The other day some of the worker’s headed to Linda Downs (owned by the same people) to muster. They were gone overnight leaving a few of us behind to enjoy the peace and quiet. It made dinner time a breeze … Continue reading
A New Arrival
My Days as a Cattle Station Cook
The buzzer goes off and I groggily swing my legs off the bed. Ouch I smack my feet on the plastic box, our make shift bedside table and clothes storage. It’s pitch black outside and as I step out into the fresh morning air I gaze up. The sky is clear bathed in a million stars. I hate mornings but out here it’s a whole different story. I walk into the corrugated dshower block that I share with a myriad of boys so it’s messy but in the mornings I don’t care. The concrete is cold on my feet but I brush my teeth and take in my reflection. It will have to do. I haven’t used a brush since my arrival I can’t find it but it doesn’t matter. I pull my hair into a pony tail, pull on my jumper and walk across the homestead lawn. I can feel the dew between my toes and even though I am wearing thongs I can feel the ground soggy beneath my feet.
Now in the kitchen I fill and boil the kettles and turn on the frypans.I pull out all the nice cuttings of cold meat, the containers of salads and left overs for sandwiches. I line them up along the counter like a buffet and set the table for breakfast. I pop the bacon into the pan and when cooked slip it into the oven to keep warm. I pour in 20 eggs and put the lid on. While they cook I make mental notes of the days cooking. What is for dinner again? Do I need 5kgs or 10kgs of meat? At 5.30am the first weary eyed ringers make their way into the kitchen. As they prepare their lunch I place the fried eggs and crispy bacon on the table and they dig in. They are sure to have a big day ahead. By 6am the kitchen is packed and by 6.30am the last stragglers head off to work.
From there I clean up the mess they left behind. Wipe benches, sweep, mop and prepare the kitchen for a busy day of baking and cooking. With thirty workers to prepare hearty meals for the oven gets a workout and it ends up being quite a juggle. Planning is key although I always end up winging it. By 9am I have all the chores done including checking on the caravan park, restocking the shop and social club, tidying the bbq area and the rec room and feeding the chooks, pigs and poddy calves. It is then time to start baking. I try to cook at least two cakes a day and biscuits and then start with the dinner prep. This means I can have the afternoon off and come back an hour or two before tea to finish it off.
My time off is spent relaxing, researching recipes, watching a movie, going for a walk or hanging out with the workers in the kitchen as they come in for lunch. There is a mad rush just before dinner setting the table and finishing off the cooking. When everyone sits down and enjoys their meal it is worth every minute. We all sit down, talk and laugh over dinner and a few drinks. Then its wind down time, a game of pool or ping-pong or movies and then off to bed.
Waiting for the buzzer to go off again.
Like this:
Cattle, Bush Turkeys & Snakes
Today we officially start our second week on Tobermorey Station. We survived the first week without quitting or getting fired. In fact we have settled in quite nicely and it is starting to feel like home. Not one day is the same for either Shaun and I work wise and that’s the way we like it. Variety is the spice of life or so they say.
Shaun has been getting quite a nice exposure to cattle in the yards and is even starting to enjoy working with the ringers. He has only (touch wood) been kicked a few times with minimal bruising. He knows to be careful and not go out of his depth despite himself thinking he is becoming some type of rodeo king! Speaking of rodeos it looks like our first social outing will be sometime in June as we are heading to Hart’s Range Rodeo (near Alice Springs) Looking forward to that!
We had our first day off on Saturday (yesterday) and had big plans of exploration. After such a long week we ended up relaxing with movies, ping-pong and curried pies (made by moi!) The other boys headed off pigging and hunting after swimming in an open tank. The fun of the wild, wild west. They caught a pig and I don’t know where that ended up but they also caught a plain bush turkey. Much to my disgust on coming into the kitchen I found it boiling in chicken stock and later on the bbq. Needless to say I didn’t try it (I don’t even eat chicken) but everyone who ate some enjoyed it.
