The second day I got to help out on another sheep farm where the farmer was rotating his herds around to different paddocks and as it was lambing season checking on the ewes. His dogs were particularly well trained; we would drive the ute while the dogs did all the work. He explained that a properly trained dog can be worth as much as two full time employees. All they need is a bit of a pat, some food and the best part is they are ALWAYS eager to work. The only job they couldn’t do was open the gates and thats where I came in lol.
After not being around or working with animals for over 1 year and working with the general SICK public, I was feeling a bit out of touch and realized I needed a good dose of animal work and country life. I asked our flat mate if he knew of any farmers who could use a volunteer for a week to help out with whatever jobs they had around. Our flatmate called around and organized with his friend from agriculture college, that we all come down for a weekend then I was to stay the week with the family and help out. A few weeks later we were all making our way to the country, to a town called Grenfell 400 km South West of Sydney! After a 3 hr train ride to Sydney then a 5 hour car trip we arrived at the Nowlan’s who met us with open arms. They then showed us around their beautiful newly built country home. The house was quite large, Andrew and I stayed in the west wing where we had our own bedroom and bathroom. The East wing was where all the other bedrooms are. The wings of the house are connected by a massive kitchen and living area. As Grenfell gets quite cold in the winter they built the house with water heated floors all throughout...so lovely. Not only was the home amazing the family that fills is spectacular, loving and welcoming. Saturday morning we woke up to a egg, bacon and sausage breakfast then played around on the farm. The house is situated next to a river and surrounded by fields of canola. Each kid has a plot of land that is theirs and named after them. In a nearby paddock was a herd of ewes with their lambs tucked in close. We always had to make sure we knew where Jock, the family dog, was as he thoroughly enjoyed pointlessly chasing the sheep across the field scaring the lambs. They also have a small flock of chooks, a potty lamb and potty calf. One of my daily jobs was to feed the potty lamb, Julian, and potty calf, Yum Yum. Dom was a sucker for potty animals, he would joke that would one day they would end up in his freezer, which wasn't much of a joke if you saw their freezer! Around lunch time we loaded the ute up with some chairs and a cast iron stove then drove down the road into the woods to have a paddock cookout. Once the camp and fire were set we went to cut wood. To our surprise cutting wood is therapeutic, relaxing and something everyone enjoyed! I’ve piled wood in the past but have never driven to a field and started hacking away at a massive fallen tree. Luckily they had an automatic splitter, which did the majority of the work. Once we had a trailer full we went back to the fire where Dom lit the stove and cooked us home made sausages for lunch. Afterwards we spent the afternoon enjoying the area, kicking the footy and relaxing! Saturday night we dressed up in our finest attire and headed to the local Bimbi pub where we had a delicious dinner and excellent, freshly baked cheesecake for dessert. The next mroning the boys headed back to Sydney and were very jealous of me for getting to stay for the week;) As Dom and Emily work full-time off farm, they arranged for me to visit different farms and help out with full-time farmers. Not only did they arrange farm visits, they let me use their farm ute to get around. It was great having my own set of wheels to explore the area. Each morning we got up around 6:30 am, got ready for school or work then headed down the laneway to meet the school bus. Every morning I would follow Dom to the bus stop with all the kids in my ute, it was hilarious watching them fight who got to sit in the front for the 30-second drive lol. Once the kids were on the bus we would continue to either the farm or into town where I would meet the farmer I would be working with that day. Over the week I helped out on 3 different sheep farms with something new and exciting happening each day. The first day I got to help out in a shearing shed where I helped sort out the ewe's from their lambs. Once separated the ewes were shuffled into the shearing shed, sheared then sprayed with a yellow lice repellent to help kill any lice and prevent future infestations.Sheep farmers normally employ contracted shearers to come to their shed and shear as the work is very full on and would take way too long for them to do by themselves. The shearers were quite intense, they work 8 hours spread out in 4 two hour blocks with a 30 min break into between each block. Once finished, the sheep were put back with their lambs then herded back to their respected fields. It was incredible and inspiring watching the farmers with their working dogs. They would yell commands and the dogs would know what side to run to and how to organize the sheep. One common practice I saw done throughout the week was the farmers would tie the dogs up whenever they moved lambs and ewes. They all said the dogs would get too excited and rush the ewes scaring the lambs. I thought it was quite nice to see they were concerned for the little lambs overall welfare. Each night when I got home I’d give a run through of my day to the family and tell them what I had done and experienced. We then would go outside, play with Jock, feed the potty animals and all sit down to a lovely dinner. The second day I got to help out on another sheep farm where the farmer was rotating his herds around to different paddocks and as it was lambing season checking on the ewes. His dogs were particularly well trained; we would drive the ute while the dogs did all the work. He explained that a properly trained dog can be worth as much as two full time employees. All they need is a bit