Day 25, Sunday, February 28 2010
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We got up early and after lunch we started the long drive to Kroombit Cattle Station. We had a break at Rockhampton for lunch.
At the cattle station we got the oppurtunity to go mustering some goats on horse back. Since I had never been on a horse before I knew that this was going to be interesting. Steering is simple. Pull the reigns to the left for left, right for right and to stop you pull back, and put for feet forward, practically standing. To get the horse to walk, you must kick with your feet into the horses side. I got the hang of it quite fast, but my horse was not all too interesting in listening, but rather in following the other horses, but we managed to get the goats in. The goats are brought in by yelling at them, or cracking the whip behind them. When you yell, one has to yell “He-pa-pa-pa-pa”. Sounds silly but it works.
In the evening Allen the chief of the cattle station told us about what is being done on the farm, about the coal mines in the area then we learnt how to crack a whip and even have a go at a mechanical bull. I decided not to go on the bull as I saw how the guys were thrown around and I didn’t need to have my back ache more than it already did from all the sitting in busses and planes…