On Friday it was mail run day. I head off as soon as the mail plane flies overhead and head to the airstrip in a 4wD buggy. On this particular Friday I had to drop off the 2 outgoing backpackers (including the old cook) and she decided to drive the mail run one last time so I hopped in the tray for the ride out. Her boyfriend had been up drinking all night and was sickly green. We had to stop every five minutes so he could laugh at the grass. Disgusting!!! Anyway, to make it all “exciting” we saw massive snake laying across the track. The girl slammed on the brakes and went to jump out to have a look and take some pictures. Meanwhile I was screaming at her to get back in and keep driving. The snake striked at the wheel of the buggy and the backpacker moved quicker than I have ever seen. On arrival at the airstrip, her boyfriend still bent over the grass discussed heading back down the track for another crack at photographing the snake. Silly buggers.
So we are getting out fair share of animal interaction some wanted other not so much. I have been doing a bit of photographing around the place and will put some photographs up shortly.
Like this:
Plenty of……
Here on the Plenty Highway they say there is plenty of corrugations, plenty of rocks and plenty of bull dust. They fail to mention that there is also plenty of natural beauty and plenty of fun.
As I write this I am sitting in the hottest corner of the Rec Room with an old rickety pedestal fan whirring to my left and a small window where I can look over the main homestead and lawns to my right. I have spent all morning in the kitchen since 5 am to be exact. I have cooked breakfast (not a regular thing I have heard) and two cakes a golden syrup sponge with whipped cream and marmalade and a pineapple upside down cake. Both have not turned out perfect but I am sure they will be eaten. Things never look like they do in pictures.
Tomorrow is my first night at cooking dinner. There is no set menu at all it is completely at my discretion the only two things I have to include is vegies and meat. Tomorrow as there is a mammoth thirty mouths to feed mostly young, hard-working men I am making macaroni cheese with ground beef and vegies. It sounds easy enough but we’ll see. I have spent most of my days in sheer terror of task of cooking for all these people.
We arrived on Saturday afternoon all nicely planned so we could utilise the Sunday off to unpack and settle in. WRONG!!! Arriving at 2.30pm after finding the road in quite good condition and not as far away from our major town centre – Mount Isa (only three hours or so) we found not a person in sight. Lucky our new boss was prepared for this being the case and left a voicemail with some general directions. Find the block of dongas, it’s the one on the end if there is stuff in the room it’s not yours! With this information we pretty much found our room first go.The room is no bigger than a double bed really but it’s clean. At first we were a bit worried but after cramming everything in it is fine. We only sleep in there anyway and the air con works.
Anyway, the workers started rocking back to the homestead and me met our first other co-workers. It was daunting being the new couple and trying to remember all the names but I’m sure we’ll get there. Pretty much the first thing the manager said to us was if we were right to work the following day (SUNDAY) of course we were!!
It was straight to the cattle yards for us. Up at five and with all the other workers piled into the work utes and headed to the yards about 15, 20 mins away (depends who is driving) Shaun and I were with the weaners, he was tailing them and I was vaccinating. Eeek both thrown in the deep end but all in all really enjoyed it. We spent the afternoon helping with drafting and saw our first muster brought in the yards including one GIANT camel.
The next day Shaun got to see a big chuck of the property (Keeping in mind that it is 1.48 million acres) He went on the bore run with the bore runner (a total of 400km) while I was in the kitchen helping the outgoing cook.
At the moment everything is going great guns. We are having plenty of fun!
Ps. We haven’t had time for photos. Hopefully we will have Sunday off and can get out and about.
Like this:
Article Published in the North West Star
Story by Sarah Norris
Photographs by Karen Brook
Full length article will be posted in coming days. In the meantime please pop over to www.thelongwalkhome.com.au to read all about Jenna’s Simpson Desert Crossing in aid of the RFDS. Also check out Karen Brook’s Website (http://www.karenbrook.com.au/kbs/) who supplied the beautiful photographs for the article.
