Ol' Farmer Andy!

Sunday morning, recovering from a night out in bed, John knocks on my door. "you're invited to tea at the Watt's farm in Gore, and you can stay there for a few days if you want. We leave in an hour."

View from the farmhouse

And so began my first farming experience, a random dash to have a shower and pack what I thought would be neccessary to work on a farm. Went there for tea, had a tour of the farm, got to know my host's James, Gill and Diana, was forced by Pat to provide entertainment when to her delight she discovered they had a Piano, I am now her dancing monkey... Good start. The following morning I had a nice lie in before wandering down to the yards to see if I could be of any help. My first job was to help with drafting, organising the lambs by weight to see which were ready for the works (slaughter) and which needed another few weeks fattening up (a smart sheep would have a hunger strike) I just drove them into a narrow passage and kept them moving. Over my two days on the farm we sorted around 2000 lambs. It's good fun and you have to stay on your toes, those lambs jump like nutters and get damn close to kicking you in the jaw.

The Yards

Bringing sheep in from the outer paddocks has to be my favourite part, at first I did it on foot with dogs and James in the jeep but on day two I was on a quad bike and James on a dirt bike... whizzing over hills mustering hundreds of sheep towards gates just doesn't seem to get boring! In the evenings I would head off on either the dirt bike or the quad to explore the farm.. of the two I preferred the quad... the bike had a tendency to batter my legs... Stupid kick start.. Getting used to changing gears with your foot and doing the clutch with your hand is a toughie... but I got the hang of it, after a few cuts and bruises (stalling at speed not reccommended!)

Wonderfully whenever we returned from working hard on the farm Jame's wife and/or daughter had always cooked up something unbelievably tasty, safe to say... I ate well, and slept better. Oh and I had my first bath in about 3 months, was a jacuzzi bath too! Tooooo nice! (Before anyone says "that's disgusting!"... I showered fools!) It was a great experience and I hope to try my hand at it again sometime, working outdoors really does have it's maaajor positives!

<3