Well after spending a lovely week relaxing in Perth I decided to head off to another farm. This one was to the east of Perth, and was a wheat/sheep farm. It was 7,000 acres with 7,000 sheep. I was given a lift by two other Helpxers (Jill and Steve) that I met at the farm in Balingup, who had already been to this farm, but were just returning for a couple of days. When we arrived we were directed to our accommodation for the duration of our stay. It was the shearer's cottage.............as you do we decided to check out the rooms. In the first room, we got the shock of our life and this thing (obviously disturbed by our presence) leapt across the bed and over some boxes. Jill and I legged it out of the house, unsure of what this creature was (it moved so fast you could barely see it!!!) Steve remained calmly in the room, removing the stuff it was hiding behind. I had made my way back into the house by this time and was standing in the hallway. As he was moving stuff, the creature legged it out of the room, which I could quite easily see now was a mouse, as it was now running straight for me. It glanced up, took one look at me and made a sharp right turn and ran into another room (thankfully not the other bedroom!!). Well after that we knew that this was going to be an interesting experience. On closer inspection of the house, we found lots of mouse dropping everywhere - including in the oven as well as a few other mice scuttling around!! It turned out that his place was only occupied for 3 weeks of the year when the shearer's come and then it is just left for the mice to play in - great!!!
So a quick show of hands (Jill and I) meant we were heading off to the closest place that sold alcohol and were buying whatever we could get our hands on!! There was no way we were spending the night sober here!! As it was already late the only place we could find open was a pub - and a dodgey one at that!! Jill and I went into the place and literally everyone stopped what they were doing and just starred at us. So we sauntered up to the bar, rather conscious that we were the odd ones out and 2 of only 3 females in the vicinity (the other one was the barmaid!!). We found out that the only thing we could buy was a crate of beer so we grabbed one of those and legged it, just as the locals were closing in...
That night we drank the entire crate between us, made lots of noise (to keep the mice at bay), and eventually crashed with not a care in the world!! The next day, we didn't have to do any work so we went for a drive around the area. It turns out that it is very isolated and all the neighbouring villages literally have nothing. The closest off-licence was over an hours drive away (again it was essential that we had something for the next night as well!!). The only thing the closest town had that we were staying in was a pub - no shop or post office or anything in fact. Actually I lie, it apparently has a lake, but as there is a huge drought at the moment that has all dried up, oh and a golf course but that was brown, plus I don't think it is open anymore!!
Anyway, along comes the next evening, and we have already spotted several mice throughout the day running around (the cheak!!). So we have dinner and then decide we can't stand it anymore and go to the pub. We make friends with the locals - who are very 'interesting'. Apparently the only thing that people do in these small towns (although they are technically smaller than our villages) is drink and gossip. At closing time, they chuck us out, although not without us grabing another crate of beer. We head back home, have a few more drinks and crash onces again.
The next evening we decided to be a little more responsible (and also we had all had big hangovers during the day so we really couldn't drink anymore), we had dinner and retired to bed. I had just switched off my light when I heard a rustle in the corner of my room. I stayed still and heard it again. Great, there's a mouse in my room. So I then spend the next 45 mins trying to get rid of the bl**dy thing!! I make a path for it so that it can run out of my room and I try to scare it out by banging the thing it is hiding behind. This doesn't work so in the end I just have to sit and watch and eventually it decides to leave, but only after stopping and having a quick look over at me - the cheak of it!! Surprisingly enough I didn't sleep that night! It definitely proves you need to have had a few drinks to stay in this place!!
The next day we built a fence for one of the new paddocks for the sheep. It was acutally quite fun, plus its nice to actually make something that is useful and will be around for a while. You'll be glad to hear that the next evening was mouse free in my room, although Jill woke up with droppings next to her head!! Luckily for them they were leaving that day:-( I was going to be left on my own in the house. PS did I mention it had an outside toilet, so in the middle of the night you had to make your way outside, praying that you don't come across a snake or anything!!