Like this:
We Are Turning The Page
Tomorrow we start another chapter of our journey. Over dinner tonight Shaun and I were discussing how quickly it has come round and what our expectations are. It will be interesting to see what comes in reality and how closely it aligns with our dinner conversation. The thing about not knowing what to expect is it pulls you out of your comfort zone and really tests you.
For those readers who don’t know we are heading to our new home tomorrow, our new job. It isn’t just any normal job. We are uprooting ourselves from civilisation and heading to live, work and play on a remote cattle station. 300km from our nearest town, a fair portion of this being unsealed road. This is completely different from anything we have done before. I have worked on a cattle station previously as a governess when I was younger and single. The property was 100km from town and I though that was remote. That property had mobile service. This one doesn’t.
We are going to be cut off from the outside world. (Don’t panic I will still blog when I can – hopefully once a fortnight) Shaun and I are up for the challenge and look forward to the hurdles it will bring us. Tomorrow we turn another page in our adventure and only time will tell what is written on that page.
Like this:
Dear Old Isa
This past week we have spent our time in Mount Isa not so much as tourists but kind of, in a way as new residents. Mount Isa is going to be our closest town for the next few months so we wanted to get to know where everything is. On arrival we were a bit frazzled after the long drive, the unhelpful person at one of the info desks, a dodgy CP map and one horrible CP (caravan park) after another (we went to all five) We finally found somewhere to camp at reasonable price a bit out of town but the nicest of all of them. After the week I think we are finally getting our head around where to do groceries, where to get business supplies, which bottle-o to drive thru and so on. (You know the important things) The only thing we did as tourists was the Hard Time Mine Underground Tour. It was well worth the ticket price. You can read our full review on the tour in our post titled Hard Time = Good Time. (to be posted shortly) Other than that our time has been relaxing, cleaning, washing and just plain old nothing which to be honest is just what we need before our new adventure which starts the next week.
-
- Rodeo Capital of Australia
-
- Isa Skyline
-
- So Far From Home
-
- Hard Time Mine Tours
Like this:
Birdsville We Meet Again!
I know I have written this a million times but this is the third time in 18 months we have visited Birdsville. I remember the first time it was such an accomplishment. It was wet, wet, wet and it was a record breaker! Our first visit was in 2010 at race time and for the first time in forever the races were cancelled due to the once in a lifetime amount of rain.
Our first two visits were completely tourist. The second visit we conquered some of the Simpson Desert. Our third visit, this visit was about relaxing and enjoying Birdsville for what it is and the only Big & Little Red’s we conquered were the house burgers at the Birdsville Pub. A remote country town on the verge of the tourist season but still quiet enough to not be driven insane by the hustle and bustle of a million other travellers. Don’t get me wrong I enjoy tourist season and socialising but it is so nice to just enjoy a town as it is without the masses. Our time is Birdsville was shared equally between the pub and the camp ground as I said in my previous post. However, I did bring the camera out and here is some of the images I thought I would share. To keep up to date with Birdsville happenings I strongly encourage you to check out the following three blogs.
http://birdsvilleroadhouse.com.au/_blog/The_Galah_Session A blog completely about Birdsville. News and Events and General Discussion about the remote town of Birdsville.
http://kellytheobald.com.au A Birdsville Residents Blog – this one is an online portfolio of a young city girl who has made the big move to Birdsville.
http://thelongwalkhome.com.au Another Birdsville Residents Blog – this one’s about the writer’s journey to cross the Simpson Desert on foot this winter raising funds for the RFDS.
