Short Stories

Nothing too crazy has been going on, just regular old life on the station. I had a phone call with my family a few days ago and seeing as it was the second or third one where they asked “Whats been going on?” and all I had to talk about were laundry and various encounters with wildlife I sort of realized that while things are very exciting for me in the day to day, I'm sort of not up to much on a grand scale. Therefore let me entertain you with a few anecdotes from everyday life down under.

"Clean up the shoes"  Didn't realize boots all got to hang out together.

Apple Juice

In case you were wondering, 5 Seeds is great! I love cider. Its like alcoholic Juicy-Juice...I'm still a child in many ways. American cider is...well...they do lots of things better. The classic British ciders are good for an every day sort of drink but are hardly THE BEST THING I'VE EVER HAD. Though, if you really want to spice up afternoon tea, grab a Thistly Cross, chug it down because you're dying of thirst and its delicious, and then realize its 12% and stumble the rest of your way around the Royal Yacht Britannia.

Old Books

You should be thrilled to find out that I've finally finished A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones books for those not in the know). I'm actually really pleased, simply because it means I've moved into the “people who finish books” crowd and away from the “people who buy books and make great piles that they use as bedside tables” crowd. To be fair though I'll probably still make a table out of them.

They are great and highly recommended to people who enjoyed the show and people of all sorts really! I breezed through the first ones, but gee whiz did I run out of steam...I think it took more time for me to read A Dance with Dragons (the current last book in the series) than it took George R.R. Martin to write it. When you know the end of a book won't provide any closure, its very hard to care about finishing anytime soon. So reviewing that information, if you like whole, completed, tied up stories maybe this one isn't for you.

Does anyone know if Winds of Winter is the last one? Surely there are more family crests that need to be thoroughly described?

New Books

The ASoIaF shaped hole in my life needed quick refilling with anything but fantasy or fiction. My favorite takeaway from Bill Bryson's fantastic Down Under was that since Australians are so far away from everyone else, they just have to pay attention to themselves – providing us visitors with amazing books on the most obscure of Australian goings on.

The Watson's invited me to have a look at their bookshelf, and low and behold there was my gem. I am now currently reading Ketching the Kenniffs, a history of two bushranger brothers who stole cattle, horses, and caused a whole lot of ruckus at the turn of the century in Queensland. The brilliant part of it is that they operated right here in the Carnarvon Ranges. The former manager of Carnarvon Station was even murder by these guys! Its bringing a whole new level of insight to the land I'm currently living on. These guys were really here and I can see the whole thing like a movie when I walk out my back door.

Nicknames

Whenever you join up with a new mob of people its always fun coming up with new nicknames for each other...I truly consider it a big step in becoming friends. If I've nicknamed you, we have entered into a serious friendship. Act accordingly. And if I have multiple nicknames for you, well we might as well be married.

Somehow, these Aussies have jumped over a few of the steps. No doubt, one rum and coke fueled evening on the verandah we got to talking about childhood nicknames. Mine isn't so much just a childhood one – my family still calls me by it today! Its some what embarrassing, so the next logical paragraph is dispelling it to the internet.

When I was a wee bub I had a clogged tear duct. What's that? Its a thing in your eye that makes tears to keep your eyes moist. You know when you wake up and your eyes are a bit crusty? Well that's what my eye was like all the time, except it wasn't crusty it was fluid. Equipped with the history you now possess it should not surprise you that of course, my father started calling his adorable only daughter, Booger.

I've embraced it over the years, its a fun nickname once you clarify with everyone that you didn't get it by picking your nose. As you could imagine, the Watson's LOVED this story. Its the sort of thing that takes lifetimes to come up with, so they weren't going to let it go by any means. It wasn't a few hours later that Booga (Australian spelling/pronunciation) was asked if she wanted another drink.

A few weeks on, Miss Boogs regularly receives greetings, emails, and questions in the classroom. Kaitlyn is all but a formality used during introductions at this point.

Driving

This one is self explanatory. We were out one afternoon when Chris stopped in the middle of the dirt road, got out and said “Let's see your driving, Booga!” The hardest part was that it was a big truck and wasn't automatic. Rightsidedness didn't really cause any trouble, though I do expect once there are a) two sides to the road and b) other drivers within 100 kms it might be a bit tougher.

I'M DOING IT!  I'M DOING IT!  

Birthdays and Local Anthropology

Not only did I get to celebrate my birthday recently (and got an awesome Bush Heritage shirt!) but we also had one of the girls birthday's. The weekend before we went over to the manager's homestead at Mt. Moffat on Carnarvon National Park (not our property, an actual National Park) where there are kids the girls' age and, this is a big and for them, the kids have a pony. The girls got to ride the pony all day, we got to drink, and then we got to tour around the park a bit. After a few months at our Carnarvon, its nice to be somewhere with beaten paths and sign posts!

Heart Cave, as we call it.

Marlong Arch - Carnarvon National Park

Beer in hand in the late afternoon, new Bush Heritage shirt,  gotta love hiking in Oz!

I love birthdays. Its like a holiday, but instead of celebrating something sort of sad, religious, or made up you get to celebrate someone you care about. That being said, I don't make things easy for them. Why give people presents when you can send them on a treasure hunt with clues and secret maps?  If it isn't already, I also highly recommend adding the following to your 100 Things to Do Before I Die List: witnessing three kids, one grown man, and one dog experience Pop Rocks for the first time.  

Wet tea bag + Burnd edges = Centuries old treasure map 

On Kate's big day we went for a little adventure to Conglomerate Springs where we enjoyed crushing up ochre for some Aboriginal face painting, climbing around the giant boulders, and inspecting some Aboriginal carving stones.  The floods a few years ago washed away some of the soil, exposed about three feet (deep) of never before seen carvings.  With six feet of dirt on top it just makes you wonder...these people were here a long time ago.

Not your everyday traffic problem (or solution).  Note, rifle in foreground just in case we come across anything feisty. 

Face painting Aboriginal style! 

Booga in all her glory.

Rocks, man.  

For some more recent evidence of Aboriginal habitation, we stopped and took a look at these 'Scar Trees'.  The long oval shape is actually a scar from where an Aboriginal would have cut out a shield for battle.  These threes aren't more than 100 years old.  Combine that with our rock carving knowledge and it blows me away to think of how long the Aboriginals have inhabited this country.  Fascinating!  Or maybe you just see rocks and trees.  You have to admit they're nice rocks and trees though. 

Its a nice lookin' shield really.

Is this heaven?  No, its Australia.

The Big Drove

Over at yet another neighboring cattle property, Dooloogarah, the owners were doing one of their biannual cattle droves (rounding them up to brand etc.). Back in the day this would have been done on horseback over a few days, but now they use quads and helicopters and get it done in one morning! It was pretty amazing to watch (from atop a stack of hay bales), only a few cheeky bulls which tried to get away!

Sorry for the bad quality...we were pretty far off as to not get run over and this is just a snapshot from a video.  Helicopter floating up there on the left droving the cattle to the pen on the lower right. 

That's about all for now, we're heading away for a few days, but some fun news should be coming soon so watch out for that!