Chillagoe Rodeo

While working on the fences last week we came up on some wild horses on the other side of the fence. They were some of the biggest horses I've ever seen, and I don't know what it is, but there was something very awe-inspiring about the moment. That's all I'm saying..

The big news of course was the Chillagoe Rodeo that went on last weekend. Now I knew this was going to be an event of about 2-300 people, but somehow I found myself more giddy in anticipation of 'people!' and 'civilization!' than I knew possible. It must have dawned on me that this would be one of the biggest, no scratch that, THE biggest affair I'd be attending in a long time. So I was defintely going to make the most of it.

When pulling into town, I had one of those radically new perspective that turns your world upside down. This was because for the first time in my life, I drove into a town with a population of 200 people (about half my average classroom size in Uni) and the very first thought in my head was 'oh wow, look at all the buildings and people!'. Sigh.

I got to bunk up in the house adjacent to the General Store, thanks to Vicki, the same lady that I met on the plane and who found me my current job. A bed next to an extra laptop with broadband internet.. I was in heaven. It's a blessing I was able to remove myself from the room to go to the pubs and the rodeo.

There are two pubs in Chillagoe, known commonly as 'the top pub', and 'the bottom pub'. The top pub is known to be more of a family-friently environment, heck they even have a little playscape out past the beergarden. The bottom pub is supposed be be a younger crowd, but much more roudy.. and the more the Vicki and other adultstried to warn me of it, the more appealing it became. I was on my own for friday night, so I started off with the top pub, mainly because I was looking for a feed and they were the only ones serving food. After getting my steak and salads fix for the night, I befriended four cops from Cairns who were in town to watch over the rodeo weekend. They were an interesting mob, and once we made it to the bottom pub (and quite some grog later), they did everything in their power to get the bartender to admit she liked me, but no avail.

Now I've been to quite a few rodeos before, but never one in which I was asked so much if I personally would be riding. My classic response was 'there isn't enough tequila in this town to get me to ride a bull this time, sorry mate..' There was some great riding tho, including some great bull rides and cattle drafting by some blokes I know. The real excitment was Saturday evening, when the outdoor bar (3 plastic tables) got busy and the live band showed up to play. I was in the middle of 'the bush', surrounded by a great number of aussie bushman (and 'buckle bunnies') about my age that were ready to have a great time. So I decided 'when in Rome..' and matched them step for step. All I have to say was that I've rarely had better nights than that one. By the time the night was over, most of the people there seemed bent on shouting out 'Texas!' everytime I went passed them. Besides meeting most of the guys around my ages, I made good new friends in two canadian girls that were backpacking and currently employed at the bottom pub. (Yes, one was the same bartender earlier mentioned).

Well, now back to life as normal.. to be honest when driving back to Gamboola on Sunday afternoon I kind of felt relieved, one of those 'ahh HOME...' moments. Speaking of which, I've been putting some serious thought these last few weeks on where I might want to call 'home' next, once I move back to the States. I had always kinda assumed that it would be Texas somewhere, but now I find myself thinking that I might want to try out some part of Southern California, the D.C. area, or maybe somewhere even farther north.. who knows?

My New Life on Gamboola Station

Friday's work just finished up and I thought that while I sit here mellowing out to Kenny Chesney's most recent album I'd write up another post for the ol' blog. I do that on paper now cuz my internet time is sporadic and sometimes very limited.

I remember putting so much emphasis before I move here about some of the statistics... 4 hours from a decent town, 2 hours from the nearest town of 200, mail and ambulance by plane, ect.. Yet now that I'm working out here, the isolation doesn't even seem to cross my mind for weeks at a time. Sure, I look forward to the day that I'm back in Texas and the big cities (God I never knew how much of a Texas guy I was until I left the state) but right now I'm exactly where I should, and more imporantly WANT to be.

It's another month or two before the contract musterers get to the station, at which point there will be 12 other jackaroos/jillaroos about my age to spend some of the evenings with. Mustering season (rounding up the cattle to the stockyards for sorting from all over the station) will last about two hard months, and there is plenty to do as we Tony and I prepare for it.

Most days Tony and I work side by side, recently either putting new timber into the stockyards here at the homestead or riding out all day for work on the miles (and miles and miles) of barbed wirce fences. During the wet season of Jan. and Feb. the waterways swell and mess the fences up something awful, so I think with 600 miles of it and MANY waterways it's fair to say that there's enough work to keep a few men busy year in and year out.

The weather is amazing, very few clouds and plenty of sunshine. Granted, the sun in the afternoon hours sometimes feels like an oppresive deamon straight out of hell... but hey, welcome to the Australian Outback eh?

Tony, my boss and manager, is 45 and a good man in all measures. He moved from Cairns out to the bush when he was about 18 to find life as a stockman, and he's very good at what he does. He's a hard worker no doubt, but lucky for me he deosn't have any desire for us to overwork ourselves. He says there's no point in running ourselves completly into the ground out here, and I couldn't agree more. He expects good work tho, so every time he leaves a job for me to do by myself, I make sure that I do it right. I decided the first day I got here that I was never going to make the man repeat himself or point out something done half-way. It's not like I can just make new friends out here or anything...

Lisa, Tony's wife, is an amazing cook. When you're on an isolated cattle station, you better be prepared to be in love with steak. Luckily I fit that bill. Even better, I have never had a predictable meal since I've been here. It's been nearly a month already (and MAN has that flown by) and almost every dinner has been something different. Heck we even had a great curry the other night. Speaking of eating cattle, the second week I was out here I had my first experience actually cutting up a beast. We drove out into one of the paddocks nearby and found a good fat cow with no calf, and an hour later we had a month's supply of cut up beef in the bed of our Toyota Landcruiser. Btw- I'm driving pretty well on manual these days.. after my lesson on the Gold Coast with my Auntie Jo and Uncle Jeff it's been a piece of cake.

I'm working 6 days a week right now as there is a lot to catch up on (seeing as Tony and Lisa didn't have any station help for a few months), and I told them that I had no problem at all working Saturdays.. "seeing as I don't have any hot dates lined up". When we knock off around 5, I head straight to the shower and mellow out to some good music. Uusally a 4X Gold Beer (the local favourite) is in order back near the main building as I chat with Tony and Lisa. I've been putting in a little less than an hour a day on the guitar, at which I'm still a beginner, as I decided that I might as well utilize my free time in the evenings to get much better at that. Dinner is accomanied by the show 'Two and a Half Men' which comes on every weeknight, and unless there's a good Bond of Indiana Jones movie on TV I'm out before 9pm.

While riding back from fence work yesterday I was thinking about the fact that I may go see the Great Pryamids of Egypt before I get back stateside. And then I thought about the fact that I COULD do that.. or darned near anything else that comes into my head. I'm enjoying it so much here that I might just end up staying here longer, which will help me put plenty of money away to make my trip back go through South Africa, Egypt, Italy, Germany, France, and Ireland a real possiblility. As long as I have enough away to get my own feet on the ground for a car and my own place when I get back (to wherever it is I decide to call 'home' for the next phase of my life).. anything goes.

Don't spend a second worrying about me out here, I'm having the time of my life out here.