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Friday 11th April...............Kroombit Cattle Station
An early start again, I am up and out by 6:30am for the 7am bus. I get chatting to this really gorgeous girl, Lucy and we chat away till the bus arrives about our travels etc...then I hop on the bus, Ali and Rob having saved me a seat again...LEGENDS!! We meet our driver too, Sconzey...he is an absolute legend, taking the piss out of vegeterians!! Saying they are normally too weak to raise their hands!! We head out, its quite an empty bus, and get chatting to the lads behind us, Matt and Dan...Brighton boys...I have met so many people from Brighton!! We snooze and I read my book for the rest of the journey and eventually we reach Kroombit at about 2:30pm...we have lunch and Andrew - the cowboy from the ranch gives us a talk about the days events!! I decide to do the horse-riding!! For $40 for two hours its a bargain!! My horse is called Grace, although she is not very graceful, they tell us that is the horse puts its ears back, it is gettin angry, so to steer it away from the other horses, my Grace does it all the bloody time!! Rob is on a huge white horse, Crissy, and Ali was on Snip, a big black horse!! Ali, having rode before is a pro, but Rob and I are not so in control and with my horse trying to attack all of the others I am not so confident!! And definately not a new horse lover! We trot to the fields and then are told how were are to muster the goats (basically that means we have to guide all of the goats into the pen!!) We have to make lots of noise behind them so that they move, shouting HEY-UP-UP-UP-UP...we looked so silly it was hilarious!! It took us ages, and half way through my camera dropped out of my pocket...in the middle of this field...I was nearly in tears, I dragged a leader over and thankfully she found it!! She was my hero...I would have lost all of my Fraser Island photos otherwise!! We eventually got all of the goats into the cage and then trotted back to the stables!! It was a good laugh, but I still fear four legged animals!!
We then headed back to the gate by the Oz Bus and we learnt how to lassoo a rope! It was so hard but eventually I got it! Then we started the goat rodeo...in teams of three, so me Ali and Rob, we had to go into the cage, lassoo the goat, then bring it to the floor and brand it (although the metal rod was not hot!!) It was such a laugh...some how I managed to lassoo the goat first time, Rob then floored the goat...practically body slamming the poor thing and Ali branded it!! It was so funny!! And we won as we were the fastest team to do it!! Woohoo...that made me happy as you all know I don't like losing!
It was dark by now and we made our way back to the ranch for dinner!! It was so good, we had chicken soup to start and then Roast Beef for dinner yummy!! The veg was a little minging!! One of the girls in the group had like no dinner as she doesn't eat any vegetables of fruit...what a fool!! Oh and we tried goat, so many girls were like OMG that is so cruel...PLEASE it was a goat, there are lots more in the world! But it was so good, I practically spent the evening picking at the meat of this goat!!
Sitting quite happily, this crazy old cowboy cracked a whip, it was so loud I jumped and nearly threw my food over Ali, it sounded like a gun, he herded us up and asked us to gather in front of him. He then told us about the history of Kroombit and about farm life around Australia, he was a good story teller! He then took a group of us and showed is the technique in cracking a whip!! Swing the arm back slowly, bring it forwards fast and then whip it back. Luckily I managed to avoid whipping myself, but it was ilarious watching one of the Brighton boys keep whipping his head and his foot, swearing as he jumped around in pain. Then came the real whips, they stood us up high on this stone and we had to try to crack a long whip, I struggled at first but then got some loud bangs out of it in the end! It was a good laugh, I have never cracked a whip before, and probably never will!!
Then came the Bucking Bronco ...and this was extreme, helmets had to be worn and forms filled out, riding the cattle ranch of responsibility if we were injured. I have not been on a bronco (a mechanical bull that bucks and the aim is to try and stay on it) since the Seaton House Summer Fair, where I do remember our very drunk parents taking over the machine!! A few lads went before me and they looked in so much pain, their private parts being crushed to pieces. Next was Ali's turn, she managed to stay on for five bucks. Rob followed after and came off hobbling saying...I think my balls were just ripped off...then was my turn, after the pain of everyone else, as soon as the thing flew forward I let go and zoomed into the crash mats. I had another go and managed two bucks, I did not want to face the pain down below!! Every person was just funnier and funnier!! Then we crashed and I headed back to the dorm to sleep.
In the night, I desperately needed the toilet so I climbed out of our sleeping shed (dorm) and intended on squatting behind it, as it was too far and scary to run to the loos, but the ligts were all on and I thought I'd get seen by someone. So I ran bare foot to the loos, it was like something out of a horror movie, I was so scared, the shower curtains were closed, I was convinced there were going to be dead bodies behind them and every noise I thought was some bush murderer!! So I weed quick and then ran back, feeling something sharp go in my foot... I fumbled round in the dark trying to get it out and then I convinced myself I had been bitten by a spider...silly of me to go bare foot yes, and we were told that the most deadliest spiders in Aus can kill in a matter of 8 minutes, so I sat in bed awake for eight minutes, convinced I was going to die...I watched my clock tick for eight minutes...nothing happened...phew so I went to sleep!! I am officially a LOSER!!
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