So that day I went to visit Wave Rock, which is literally a rock that looks like a huge wave - pretty impressive!! I will try and post some photos later. Anyway, guess what, that evening, my first night alone in that house, there was another mouse in my room - lucky me. I got rid of it the same way as the last and tried to sleep with no luck. The next day we had to go and feed the sheep. As there is a huge drought, there is no grass and the ground is literally like a dessert. I have to say, the one thing I came away from this experience is that sheep have to be the stupidest creatures on the planet (although they are hysterical to watch). Here we are driving along with the food on the ute and they come running towards us and then they decided they have gotten too close and start legging it in the other direction. So we put the food out for them and they won't go near it, thinking its going to attack them or something!! The food situation for the animals is pretty bad here, just in that one morning I spotted 12 dead sheep who had all popped it in the last day or two (very sad). You'll be glad to hear that that evening there was no mouse in my room.
The next day I was picking up rocks from the paddocks in preperation for when they sew the wheat seeds (thats if there is any rain though). That evening was my last one and the most unforgettable. In my room, I had removed most of the obsticales that the mice could hide behind, hoping that this would stop them coming in, although this did leave my belongings. Once again I was just settling down when out of the corner of my eye I spotted another mouse running out of my stuff behind a painting on the floor - great!! Unfortuantely this time, the mouse was situated behind the door so creating a clear pathway out of the room was a bit harder, but I managed it. So, once again I sat there waiting for it to move, I heard some rustling but nothing else. It was 12.30pm and I was getting bored, so with the broom in my hand I banged the painting. The mouse came flying out coming straight for the bed which I was on, so I moved the broom in its way, hoping to guide it towards the door. The thing is that mice move incredibly fast so that by the time I had moved my broom in place (which I figured would be just in front of the mouse), it had infact got there the same time as me and therefore ended up underneath the broom!! All I could see was its tail, which twitched a bit!! I stayed holding the broom for a while in that position trying to work out whether the mouse was dead or alive or whether, it was waiting for me to remove the broom and then it could run up my leg!!
Once again I was getting bored, so I found something else which I flicked its tail with, it didn't react, hmmmmm. Eventually, I moved the broom bit by bit to discover a rather squashed mouse underneath!!! I found some chopstick type things, picked it up by it's tail and dumped it in a plastic bag and threw it out!! So it turns out I'm pretty good at squashing mice - I did it on my first go!! The next morning, I was only too glad to be getting out of the place. Overall, I had enjoyed myself at the farm - it has certainly been an interesting experience, and I'm not so scared of mice now - at least they should be way more scared of me - especially when I have a broom in my hand!! But I did really enjoy driving the Utes around the farm - I'm like a proper aussie farmer!!!!
So I'm now back in Perth, enjoying the life of luxury, before I head north next week. I am making the most of living in a mouse, cockroach, ant, spider and bed bug free zone!!
Where I have been...
Friday, April 20, 2007
Friday, April 6, 2007
Margaret River and Balingup
So I left sunny Perth and made my way down to Margaret River which is in the South-West corner of Australia, near the coast. I was lucky enough to get a lift from a friend so I didn't have to sit on a bus for the 4 hour journey. Down in Margaret River they have some gorgeous beaches where a lot of surfing happens. It so happens that my trip coincided with the major surf competition in this region, so there were a lot of surf 'dudes' hanging around!! Also the one and only Kelly Slater was there!!!!!!!! (For those of you who have not heard of him, and I am going to hazard a guess that that would be all of you - he is the number one surfer in the world!!) Don't worry I was not that excited about his appearance either, but the people I got a lift from were well excitied about it as they were surfers and this was a very rare apperance as apparently he has never been down here before - WOW, I hear you all say!! Unfortuntely I didn't see him, although I wouldn't have clue what he looked like, even if he was jumping up and down in front of me shouting 'I'm Kelly Slater'!!
