Weeks 11 and 12
Well the countdown to Christmas started. It definitely didn't felt like Christmas was near as it was the middle of summer.
I was still doing the usually farm routines with the kids, horses and gardening.
The first weekend Melanie and Cyril invited us over for lunch. We headed into town to get our weekly shopping and some drinks to take over. A storm came over us in town and once returning to Weeallah we had to come in on the wet weather road. I was driving and it was so slippery, so much so that I did a really big slip and slide bit luckily still maintained control of the car.
Taking the ute over to Melanie and Cyril's so we didn't get bogged if it carried on raining. Even though it was raining we still managed to sit out on the verandah for lunch. We had a great afternoon chatting away and eating snacks and burgers as thunderstorms passed by us. We got so carried away chatting that we didn't realise that the sun had set. Time to leave. Thank you for a great afternoon.
Went out for a late evening ride in house paddock. First we had to round up the horses and bring them in so I could ride Illusion.
Last 2 weeks of work on the farm, the time seems to pass by so quickly. We managed to finally finish the puzzle we started. Arrived on the Monday to work and found that Dave had brought 3 new horses, I didn't get to meet them as they were put out in the paddock to settle in.
Had a busy few days tidying and cleaning the house for some guests coming to the farm. It was full days of hard work to get everything spick and span. I was knackered.
One morning I went down to feed the horses and I noticed that the sheep was sitting out on its own. I went over to check and saw it had had twins. They were probably only a few hours old.
Gave Digby and Claudia their last riding lessons as the first week of December was their last week of school and Kindy because it was Summer/Christmas holidays. They were off to Melbourne for a holiday to see their grandparents.
Our last weekend was a little different as a charity - Drought Angel's - was putting on a Christmas party for all the local farmers and their workers. We got to go along and when we arrived we were asked to bring our car over and they started loading it up with boxes and boxes of stuff. I was quite excited to see what we actually got. We met Melanie and Cyril at the party where we spent the night listening to the music while we were chatting and eating. Once we arrived home we opened all the boxes and we couldn't believe how much stuff we got...just to list a few; tins of baked beans, a box of fruit, a box washing products and Christmas presents. We could cross most of the stuff of our weeks shopping list.
On the Sunday we had invited Melanie and Cyril over for dinner. After comparing all the stuff we had got at the Christmas party we played a few games of uno and monopoly. Next we went down to the horses and let Melanie and Cyril have a ride around on Oman and Illusion, they really enjoyed the ride. Joaquín managed to get another quick canter on Oman before we went back for pizza. With dinner we pulled some Christmas crackers we got from the party...Joaquín had never seen these before, not something they do in Chile.
The last week was one of the best weeks there as I got to do some work with the Cattle. I got the chance to open the door and trap the cattle one by one in the cattle crusher.
Sometimes they came down more than one at a time and you had to be super quick to not let more then one through the door. I got to spray their backs with some kind of bug spray, tag their ears and I only branded one!
I got to ride all of the new horses that week. First on Hollywood the 5 year old...who was beautiful to ride, then on the two 3 year olds, Magnum and Class. I also got to muster the cattle and take them from the yards out to their paddock. The first time I rode Timmy, Joaquín was on a quad and Dave on Illusion. This was an easy muster as we had a fence line to follow the whole way along so I stayed at the back and pushed them on. One broke away from the mob and Dave was like, go and get it back then...so off I went but I just lost it amongst the bushes. After that had happened Dave gave me a lesson in mustering, a bit too late for the lost heifer! Once delivering the cattle to the paddock Joaquín and I rode back together on the horses.
The next muster I went out on Illusion with Dan and Joaquín on the bikes. This was a little harder muster as we didn't have a fence line to follow. I ended up being on the wing of the cattle trying not to loose one this time!
The last muster was on our last day...first in the morning I spent some time cleaning and tidying the house. Then it was time to move some cattle from one paddock to another. I was on Magnum this time the boys on the quads.
The plan was to sweep the paddock and push the cattle to the gate but Dave changed his mind, we abandoned that plan and started on a new one. We regrouped and went into the next paddock and moved the cattle from that one instead to the next.
This was an easy muster (even though we didn't have a fence). I mainly stayed at the back and again didn't loose one. I had a lovely canter back to the gooseneck (trailer) on Magnum, then loaded him up and drove the gooseneck back while the boys checked another paddock.
The last week wouldn't be complete without weeding!
It was time to say goodbye to Weeallah and Dave. We had a great experience at the farm and learnt so much. Will always remember my time there.
Road trip with Melanie and Cyril all the way back to Brisbane. Packed the car up with all our stuff amongst the already packed car! We had a fun ride back stopping for lunch in Toowoomba before reaching Brisbane. They dropped us off at a petrol station, said our thanks and goodbyes.
