Friday 22 November 2013 - Quobba Station

Friday 22 November 2013 - Quobba Station

Wow, I knew it had been a while, but almost a month?!? Time sure flies! Part of the reason why I haven’t been able to update the blog is because the computer charger packed it in a few weeks ago and we had to order a new one, which we only picked up during a trip into town today. But we’ve also been quite busy, even though a fair bit of the time we’ve just been busy having fun!

Today we returned from five days of chilling out at Red Bluff, staying in one of the beautiful and luxurious safari tents (thanks Tim and Sara!). We probably would have stayed a few days longer, but our fresh food supplies had been ‘roo-ted’ by some of the local marsupial population on the first and third nights. Apparently kangaroos really like Vita Brits, potatoes, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and overripe bananas. Onions, they’re not so fussed on and I don’t think they’re real keen on the chilli powder sultanas Glenn left out for them the night after our second looting either.

So some of the cool stuff we’ve done in the past few weeks includes:

• Glenn went diving for crays with Tim on his big plate boat. They came back with heaps (I think it was around 15) and one was 4.2kg – the biggest painted cray Tim has ever seen. Glenn spotted it but Tim was the one to wrestle with it and bring it into the boat. That afternoon we had a terrific feast on the freshly caught crustaceans. Tiim cooked them up and they were served with fresh bread and butter, mayo, tomato, lettuce and a bit of salt and pepper – simple, but amazing!

• One weekend, the wind dropped right off so on the Saturday we took the boat out at the Blowholes. We didn’t catch anything when Glenn took me the girls an I out, but after dropping us off at the beach he came back with four very tasty reef fish. Tim and Sara took their boat out as well and came back with a few crayfish  and a cod that Tim speared with his brand new spear gun. Tim dropped his family off and picked up a mate and they returned with more crays and an awesome coral trout that Tim caught with his new toy! That night we had another feast... and a few beers/wines.

• We backed this up with another pearler of a day on the Sunday. We packed a lunch and bathers (not togs, we’re not in Queensland anymore!) and drove up to 17 Mile Beach. When we first arrived, Glenn and I enjoyed a quiet half hour we arrived while the girls snoozed after falling asleep in the car on the way – a rare treat. The beach here, like along the whole coastline, is just stunning. Tim and Sara arrived a little later and we spent the day hanging out under their shade tent with some of their other friends, kicking back with a few beers and nibblies. The kids pottered around in the sand, the older boys surfed and snorkelled and I even jumped in for a bit of a snorkel too. It was a bit tricky though, because the swell was rolling and the waves breaking over the rocks that you’re swimming around, but I survived. The fish were pretty cool and there was even a bit of coral there. This coastline is so rich with marine life!

• Melbourne Cup Day - we all ‘dressed up’, put some money in for a sweepstake and enjoyed some yummy food, a few ales and even champagne for the ladies!

• Trapping goats... goats, goats and more goats! Glenn helped out for the week, us girls didn’t do much at all. The goats had to be culled because there wasn’t enough feed over the summer to keep them AND the sheep alive (it’s been a really dry year), but fortunately Tim found a buyer who wanted some billies. It’s a pretty interesting process. The water at the windmill bore (where the stock drink) was turned off for a few days. When it was turned back on, the goat traps were set around the bore. Then the fellas would drive out to each bore with Charlie the truck (as named by Yasmin) to separate the sheep and send them back out to continue grazing. They’d draft the goats, bring back the keepers to the yard and usually draft them again. This process was repeated several times throughout the week, with most days starting around 7am and finishing about 6pm. It was hot, dusty and stinky work (goats reek!) and the guys would come back quite exhausted after chasing goats all around the yard. At the end of the week, a big truck came and about 700 good-sized billy goats were loaded on, where they would be driven south, board a jumbo for a ‘holiday’ in Malaysia. We took a few cuts of some of the smaller boys and made some awesome curries out of it!

• The Pony Express. The Carnarvon Motocross Club held the event just over the road from the homestead. It was a 10km track around the sand dunes along station tracks, with riders having to do as many laps as they can in 3 hours. The little kids had a mini track set up and the older kids had to do a small section of the larger circuit in a much smaller timeframe. Tim and Sara were planning to do it but had decided not to. Then, when Sam was doing his race, they had a change of heart and went and got the bikes after all. Most riders paired up, so they didn’t have to do every lap, but there were a few guys that did the ‘ironman’ ride. It was pretty awesome to watch, although Glenn had to console himself with a few beers cause he would have loved to have ridden it. Tim did offer him a bike, but Glenn wouldn’t have felt comfortable competing with someone else’s gear, just in case it got trashed. The whole thing ran really smoothly and was pretty awesome to watch, but I think the riders had more fun. Everyone else just got covered in dust, petrol fumes and had their conversations drowned out by the roar of the machines whenever someone finished a lap. We were due to drive up to Red Bluff this day, but ended up sticking around for one more night!