Anyway, moving on from that - I had a lovely couple of days down in Margaret River. I met two German Girls, Judith and Saskia, and we went on this Bushtucker tour which was great. We had to canoe along the Margaret River, and we found out a lot about the area, the aboriginals who onces lived there and the food.... At lunch time, we stopped off in the bush for a spot of local quisine!! We had Kangaroo and Emu which is surprisingly very good. We also tried the berries and fruits that grow in the area and which the aboriginals would have once eaten. Quite a few of this stuff was not that great - some was ok and I would have only eaten if I was desperate. There was also a grub up on offer. I declined, but Judith decided she wanted a bit. Apparently it was quite nice, although the guy who had the head said his was crunchy - nice!!! We also spotted a large family of kangaroos who were just sitting around enjoying the sun (I don't think they were happy about the fact we were eating their cousins!!).
After a few days I made my way to Balingup, which, as it happens is a very small place, in the middle of nowhere, with no phone reception and very limited resources for contacting the outside world!! Here, I was staying with a family, John, Fran and their 5-year-old Isabella (Bella) who owned a farm/vineyard. I had only been there a couple hours before the temperature decided to drop 15 degrees and then it rained - a lot!! As it was feeding time (they have cows, goats and a pony), I helped them get the hay. The cows all got very excited at the sound of the quad bike (I soon discovered that every time they heard it they immediately thought of food and would literally chase after it!!). One of the fields had the 2 male cows in it and the sodding great big bull. As it turned out, he was very hungry and proceded to get very adjitated - I ended up jumping over a fence to get out of his way!!!! Eventually, the animals were fed and I was wet right through - my only jumper was soaking (I had left my jacket on the bus) and I had nothing to keep me warm - I'd appreciate your sympathy here!! I managed to scrounge around and find an old dressing gown, a blanket and an old sleeping bag. Every second I could during the next 3 days I would cover myself with these items just to warm up. Now, I do realise that it was about 17 degrees celcius which by English standards is very warm, but not here (anything below 20 degrees is freezing!!) Plus you also have to remember that the average temperature that I have been living in for the last 16 months has been around 30 degrees. I was sooooooooo cold.
Anyway, life on the farm was good. On my first full day there, one of their cows had their calf but unfortunately it was not alive, so Fran went to the local Dairy farm and picked up a 2 1/2 week old male calf (Dairies don't have much use for male cows!). He was very cute and tame, none of the other calves on the farm would let you near them so Patchy (thats what I named him) became my favourite. Patchy, was to replace the dead calf so that the mother wouldn't morn (apparently they can get quite sick and die after losing a calf and as they only had 20 cows they could not afford to lose one). Over the 11 days I was there we spent quite a bit of time trying to persuade the mother to take this calf as her own. As she had never had a calf before, it proved very difficult!! On my last day there, Fran decided to give up on her as she clearly wasn't having any of it and just wanted to go and join her friends in the field. Luckily, I think because I said they couldn't, they have decided to keep Patchy and feed him off one of the other cows which they milk regularly - yeah :-) I did a lot of other things on the farm - some boring like weeding and collecting rocks in the field, and other a lot more fun. On one of the days they had to pick their Shiraz grapes off the vines. They only have a small vineyard so they sell their grapes to one of the larger vineyards in Margaret River who produces it and sells it on. Anyway, they hired a machine to pick the grapes and I had to help with the Mogging. The grapes get shaken off the trees with the machine and fed into bins on the trailer travelling beside it. Mogging was where you had to be on the trailer and you had to spread the grapes out in the bin and take out anything biggish that wasn't supposed to be there, like stickes and mice (we had two fall in!!). Apparently at night snakes also fall in so I'm glad we did this during the day!! It took us 4 hours to pick about 28 tons worth of grapes during which I got very sticky and grubby with all the grapes and juice. Also at one point, near the end the grape picking machine stopped but the trailer continued moving, I therefore, ended up with the grapes all being poured over my head instead of the bin - apparently I looked a sight!!
