Friday 16 November 2007

Day Two at Kroombit Cattle Station...

So day two on the cattle ranch... and with it brought many more happy memories and hysterical laughter! I know from home it is hard to imagine all of the things we are doing so I thought I would give you a little insight into our accomodation to start with. These are the lovely cabins we stayed in, cute don't you think?

The ever so slightly cramped rooms and squeaky bunk beds leave a lot to be desired but the effect is good and it was reasonably clean so that was ok. Bet it makes you wish you were sleeping with us eh!


Then this was where we ate our meals, al fresco.

And our chef... oh so many photos I want to share but they take so long to upload!

It was very traditional and I find it so hard to imagine living like this permanently. So, onto our first activity of the day and that was a "gentle hike" up to the top of a mountain to learn the didgeridoo. Easy, you might think, blowing into a tube but not quite so! But we had fun trying. The heat was pretty tough though.

We then strolled back down the hill to practice the art of chopping your fellow traveller's heads off! Well at least that is what Debs thought the idea was of using the boomerang - she was dangerous with that thing and although only about 10% of boomerangs are actually designed to come back, unfortunately hers did, with a vengeance! I didn't get a shot of her though as I was too busy ducking, so here is Julie instead.
After an early lunch it was out for a spot of horseriding to do a goat muster! That was really good fun. I had the cutest old horse, Freckles, and yes I did ask for an old horse so that it wasn't capable of galloping off with me into the sunset!!! That was brilliant, we had to shout 'eh, up! up! up!' at the goats as we rounded them all up into their pen.



This was for the purpose of our goat rodeo to follow which was just hilarious! I can't tell you how funny these things are to do, just shouting the above was funny enough. Anyway, the idea was to pair up (I went with Michelle as the others wouldn't go with me!) and one had to chase the goat and one has to brand it with an imitation hot iron. Well my goat was a fast little wotsit and also decided to take a running leap at the fence and pelt backwards so it took me about 50 seconds just to catch it!!! The others were laughing so much at me running around the ring. I eventually caught it and you had to drag it back to the centre by its horns, then your partner runs to grab the poker meanwhile I am grabbing two legs, crossing them over and heaving this goat onto it's back! I managed it and even said sorry to the goat afterwards as I felt really bad ;o(



So after our goat rodeo, feeling pretty exhausted from our muster, rodeo and horse riding we were thinking yea, we are ready to go back now and have a bit of a chill. But oh no! More was to come! We then went onto clay pigeon shooting. Now I've never done this before in my life, or imagined I would ever do it, but I managed to hit one on my fifth and final shot! It was great fun, I loved it. Stace also found a hidden talent for it too.
The last part of the action day was to hold hands and share the love. Apparently! But luckily some of us pulled out as we as started to realise all was not what it seemed. Julie was still game and took part in some crazy electrified sensation that was passed around the group! Fair play to her. Then Kate had a go too. Me, well my hair is frizzy enough so I stayed out of that one. How funny is this photo of Julie???

The evening only brought more entertainment with the bucking bronto! We were the only bus here this night so we were more inclined to make a fool of ourselves. Some of the girls managed a couple more than the night before and Katie didn't repeat her fall - but here are the photos as promised of the night before as they were just too funny to miss off. I even stayed on for 12 or 13 bucks this time - not sure what is happening to me out here, I'm finding hidden talents I didn't know I had!!!
On our way out of this crazy town the next morning we got to play lawn bowls, what on earth was that about?!? Felt like we had reached retirement age slightly early but it was quite intriguing as I have never done it before. Won't bore you with photos of that though as I'm sure you get the idea. Then it was off for a long drive to Carnarvon Gorge National Park. We are loving the bus! Well the people anyway, we have such funny fellow travellers - German, Italian, English, Canadian, French and Finish - and all very amusing.

Sorry you'll have to wait for my sailing update but we had the best time! It was so much fun we are thinking of becoming sailors! Don't forget to check out the other two blogs for more versions of the funny stories, http://www.thegirlsareaway.blogspot.com/ and http://www.burnettisbackpacking.blogspot.com/.

Jenx

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh Jen I love the way you write, you've had me in stitches. Fab update and awesome pic of Jules!!
Miss u guys,
Rach
xxxx

billyboy said...

its great to get your updates, keep em coming, alf's funeral went as good as they can ever be, i dont know if i can upload a picture on here or not so ill put it on my facebook, i know trace and dad have taken some but not sure what or when they are going to be sorted. have fun and see you soon

Emma said...

Wow you all look like your having the time of your lives. Hope your having great fun.