man but with a bit of a dark side!
Working for Red out in the paddocks was a lot tougher than the last place at times but everything went much more smoothly and I learnt a hell of a lot more. We had regular help from a couple of men who helped us out when moving and processing big herds so it wasn't just him and I.
He really threw me in at the deep end though. There was so much I had to take in and get my head around in the first few weeks. And he didn't slow down. He pretty much expected me to know things or to understand instantly what he was meaning. Its just the type of guy he was. Nothing was going to change that. He mumbled most of the time as well and I really had trouble understanding what he meant and every time I asked him to clairfy he just gave me a look that implied I was stupid or something. I don't think he ever stopped and thought, he's just a backpacker who's trying to learn and get better. There was no let up from him. Consequently I got on his nerves quite a bit when I was doing things wrong or not to his standards and a few bad mistakes got him really pissed off a few times. Which got me all worked up and annoyed with him because he was being such an idiot and not explaining things properly. We had a few bust ups but in general he was ok to get on with and we had a good few laughs every few days. It could have been a lot worse. I would know.
It got to 3 weeks in and I was feeling pretty down and low. Bored of the same old routines. Stressed out with cattle and not enjoying any part of the work whatsoever. I had multiple injuries from either being kicked or stuff hitting me while working. And yes I was lonely and just desperately wanting to get away from the farm. Not just this farm as well. I didn't want anything more to do with cattle or farmwork. I had an epiphany one morning while chasing a half blind bull round a paddock by myself, trying to move him through a gate that he walked right up to but obviously still couldn't see and then ran back the opposite direction. I thought why am I actually here? Apart from desperately trying to get the last days of my regional work done. Is it worth it, staying here, getting low and not enjoying any part of it. I was so sick of it all. The small things as well. Like the odour of cowshit that clung to me every day, my dirt and oil stained hands and fingernails. The aching joints and pains from excessive machinery use and injuries, inhaling dirty quad bike fumes while moving cattle at 5mph for hours at a time. Risking getting lost in the middle of nowhere on a weekly basis. The foul stench of rotting kangaroo corpses. Eating chewy minced beef for dinner every day. I was over it. I came to Australia to enjoy myself and travel, and I wasn't doing either of those anymore - just hanging around on this farm in the middle of nowhere for the sake of a few weeks.
So I spent the rest of that day inventing a tactical excuse to resign and later that night told Red that I had to leave. I did the right thing and gave him a weeks notice. So I just had one more week to stick out. And luckily it went quite quick and I even had a paid day off where we went to the Blackall show sale so I got to see our cows get sold and sent away. Maybe I'll see them again soon. In between a Big Mac bap perhaps.
To summarise, it's been good fun at times and the surroundings have been breathtaking. I've earned and saved plenty of money and the whole experience has been a real eye opener and very rewarding. I learnt loads of useful stuff I will definitely need in the future and have found out a lot more about who I am and the true value of things. I've also worked under a lot of pressure and been given a hell of a lot of responsibility at times, which has given more more confidence when working.
So I lasted 7 weeks as a cowboy / Jackaroo / station hand, mustering cattle on motrobike, quad bike and even on horseback. I've worked with real men from the bush, men with names such as Scrooge, Croca, Clinton, Davon and Spider, not forgetting Red.
I've moved and processed thousands of cattle on multiple properties exceeding 25,000 acres of bush land each. And I've done it with and learnt off one of the areas best and most knowledgable stockmen while being employed by one of Australia's best Olympic shooters!
Never saw that coming!
I got all my days singed off ok and I've just cashed my cheques for my pay the other day. At this point in time I have the same amount of money that I originally came here to Australia with which I'm pleased about.
Forgot to mention that I'd been speaking with Tom during the last few weeks of my time there and he quit his job too with only two and a bit weeks to go (for his regional work as well). We decided we both wanted to go to Tasmania to check it out and search for more regional work to get our last few days signed off - paid or volunteering - we don't really mind. As long as its got nothing to do with farm or cattle work. As it stands I have three weeks left to do. So the hunt is on for some new and hopefully interesting opportunities.
I fly down to Tasmania tomorrow morning and will meet Tom probably in the afternoon. Really looking forward to seeing him again. Feels like its been forever but only a couple of months. Can't wait to hear his stories and experiences. Will hopefully go out for my birthday and get dinner and drinks somewhere. Never thought or imagined I'd be in Tasmania for my 24th (that sounds really old) birthday!
Here's a few of the best images I've taken during my time at the two properties I worked on.
I will get round to uploading lots more to my gallery: 'Working in Regional Australia' on my Facebook if you fancy a look.
There's a lot of pictures of sunsets and sunrises as there quite literally were loads of beautiful and picturesque shots to capture. They were ever changing and I've never seen so much diversity of vibrancy and colour in the sky. Pinks, purples, oranges, it was really something. As was the sky at night time as well. Never seen the stars so big and so bright. They all flicker like candle light and lots of them have a vivid orange or red colour instead of plain white. Saw a couple of large streaking shooting stars which went for seconds at a time and the full moons were amazing. You really have to be there and see it to grasp how good it gets...
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