What a learning curve – what an awakening….

This will be just a brief introduction into the initial stages of life for us on the cattle station. We haven’t had time yet to take any photos. Hopefully by our next weekend off ( which I think will be next week-end) we’ll have photos, and a better idea of whether we’re coming or going. I mean that literally. Our settling in, (or should I say my settling in) hasn’t gone that smoothly, enough said…..

I must say, getting up at 5am and working till nearly 8 pm has been a bit of a shock to the system. We haven’t done those sort of hours since we owned the cafe 21 years ago. Not to mention that we haven’t done any work at all for the past two years. So, we are both tired and a bit ‘shell shocked’. But the work will get easier.Our backs and feet will adjust, as will we.

The cattle station is 670,000 acres (yes, my dear UK readers, you’ve read that correctly, 670,000 acres) , and has 28,000 head of cattle. By station standards, Glenore isn’t a big station, but it’s nothing like a James Herriot, Yorkshire cattle farm. There’s a population on the station of around 17, not 17 thousand, not 17 hundred, not even 17 dozen, just 17.

My day starts at approximately 5.15am when i drag myself out of bed to commence breakfast for the station hands. They either come in at 6am or 6.30am. Yippee to the 6.30am starts, I get an extra 1/2 hour in bed. I put cold meats, cheese, bread etc out, and the guys and girls make their own lunch if they’re going to be out for the day. For those remaining near the station house I make morning tea and lunch, feed the chooks and pigs, burn the kitchen rubbish mid morning, clean the kitchen and dining room, and cook dinner. Dinner is at 7pm. Then there’s the after dinner clean up, so my day finishes between 7.30 and 8pm.

Once I’ve settled in, I’ll get time off after lunch, but for now I have too much to learn, so by choice, aren’t taken much of a mid afternoon break. Perhaps a mistake though as tiredness makes everything that much harder, and makes me a bit of a cranky pants. But the hardest is now hopefully behind me.

The main thing I have to learn and get comfortable with is how to make big station type cuts of meat resemble the cuts of meat I buy from the supermarket. The head stockman does the kill and initial dissecting. The cuts then get hung firstly in an air conditioned meat room for a few days to set, then the meat trolley is wheeled into the huge cool room. I have a lot to learn, but am looking forward to learning it.

Paul has been out with the Borerunner doing something with solar panels to operate the pumps and bores. Apparently there’s water provided at distances of no more than a 6km walk for any of the cattle, as 6 kms is the optimum amount of distance cattle should be travelling in any one day. Next week though I think he’s going to be delivering cattle lick – we gather that’s some sort of food supplement booster. He’s hoping he doesn’t get lost. There’s a big map of the station with all areas on the station named and posted in the map. Only trouble is, when you get to a place it’s not signposted. Apparently all clear to the station hands, but to greenhorns like us, about as clear as mud. His truck will have a two way, and he’ll have water, so should he get lost, I’m sure he’ll get found again.

We have very little in the way of Internet at the station, and no mobile phone coverage. So emails sent and received are very hit and miss, as are blog posts. This post is only able to be posted because we’ve come into town, almost a 300km round trip.

Keep watching this space, hopefully the next blog will have photos, and hopefully we’ll have settled into the rhythm of station life and be enjoying the experience. Hopefully I’ll be finishing off with, ‘what a pleasure’.

We finished our house sit at Sarina Range officially two days ago, but stayed an extra night to enjoy a ‘happy hour or three,’ plus a meal with Elaine and Larry. Elaine reminds us so much of our friend Eileen from Perth. We told her that on our first meeting, and she was concerned that may have been a bad thing, which of course is so very much not the case. Eileen is the salt of the earth, someone who calls a spade a spade, and within a few minutes of meeting her she feels like a life long friend. A feeling that doesn’t diminish no matter how long one knows her, and no matter how infrequently we meet up. So, to tell a woman that she reminds us of Eileen is to pay her a tremendous compliment.

Whilst we were there we had a lot of trouble with uploading photos as the internet could be a bit hit and miss. The ones I uploaded previously didn’t do any justice at all to Titan. However, saying that, none of the photos since have done him a great deal of justice either. He’s a brindle, and just like our last rescue cat, Fuji, who was also a brindle, somehow the colouring of their coat seems to blend out in photos and somehow disguises the character that otherwise shows in their face and eyes.

We did capture a typical photo of Titan having a day nap with Tommy Tigger. Again, his colouring doesn’t show him up to his best in a photo, but it was about the best we could do. They often snuggled together through the day, and always at night. Sometimes back to back, but more often as is demonstrated in this photo, with Titan having his front paw protectively wrapped over Tommy.