of a pat, some food and the best part is they are ALWAYS eager to work. The only job they couldn’t do was open the gates and thats where I came in lol. While we were moving herds we came across a brown snake crossing the road. Brown snakes are the second most venomous land based snakes and are commonly found on the eastern coast of Australia. He explained for it being mid winter it was quite uncommon to see one, yet he mentioned in the summer it's quite common...gross! They are not usually aggressive however, he has lost a few dogs to them over the years. They don’t usually attack yet if I dog encounter’s one and corners it the snake then feels threatened and strikes. After seeing one I felt a bit uneasy especially because we had to sort sheep using the stock chute which was overgrown with weeds higher than my shoulders. We had to walk through pressing the weeds down with our boots in order to get the sheep to move through the chute. The weeds were so tall that when they walked through the centre you couldn’t tell where they were standing, luckily the dogs were there to help. The second part of the day we spent helping sheep up that had rolled onto their sides during lambing. Once they are on their sides they can't get up because their upper body with that massive wool coat is too heavy to maneuver over, if they are left unchecked some die of starvation or complications during lambing. To help mobilize them we gave them a concentrated glycol solution then tried to lift them onto their feet . Wednesday and Friday I worked on another farm marking. The farm was about 20 mins out of town, set on a beautiful property surrounded by rolling green hills. Marking is when you separate the lambs from the ewe’s then vaccinate with an injection and oral drench to kill any internal parasites and prevent disease. Once vaccinated the lambs get ear tagged, tail docked (to prevent fly strike) and castrated using small rubber bands around their tail and testicles. I had a go at all the tasks but was quickest at drenching and vaccinating. On the first day we marked 450 lambs and on the second we did another 350. For lunch the farmers wife brought us hot tea, coffee, baked goods and homemade sandwiches, which we ate out the back of the ute. It was lots of fun marking! I really enjoyed my time with the family, everyone was so relaxed, welcoming and fun. I also loved working outside in the fresh country air, handling the animals and learning about sheep production. Originally we had planned to do the second day or marking on Thursday; however, it was raining so we postponed it to Friday. That meant I had the day off on Thursday to explore Grenfell! I started the morning by going for a run down the road, playing with Jock then headed into town to meet Dominik and his colleague Steve at a local pub for lunch. Dom ordered a plate called The Mixed Grill, which consisted of a two types of chops, a 8 oz steak, bacon and an egg cracked on top with french fries and the smallest amount of vegetables on the side. He joked by saying he was preparing himself for the dinner I was making, which was vegetarian lasagna. After the pub Dom and Steve went back to work while I explored Grenfell. I walked around the town poking around in the little shops. I ended up at the towns art museum where they had a great display of hand made quilts made by local ladies. I was amazed at the intricacy of the quilt patterns. One in particular was Australian themed and would have made the best souvenir, too bad it wasn’t for sale. I then picked up a few things for dinner and headed home to meet the kids. I was a bit hesitant to make the family vegetarian lasagna as they are major meat eaters. They are building a kill room and cold celler to process their own meat, we were fortunate to have some of their meat from their farm and it was fantastic! In the end the lasagne went over quite well, I even noticed they went back for seconds. I had so much fun with the family we shared lots of good laughs together. They made me feel like a part of their family and at times like the new "toy". One of my favourite comments of the week was when the youngest son asked his parents if they could “keep me” lol. For dessert I made brownies, which I found out was a very “American” thing to bake and that they weren’t the families favourite... you could have fooled me as they were gone by the end of the night! Friday I went back to the Nealon’s to finish marking sheep, on the way I got a bit lost and ended up at a gate, which had a sign to not let out the grazing cattle and that shooting is permitted on the property. I couldn’t remember if on Wednesday we had driven through the gate so I continued down the road. Along the way I had kangaroos bounding alongside the fence, right next to the car, they were keeping my pace then spilt off into the bush. When I got to the second gate I realized I must have been lost, turned around and made my way to the correct farm. Once I got there and explained to them where I had been they said “geez you were up in deliverance country" lol which would have explained the broken downs house with cars covering the property. After we were done they took me for a scenic drive around their property showing me the fabulous views of the surrounding valleys. After that I headed back to town, picked up some lunch at the local café, showered then jumped on the bus back to Sydney. You know it’s a small town when you get introduced to the bus driver and only one other person gets on to go to the city on a Friday afternoon. All in all I had the best week! I thoroughly enjoyed spending time in Grenfell and with the families who were all kind and made me feel so at home while being so far from home. I really appreciate all their efforts in arranging my amazing farm visits and loved learning and experiencing a little bit about everyone’s lifestyles. Country life was so happy, fun, welcoming, relaxed and charming. I can’t wait to visit again or better yet return the favour one day. Thank you to everyone who made my farm stay amazing!