There was never a day the same while I was there, and also you never knew what would happen next. One night, 2 days before I left, John found one of his cows in a field (it just happened to be at the furthest point away from the farm that you could possible get!!) who would not get up. So him and Fran checked it out and left it with hay and water over night. Unfortunately the next morning it had managed to roll slightly down the hill and get stuck in the fence. I was up early that morning as I was supposed to be helping with the milking of the cows. We did that quickly and then John, Fran and I raced to the aid of this cow with the tractor and the quad bike. It took us about half an hour to clear the cow from the fence - detangling its feet. We then had the delightful task of flipping the cow over uphill - yes flipping it over uphill!! I have to say that I soon discovered that cows are bloody heavy creatures - she must have weighed about 600kg plus. We ended up having to flip her twice before we got her in the right position so that the tractor could lift her up in the sling. Eventually we managed to put her in the trailer and then very carefully we took her back to the farm and lay her down on some flat land there. So that only took 3 hours!! We then brought her calf to her, hoping that would calm her down. Although over my remaining two days there she still was trying to get up but would then get herself in to awkward positions and we had to flip her a further 2 more times just so she was comfortable. A couple of the neighbouring farms also had cows that had refused to get up. Apparently it's to do with the time of year, because its so hot and there is no grass, the cows are a lot weaker and they are also using a lot of energy feeding their calves :-( Winter is on its way so hopefully that will save them.
I have to say, as someone who never particularly liked cows, I have now grown to appreciate them - some are very adorable (especially Patchy) and they all have different characters and get up to silly things!! As long as you just look at their faces and ignore the back end then they are great!! (While I was there I seemed to keep treading in the cow poo, which earnt me the nickname 'dirty feet'!!)
I hope I haven't bored you all silly with my cow stories - tough if I have!! I am now back in Perth where I am chilling out in luxury (I have clean feet too!!) for the Easter period. I hope you all have a great Easter :-)
Anyway, moving on from that - I had a lovely couple of days down in Margaret River. I met two German Girls, Judith and Saskia, and we went on this Bushtucker tour which was great. We had to canoe along the Margaret River, and we found out a lot about the area, the aboriginals who onces lived there and the food.... At lunch time, we stopped off in the bush for a spot of local quisine!! We had Kangaroo and Emu which is surprisingly very good. We also tried the berries and fruits that grow in the area and which the aboriginals would have once eaten. Quite a few of this stuff was not that great - some was ok and I would have only eaten if I was desperate. There was also a grub up on offer. I declined, but Judith decided she wanted a bit. Apparently it was quite nice, although the guy who had the head said his was crunchy - nice!!! We also spotted a large family of kangaroos who were just sitting around enjoying the sun (I don't think they were happy about the fact we were eating their cousins!!).
After a few days I made my way to Balingup, which, as it happens is a very small place, in the middle of nowhere, with no phone reception and very limited resources for contacting the outside world!! Here, I was staying with a family, John, Fran and their 5-year-old Isabella (Bella) who owned a farm/vineyard. I had only been there a couple hours before the temperature decided to drop 15 degrees and then it rained - a lot!! As it was feeding time (they have cows, goats and a pony), I helped them get the hay. The cows all got very excited at the sound of the quad bike (I soon discovered that every time they heard it they immediately thought of food and would literally chase after it!!). One of the fields had the 2 male cows in it and the sodding great big bull. As it turned out, he was very hungry and proceded to get very adjitated - I ended up jumping over a fence to get out of his way!!!! Eventually, the animals were fed and I was wet right through - my only jumper was soaking (I had left my jacket on the bus) and I had nothing to keep me warm - I'd appreciate your sympathy here!! I managed to scrounge around and find an old dressing gown, a blanket and an old sleeping bag. Every second I could during the next 3 days I would cover myself with these items just to warm up. Now, I do realise that it was about 17 degrees celcius which by English standards is very warm, but not here (anything below 20 degrees is freezing!!) Plus you also have to remember that the average temperature that I have been living in for the last 16 months has been around 30 degrees. I was sooooooooo cold.