Like this:
A Very Different Track
The Birdsville Track is iconic. It is a feat for many modern-day travellers, 4WD enthusiasts and caravanners. The “track” we drive these days is a world away from that of our predecessors. The road now is practically a dirt highway mostly smooth with rocky patches here and there. Back in the day soft sand dune, flooded creek crossings, rough corrugations and sharp rocks made the journey that much harder and longer. A trip up the track could take weeks now you can practically complete it in five to six hours depending on conditions. It was originally opened back in the 1860′s to drove cattle from North QLD & the NT to the railheads at Port Augusta and later Marree. The track was immortalised by the film “Back of Beyond” about the outback legend & mailman Tom Kruse. From 1936 to 1963 Kruse held the contract for the Birdsville Track mail route and for his struggles he became an outback legend.
We started our trek at Marree like many others do. A quick drink at the pub and we hit the road late in the afternoon. Our aim was Cooper’s Creek and if lucky enough maybe even Mungerannie Pub. As the wheels of the Colorado hit the gravel road we started the journey that so many have before us. It really was such a momentous occasion for us. After so much planning we were finally heading up “The Track”. Destination Birdsville.
After only thirty minutes of driving over to our right was a massive expanse of water. Who would have thought so much water could be lying around in the desert. According to our Hema5 GPS we were looking at Lake Harry but to be honest it looked more like and inland sea. It was breathtaking. We hopped out for a few minutes to dip in our toes and take it all in.
As we drove along taking in the wilderness that surrounded us. We came up on Cooper’s Creek and pulled in for a look. It was a nice little camp spot however a few grey nomads had taking up most of the room so we decided to push on. Another quick stop at a monument of the old Cooper’s Creek Ferry. When this area floods the road can be cut for months and this ferry and flood bypass are the only thing that keep each end of the track connected. However, the old ferry is a lot different from its modern day counterpart that many traveller utilise in the wetter years. The original ferry was nothing more than a 12 ft steel punt fitted with an outboard motor. There are many historical accounts of the original ferry sinking and having to be unloaded to allow it to refloat. Lucky the water has receded and we didn’t encounter this.
We arrived at Mungerannie Hotel late in the afternoon. I can imagine the relief on many a travellers face as they reached this little oasis in the desert. The campsites are dotted along the river and only metres from a hot spring spa. This was delightful and much appreciated after the stress of smashing our window earlier that morning. Due to the days events we headed to the pub for dinner and a few drinks. The characters you meet in the outback really make your experience that much better. Phil, the publican was no exception as he poured our drinks he had us in absolute stitches. What a character.
The next morning we hit the road early as Birdsville was in our midst. For some reason Birdsville holds a special place for us and we find ourselves coming back again and again. We have been three times in the last 18 mths and are already planning our next adventure back there in September. As we neared Birdsville we stopped for an early picnic lunch on the edge of a river. It was so romantic just us and a gazillion meats ants and even more flies. After the ants and flies chased us back into the car after half and hour of shooing them away we were back driving up the track. Next stop, Birdsville.
Pulling into Birdsville felt like coming home. We don’t have a physical home at the moment so Birdsville is as good as any. We decided to stay for two nights to catch up on blogging and washing, yes in that order. I have to admit we spent quite a lot of unplanned time at the pub and relaxing around the campsite. We had some lovely meals at the iconic Birdsville Pub and they were quite reasonable priced. The Birdsville Bakery was frequented for brekky with Dusty’s square, flat croissants delish. The mayor of Birdsville even got a standing ovation after a true Dusty style introduction when he came to get his morning coffee.
From Birdsville we had a horribly long trip to Mount Isa in one day. I say horribly long because we are heading to work soon and the thought of not travelling for leisure is always a dampener. We left Birdsville early and waved goodbye as we headed North. Don’t worry the road always leads back there.
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Like this:
Norris Engineering & Fabrication
Norris Engineering & Fabrication.
As we are working and travelling we thought we would have a page all about Shaun’s fabrication & engineering projects while on the road. There is still a whole lot of projects to upload from our time in Griffith. We are aiming to have these uploaded by the end of the week.
