Friday, July 28, 2006

Bittersweet July

Farm practical was really good. Flew up to Port Hedland on 24th June. Was there for 2 weeks. There is no way I can squeeze in all that happened, but this is just the highlights.
Got knocked down by a young bull. Literally flew a few metres away man. Was trying to get the fella into another paddock, so slowly cornered him, but the bull was all anxious and agitated, cause we just dehorned it (Later, I counted my lucky stars it din have any horns man). Then it just turned n charged me. I was dumbfounded, just stood there staring at it. I still have the bruises on my thighs and stomach.
Flew a plane. When I was there, it was mustering season, where they draft all the cows on the land (bear in mind, its a million acre cattle station). So what we do is, we fly up in the plane with the farmer, spot the cattle, radio in to the 2 choppers that zero in on these guys and get them moving towards the mobile paddocks, then the dirtbikes takeover. It was beautifully done. Flying the Cessna craft was lovely, made some nice turns and all, plus it all look better from up there.
Dissected a kangaroo. The farm boys shot us a kangaroo to dissect. Those guys have a huge ass stomach man and a really thin diaphragm (muscle layer below the lungs to help with breathing). Apparently everytime it jumps, the huge stomach knocks into the diaphragm causing exhalation. The whole process of breathing during skipping requires no energy basically.
Did target practise with a Winchester 223. Real cool gun with minimum recoil. First time using a gun. Not too bad a shot I must say.
Got interviewed by the local radio station. When we were there, the Marble Bar Races were on. Bear in mind that our farm from 300km from town and the nearest populated place was Marble Bar, which is suppose to be the hottest town in Australia. Every year they have the Races which is suppose to be the social event of the north. So when they learnt there were 2 vet students up there doing farm pratical, they asked if they could interview us. Pretty cool, din think anyone would hear it, but some of my friends did.
Did mustering on a dirtbike. That was the ideal place to ride such a bike
Helped the mobile vet a Marble Bar. He had to spay a cat that was 4 weeks pregnant. He gave us the uterus which we dissected. There were 7 kittens in there. I wont go into details cause it will probably disgust most of you, but it was something else
It was one ofthe best experiences of my life for sure. Getting up every morning at 430 and when you begin to work, the sun comes up on the horizon. All around you is land as far as the eye can see. It was honestly like a dream. We worked till 5 in the evening, then gather near Frank's (the manager and a real cool guy) house and drink till dinner. We never went hungry. Even when were far from the homestead, we d get our meals delivered by chopper. All in tupperwares with our names on it. Lyle Mills was a darling (the farmer's wife) and really took good care of us. It is a good life, no pressure, no materialistic needs, just plain honest hard work with real satisfaction

It was good to see Su in Melbourne. Spent everyday in the hospital. It just felt so good being there with her and seeing that smile everyday was all I could ever ask for. She got discharged the day I flew back to Perth and as you can imagine I just didnt want to leave. So thankful she is much better and showing good progress with her recovery. I guess I ll just leave it at that. Like the title, July was mainly a bittersweet month, more sweet than bitter I guess, but I learned so much more about myself then, than I ever could. And its on to a new semester and 4 months before I see home again. Isnt it all just miraculous?