Anyway, life on the farm was good. On my first full day there, one of their cows had their calf but unfortunately it was not alive, so Fran went to the local Dairy farm and picked up a 2 1/2 week old male calf (Dairies don't have much use for male cows!). He was very cute and tame, none of the other calves on the farm would let you near them so Patchy (thats what I named him) became my favourite. Patchy, was to replace the dead calf so that the mother wouldn't morn (apparently they can get quite sick and die after losing a calf and as they only had 20 cows they could not afford to lose one). Over the 11 days I was there we spent quite a bit of time trying to persuade the mother to take this calf as her own. As she had never had a calf before, it proved very difficult!! On my last day there, Fran decided to give up on her as she clearly wasn't having any of it and just wanted to go and join her friends in the field. Luckily, I think because I said they couldn't, they have decided to keep Patchy and feed him off one of the other cows which they milk regularly - yeah :-) I did a lot of other things on the farm - some boring like weeding and collecting rocks in the field, and other a lot more fun. On one of the days they had to pick their Shiraz grapes off the vines. They only have a small vineyard so they sell their grapes to one of the larger vineyards in Margaret River who produces it and sells it on. Anyway, they hired a machine to pick the grapes and I had to help with the Mogging. The grapes get shaken off the trees with the machine and fed into bins on the trailer travelling beside it. Mogging was where you had to be on the trailer and you had to spread the grapes out in the bin and take out anything biggish that wasn't supposed to be there, like stickes and mice (we had two fall in!!). Apparently at night snakes also fall in so I'm glad we did this during the day!! It took us 4 hours to pick about 28 tons worth of grapes during which I got very sticky and grubby with all the grapes and juice. Also at one point, near the end the grape picking machine stopped but the trailer continued moving, I therefore, ended up with the grapes all being poured over my head instead of the bin - apparently I looked a sight!!
There was never a day the same while I was there, and also you never knew what would happen next. One night, 2 days before I left, John found one of his cows in a field (it just happened to be at the furthest point away from the farm that you could possible get!!) who would not get up. So him and Fran checked it out and left it with hay and water over night. Unfortunately the next morning it had managed to roll slightly down the hill and get stuck in the fence. I was up early that morning as I was supposed to be helping with the milking of the cows. We did that quickly and then John, Fran and I raced to the aid of this cow with the tractor and the quad bike. It took us about half an hour to clear the cow from the fence - detangling its feet. We then had the delightful task of flipping the cow over uphill - yes flipping it over uphill!! I have to say that I soon discovered that cows are bloody heavy creatures - she must have weighed about 600kg plus. We ended up having to flip her twice before we got her in the right position so that the tractor could lift her up in the sling. Eventually we managed to put her in the trailer and then very carefully we took her back to the farm and lay her down on some flat land there. So that only took 3 hours!! We then brought her calf to her, hoping that would calm her down. Although over my remaining two days there she still was trying to get up but would then get herself in to awkward positions and we had to flip her a further 2 more times just so she was comfortable. A couple of the neighbouring farms also had cows that had refused to get up. Apparently it's to do with the time of year, because its so hot and there is no grass, the cows are a lot weaker and they are also using a lot of energy feeding their calves :-( Winter is on its way so hopefully that will save them.
I have to say, as someone who never particularly liked cows, I have now grown to appreciate them - some are very adorable (especially Patchy) and they all have different characters and get up to silly things!! As long as you just look at their faces and ignore the back end then they are great!! (While I was there I seemed to keep treading in the cow poo, which earnt me the nickname 'dirty feet'!!)
I hope I haven't bored you all silly with my cow stories - tough if I have!! I am now back in Perth where I am chilling out in luxury (I have clean feet too!!) for the Easter period. I hope you all have a great Easter :-)
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