Townsville - Day 10

I had another fantastic day today, I was picked up at 8.15 for my outback farm adventure. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day. There was only 3 of us going today, so we were quite pleased about that. The other 2 were Dutch girls, Judith and Marenska . When we first arrived at the farm in Woodstock we had Damper which is like a scone and some Billy tea, very enjoyable. The farm was perfect, it was so peaceful out there. After that we had to get the horses ready for our cattle mustering. I was a little nervous, but not as bad as the time in Hunter Valley. My horse was called Simply Grand, he is an ex-racehorse (so I found out later!) he was as good as gold. We started off walking through the paddocks, they have 90 acres there so there was a lot to walk through to look for cattle, it was a blissful day, the sun was out, it was so relaxing and I felt pretty confident more or less straight away. Marenska was a very experienced rider, she has been riding for years, Judith was a bit nervous like me. We finally found some cattle, so we rounded them up, then we carried on to look for the rest, they've got over 100 cows. I did my first trot on a horse which was really cool although a little painful and it took my breath away! Eventually we found a big herd of cattle, so we had to round those up (approx 80 altogether) and move them back to the paddock, I tell you it was so cool, I couldn't believe I was actually doing this, what an experience. Going up and down the small valleys and potholes in the ground was a bit scary, but I really enjoyed it. When we finally got them back, it was time for lunch, lovely baked potatoes and meat cooked on the fire, followed by fresh fruit, we were all starving, the ride had really built up our appetites. After we had eaten, by which time we were all pretty tired, it was time to learn how to crack a whip, it looked really easy, but was not at all, we all were determined to do it....I managed to make it crack a few times. Next it was cattle branding time....we were supposed to be doing sheep shearing, but unfortunately his machine had broken. I was a bit dubious about doing the branding, but it's not just done for the tourists, it's actually law. We had to walk into the field of cattle and muster them through into the next paddock, and keep doing that until we had them all in there apart from the calves. That was quite scary cos some of them were getting a bit excited...also I didn't fancy being in there with the bull!! Anyway, we got them through in the end, which just left the calves. Peter had talked us through what they actually do to them, they have to brand them, then cut chunks out of their ears and put in tags, and cut their horns off, and if they are male, then they have to castrate them (which involves using a scalpel) so I was quite relieved that the calves we caught were female! The bit that followed disturbed me a bit, I know they have to do this, but it wasn't very nice to watch. Peter caught one of them in a vice like machine, then gets down to business....the girls did a brand each, I couldn't do it though....the noise the calf made was horrendous and it really smelt. Then Peter cut it's ears, then cut the horns off, I'd stopped watching by now, but I did see the blood literally spurting out of its head....urrghh, poor thing, I nearly cried! Anyway, after that was done, she was let go (with blood all over her) and we had to get the cattle back into the big paddock again. We had a beer and a chat by the fire, then it was time to leave. It was such a great experience today, I'm so glad I did it, it was so much fun and Peter and his wife Fran were marvellous, I'd definitely recommend it, although I'm really sore and can hardly sit down!!

Off to the Billabong Sanctuary tomorrow

Me and Simply Grand

Mustering the cattle

Cracking the whip

Branding the calf