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Our journey to the outback began with an early start at Coffs Harbour. We stocked up on own brand cookies and Werthers original before filling up and heading inland 5 hours. The roads soon became empty and before long it felt like we were the only ones around, well us and the road kill anyway. The nearest town to the farm was a place called Bingara, where we had booked a motel for the night. This was not a town as you or I would know it, this was a town where you couldn't get a take-away pizza at 7 o'clock!
We were picked up in the morning and taken to buy some supplies for the week, mainly just the essentials. We bought two hats that some might describe as being of the cowboy variety, two pairs of $4 salvation army jeans and a crate of beer (unfortunately Australian)! We had a short off road drive and before we knew it, we arrived at our home for the week.
The place itself was amazing. The views were spectacular and went on for miles, you could shout your name out and hear the echoes in the hills. The neighbours were the paddocks of horses and free roaming cattle. The sounds or should I say lack of sound was peaceful and relaxing. The stars were so bright that it lit up the night enough to watch shooting stars and see the Milky Way. The accommodation was.... well it had mice that seemed to like our room and our love of cookies but it was a farm so what do you expect. All in all it was a perfect oasis and exactly what we were looking for.
It wasn't long before the week merged into one amazing experience, there was constantly things to learn and jobs to be done, but first we had to learn how to ride. We were the only two non-riders there so we had to have beginners horses to start, we got shown how to saddle up and get on and then had a brief one on one to show us the ropes before being thrown in the deep end and going on our first ride. We got told we picked it up pretty quick and every day we got better and better, which coincidently made our bums hurt less and less. Our first horses were very different one was like an old arm chair and the other a little more erratic and didn't like leaving its friends very much. We soon shrugged them off and got ourselves on some horses we really liked, ones with a bit more character and a little less homely.
The ranch was a playground of 3000 acres so you can imagine there was plenty to do. Some days we would take the horses out in search of cattle or sheep and then have to muster them back home or to a paddock using herding dogs. Once we were a little more competent, we could canter off after stray livestock and bring them back to the herd. The long rides took it out of you with the sun constantly shining, and we weren't even carrying anything! So to cool the horses off we would sometimes take them down to the river, take all the gear off and ride them bareback through the water.
There were about 220 horses and with new foals around, we were able to watch and learn how to break them in. Giving it a go and helping out wasn't as easy as it looked and John, the owner of the farm, seemed effortless in everything he did. On one day we herded some cattle back to the ranch so that new calf's could be tagged, branded and some castrated. We were splitting the cattle up when John found the calf he needed and it fell to us to pin it down. I think there was a technique involved but it turned into a calf rodeo and as you can see on the video, it didn't give up easy. It was a real adrenalin burst and was great fun until we pinned one down and watched it lose its manhood, we really felt for that one. After that we calmed things down a bit and introduced a lubed gloved hand into the derrière of a pregnant cow, I say we but Grills refused to do it as it was the reason he didn't want to be a farmer at 7 years old!
The week entailed so much more and we could go on for hours telling you all the stories. In a nutshell it was the most amazing week. It lived up to all our preconceptions plus more; we met great people and experienced more in this week than in any before. We will never forget the ranch.
Adam & Adam
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