Much as they both were very comfortable with us, they were both clearly overjoyed to see Elaine and Larry return. Whilst Tommy Tigger in typical haughty, independent cat style (the reason I love cats so much), couldn’t have cared less when we left, Titan looked a little sad. I’m sure if he could have things his way, Elaine and Larry would be his favourite people, but he would be very happy to have dozens more living with him. That’s so as he could do a continuous round getting petted from each person in turn without wearing out his welcome with each person.

The swinging chair is Elaine’s favourite place to enjoy a cuppa or a read. It’s positioned so as to overlook the entry to the property and the two bottom paddocks. Wallabies are usually happily grazing here, particularly in the early morning or late afternoon. A very pleasant place for a read, and I almost fell asleep here as the breeze swayed me two and fro on more than one occasion.

Our van, and the accommodation is high on a hill, with a steep hill down to either get to the road at the front, or the creek through the back paddocks. I nicknamed both hills, ‘Cardiac Hill’. I’m not sure whether I was getting a good cardiac work out by the time I walked back up each time, or whether I was close to cardiac arrest. Needless to say, poor Titan didn’t get the walk each day that he’s used to, and had to make do all to often with a run around the house area. Not easy to instigate as he doesn’t fetch a ball, but by enthusiastically stamping my feet at him he seemed to get the message that there was a bit of game involved. I’m not sure who looked the biggest idiot, him running in wide circles like an electric train set, or me instigating each lap. I suspect as far as looking like an idiot, I won hands down……

Sarina Range would be a lovely place to live, but staying there only for a short time had us at a bit of loss as to what to do with ourselves.

At Elaine’s suggestion we took a day trip to Eungella National Park one day. It’s almost two hours drive in each direction, but was worth it. A beautiful park with nice walk tracks to water falls, and lovely little concreted fords placed to drive through the clearest of creeks to get to the picnic area and walk tracks.

We’ve now moved on and are camping at a farm stay just a little north of Townsville, after spending a single night at road stop stay on the way here. We’re expecting another wet week. This year Queensland’s ‘dry season’ has been unseasonably wet. In fact for our last night at Sarina Range we received 213mm of rain (that’s more than 8 inches for those like me, who can relate better to imperial measurements). We weren’t sure whether or not we were going to be flooded in. Elaine drove us down to the road before we hitched up to make sure the creek hadn’t cut the road off. It was flowing fast, but was still below road level. I’m not sure if that’ll be the case after tomorrow’s expected weather. A stormy day tomorrow is expected with thunder, lightening and lots of rain.

We’re camped in a reasonably boggy place, so it’s possible we’ll be stuck here for a while. We’re hoping though to get a fine, warm day before we leave so as we go across to Magnetic Island off the coast of Townsville.

Watch this space…..

These were taken in our first few days here.

Our caravan is backed into a huge shed on some land in Sarina Ridge. We’ll be here for a little over two weeks, and will be getting some animal and garden time, along with a good chance to polish up the van.

I’m not sure how many acres Elaine and Larry have. It’s a lovely property with a permanent creek running through it. The creeks a bit of a hike, and we’ve only been there once so far. We’ll go again and try to spy out the platypus that live there.

Currently Elaine and Larry only use the place as a weekender. For my overseas readers, weekenders on acreage in country areas often means utilising part of a very big shed as living quarters, and this is what E & L have done here. There is the huge garage where our caravan is housed. That has a lovely new bathroom fitted into a small corner. Opposite is another tin shed used as basic accommodation. It’s drafty and basic but gives the owners a chance to establish their land and gardens and work out the best position for their permanent abode to be built later. There’s a magic sort of quality about living in a basic and very rustic weekender that appeals to anyone with any ‘pioneering’ spirit. It appeals to us.

There’s eleven head of cattle here that keep the grass under control. Titan the dog, and Tommy Tigger the cat travel with E & L weekly between their week house and the weekender.

Our job here is to keep the plants watered, and to keep an eye on the cattle while Elaine and Larry have a holiday. Titans job is to make sure our hands are never idle – he thinks our hands are much better utilised giving him a good pat than they are at doing anything else. He’s pretty good at doing his job! Tommy Tigger occasionally treats us to a ‘real fur’ snuggle, but mainly he leaves the job of occupying our hands fully to Titan.

The days here so far have been sunny and pleasant. The nights are freezing. We’re enjoying the company of the fur babies, and the peaceful country setting. Technology is a bit sketchie. Although full bars show on our phone hot spot, I can’t seem to upload any photos, and after last nights lost draft, I’m now saving several times whilst typing a draft to ensure I dont completely lose another post. I’ll keep trying with the photos.

Apart from the sketchy technology and the freezing nights – what a pleasure.