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Ah winter in Newcastle, well it's very different than winter in Canada. Firstly, Australia does get winter and cold weather, not cold like at home but cold enough that people wear winter woolies (coats, boots, scarves and beanies (toques). The real difference for us is that we actually felt the cold here not like in Canada. As this part of Australia, Newcastle only gets winter for 2-3 months not many houses or work places are heated or properly insulated, yet on those cold days you sure wish it was. Our apartment for example, has central air and heat; however, our flatmate bought a gas heater to save on electricity that we used in the evenings and shut off at night. This meant that we had to sleep with at least 2 dooners (duvets) and winter jammies, Courtney even bought a pair of UGG style slippers. On the coldest days we would wear all our warm clothes, meaning a sweater, a light wind breaker and scarf but we never bought anything warmer than what we came with :). The second major difference between their winter and Canada's is that Aussies participate in more organized sports in their Winter as it's too hot in the summer. So every weekend we would see fields filled with children running around kicking the footy. Our outdoor activities changed a bit as well, we spent less time swimming and surfing and more time running along the coast, trail running in the Glenrock conservation area and going to hot yoga. One weekend we ventured to Sydney to watch the Banff Mountain Film Festival, which was amazing very inspirational. If you can see it where you live we suggest you do! While in Sydney we also went for a hike through Royal National Park with Amy and Sid. Another weekend Amy and Stefan came to visit us in Newcastle. We took them around to the local sights, one neat activity is to watch the huge coal ships manoeuvre their way through the small harbour. Later in the day we introduced them to our our local tequila bar :) Another weekend we did our SSI dry suit diving course, which was great because we stayed bone dry while diving and will now be ready to dive in Canada. We got two dives with the course, the first was in a protected bay off a beach to get us use to using the dry suit and getting our buoyancy correct. The second dive was at an actual dive site where we saw tons of fish, an octopus, some rays and nudibranch! The best part of winter in Australia is the massive whale migration that occurs along the NSW coastline! The whales migrate to the warmer waters in Queensland to mate and give birth from April to August. Then they start making their way back down from September to November. They estimate over 20,000 Southern Right Whales pass coming very close to shore. We were fortunate enough to see a few hundred grace us with their presence right from our balcony! It was amazing getting to spot them, we had a pair of binoculars from South Africa that we would use :) We would first spot them by the massive amounts of water shot out of their blow hole, then they would come right close to the baths, where we would swim in summer, and lots would then breach! One day we were walking along the coast and walked into the baths area, right then a HUGE whale shot out of the water and splashed down about 75m off the bath wall. It was insane, too bad we didn't get a shot of it. Andrew did get a few good ones while spotting off the balcony. A few days I sat waiting patiently, near the baths with the camera as they went pass but wasn't lucky enough to get one breaching. We got close but not as close as this guy did! http://www.smh.com.au/environment/whale-watch/surfer-knocked-unconscious-as-10metre-whale-tosses-bondi-boarders-with-its-tail-20130707-2pjn5.html Another joy of winter is watching the amazing sunsets and waves. Andrew took some brilliant shots of the massively huge storms that would roll in. One amazing attribute to living on the ocean is watching the weather and waves change. In one day we can have the sunniest, bluest day with flat calm water and by the evening the clouds and wind has rolled in and the surf is 8m high bursting out over the swimming baths. Sometimes when the dark clouds roll in it's like watching something from the movie Independence Day when the Alien's massive mothership covers NYC. Another weekend we had a go (Aussie expression for trying something out) at open water sailing through our local cruising yacht club. We were told if we showed up 1.5 hours before the race started we would probably get to help crew one of the boats. So one Sunday morning we showed up, asked around and were placed on two separate boats. Having no sailing experience we were of little help but both had an amazing time out on the water. The boat Courtney was on was a relaxed cruising yacht, which also gets used to race. However, Andrew's boat was strictly for racing and so his crew was much more intense and competitive. Courtney got to enjoy whale watching, helped counter balance, pulled a sail in under the deck and even got to try steering while Andrew ran around trying to listen to where the skipper wanted him to sit. At the end they all race for fun, some just take it more seriously than others :) We all ended the day trip with a few beers, a good laugh and watched dolphins flip and follow the boats back to the harbour. We both really enjoyed the experience and would love to have another go at sailing in the future. Newcastle also has a fantastic shared multi-use pathway that runs along a closed railway, which was once used for transporting coal. One day we biked to Red Head (30km) with two British friends, John and Sunny. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day and a great ride. One of the last winter weekends we road tripped with John and Sunny to Byron Bay, a beautiful, touristy beach town 8 hours South of Newcastle. Byron is very popular with tourists as it has great year round weather, a massive beach with crystal clear water and soft white sand, nice walks in Cape Byron Conservation Area and unlimited choices for food and accomodation. We stayed at a relaxed backpackers on the main street and enjoyed its proximity to the shops, bars and beach. Byron has a really nice relaxed atmosphere with a massive beach culture. The weather wasn't ideal for the beach on Saturday so we rented bikes to get around then hiked up to the lighthouse for a wonderful view of the surrounding area. Sunday the weather was amazing, hot and sunny, so we spent the morning swimming and playing on the beach! It was quite difficult getting back in the car mid-day for the 8 hour drive home. The weekend was great fun and I would definitely recommend staying a bit longer to really enjoy the towns charm.
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