Kroombit Cattle Station :)
Our next stop was to be another special Oz Experience over-night stop like the Surf Camp we did back in Spot X. Our driver for the next couple days was Beaver who was so fun and a proper Aussie country boy so he was the perfect driver to take us to the cattle station!
We arrived at Kroombit just in time for a lunch of steak and salad. Whilst eating one of the cowboys Jonathon gave us a demo of how to ride the horses as most of us were going riding after. Once we’d checked into our room and perchased our neckachiefs/cowboy hats we headed down to the paddocks where the horses were, all the horses were different – my one Buttons needed a big kick but once she got going we got on very well!
We rode the horses up through the hills over to where the goat fields were, here it was our job to ‘muster’/round all the goats up and get them into thier pens at the bottom. It was mental – we had to shout ‘AAAYYYY UP UP UP’ to get them moving but after a while we were properly in control and it was wicked. It was a good achievement when the team had got them all in and the gates were finally shut. Afterwards we went for a horse ride then headed back to the ranch.
With time for a quick change we then headed back up in the bus to where the goats were, some people did some clay pigeon shooting and we all attempted lasooing things which is a lot harder than it looks! After this we got into teams of four and all sat around a ring by the goats pen… in was time for the Rodeo! Each team had to take it in turns to jump into the ring, Jonathon would then tell one member which goat they had to catch – Holly was the catcher in our team so when the clock started she had to run into the goat pen and try to catch the one he’d picked for her. The best way is to grab them by the horns or one back leg. At first we thought it seemed a bit cruel but for the guys that work there this is their livelyhood so we just sucked it up and got on with it! haha Anyway, once Hol got the goat she had to drag it into the ring – then it was my job to tip the goat which ment grabbiong it by a front and back leg and tipping it onto its side and holding it down whilst Laura branded it (fake branding don’t worry!) and then finally Mikaela had to drag it out of the ring to freedom. It was such a laugh and everyone got really into it.
After this we all got in the ring and held hands in a circle where Jnathon then proceeded to send an electric shock around us with a cattle rod. OUCHHHHH, but funny.
That night we had a full on roast beef dinner (obviously being on a cattle farm) which was delicious and then the owner of the ranch, and old bloke called Al chatted top us about the history of the area and of cowboys and then we all had a go at cracking a whip! Then the drinking began and everyone tried thier luck on the mechanical bull…Nutcracker, poor boys. We went to bed quite early as we were knackerd and then after a quick brekky the next morning we were off on the longest stretch of our journey so far. The 10 hour bus ride to Airlie Beach….
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