Country Retreat - 24. Muster

Half an hour later, I had replaced all four blades, which were all in a bad state, and Jarrad drove off happy, as he continued the mowing. I was also given the task of fixing punctures on two tyres, which is always a tough job to do, but luckily the station has the proper gear, I just had to let Harry show me how to work it properly before I could start the repairs.

It was late afternoon by the time I had finished the tyres and put them back on the vehicles that they came from, it was time to attend to the horses, and I headed over to the stables, where all the horses wandered over in my direction when they saw me there, and taking off their summer rugs, I began to give them a good brush down, which looks like hasn’t been done in a while. Jarrad joined me about twenty minutes later, after finishing all the mowing and washing down the machine.

Once each horse was brushed down, it was put into its pen and given its evening feed, it was almost dinner time for us, by the time we had finished, and as we exited the stables, we heard the sound of an approaching helicopter, and we watched as it circled, then landed, just inside the eastern homestead boundary fence, and a ute drove over in that direction, which we presumed was the boss, as we headed to our cottage to get cleaned up for dinner.

“Good evening lads, how was your first day of work?” Julia asked me, as she brought in jugs of juice into the dining room and placed them on the table. “Busy but good thanks,” I replied, “Yes, I was sitting on my butt all day, but it was a productive day,” Jarad replied smiling, which had me chuckling. “Watch this one, he can be very cheeky at times,” I commented to Julia, “Yes, I can see that,” she responded before heading back into the kitchen.

Once again, after dinner, we helped with cleaning duties in the kitchen, before retiring to our cottage to relax and soon after retired to bed. Before going to sleep, I sent an email to Koen & Hugh. “Hey guys, I just wanted to update you on what is happening with me during the holidays. I managed to get a job for the four-week semester break, and I am working on a cattle station in the Pilbara region, northeast of Newman.

When I texted Jarrad to let him know that I would be away working on a cattle station for the semester break, he turned up at my door the next morning, pleading with me to ask if he could work at the station too, so now we are both 1,105 kilometres northeast of Upper Swan, where we have different jobs. For me, because I have some farming and basic mechanical experience I am working with the station mechanic, while Jarrad is looking after all the gardens and lawns around the homestead area.

Since we both can ride horses, we also have the twice daily task of looking after six station stock horses, and we have been informed that we will be out on the horses next week for the start of mustering season, which can be very hot and dusty work, mind you I have already had a very grubby first day of work today, changing oil on station vehicles and bikes plus repairing two punctured tyres.

Heading to bed now as it has been a very long day, and we have a 5.45 am start every day up here at the station. Hope you are both well and settled into your jobs. Due to limited communications here, email is the best option for staying in contact while we are here. Oscar. P.S. Jarrad is not very good at getting up very early in the morning, he bumped into the wall while trying to put his shirt on this morning. He blames the wall for moving, LOL. Goodnight.”

After sending the email to Hugh and Koen, I turned out the light and I was soon fast asleep, only waking to the sound of my alarm going off at 5.45 am. “Turn that damn thing off, I am trying to sleep,” Jarrad grumbled next door. “Get up, we have breakfast and work to get to,” I responded, “Yeah, yeah, ok, I am up,” I heard Jarrad reply. When we walked into the staff dining room, we both noticed a new person who was chatting to Travis the boss. “Good morning lads. My word, you don’t look too good this morning Jarrad,” the boss said as we entered.

“Yeah, I hate early mornings boss, especially when it is hard to get to sleep early,” my friend responded, “And he snores like a freight train too,” I added, which had the boss laughing. “As you may have noticed, we had a mustering chopper arrive late yesterday, Mark here is the pilot and has become available a little earlier than planned, but that is ok, we can push forward everything.

Lads, once breakfast is over, I want you to go and pack your swag and clothes for five days, as we will be heading out to the outcamps, just after lunch. Have you given the horses a good brush down yet?” Travis informed us. “Yes boss, yesterday before dinner,” Jarrad replied. “Good, I want you to feed and water the horses, check their hoofs and legs then make sure all the saddles and gear are in good order and ready for mustering. We will be trucking four horses to the outcamp, so we will need water and feed containers, full water and feed storage drums, loaded at the back of the truck trailer.

Harry will assist you once he has the carting crate on the back of the truck, fuelled up and checked the truck's water, oil and tyres. Also, a drum of Avgas and Petrol will need to be added to the truck trailer, last to be loaded onto there once all the horse gear is onboard, “Travis announced.

Everything was a mad rush for us, as we prepared for the campout at the outcamp for five days, but we managed to get everything organised halfway between morning smoko and lunch. We learnt that over half of the staff would be travelling with us. Anthony would be our camp cook, Greg and Chris the two most senior stockmen and Jarrad and I would be riding horses, and working in the yards, with the boss and pilot also joining us at camp.

Julia, Katherine, Linda, George, Harry and Frank would be remaining at the homestead. In all, we would have four horses, two quad bikes, the stock truck and supply trailer, a chopper and two utes, with one ute towing what looks like a mobile catering trailer, and the other one having a rooftop tent on the back. At lunch, we were all informed that once the horses had been loaded, we would travel in convoy to the first location, which is 38 kilometres to the northeast away, and would take us approximately 90 minutes to get there.

We would be there for two days and three nights before we travel north for another 73 kilometres to the second set of yards, early the next morning, for another two days of work, with Greg driving the stock truck, with Chris travelling with him, each ute would have a quad bike loaded on the back, the boss driving his ute, and Anthony driving the other ute, that is towing the catering trailer, with Jarrad and I travelling with him.

The journey to the first out camp gave Jarrad and me, our first good look at what the station is like outside the homestead paddock, and I was amazed at how vast and remote we are. When we arrived at our destination, the chopper was already there, and the first thing to be done was to disconnect the supply trailer, and unload the barrels of Avgas fuel, while the two quad bikes were also unloaded from the utes.

Within an hour of arriving, the chopper was in the air again, and we had set up our campsite just 80 metres northwest of the small waterhole, well away from the temporary yards, that are located on the east side of the large dam. We were instructed to assist Anthony with setting up most of the campsite, which included two 6x3 metre popup gazebos, one next to the catering trailer for Anthony to work, which includes a fold-up table and two chairs, while the other one has two long fold-up tables and six chairs, as the dining area for the camp.

The boss has a 3x3 popup gazebo next to his ute, along with a small table and two chairs, while well away from the campsite, there is one other gazebo, with three ensuite tents under it, one fitted out with a camp shower, while the other two contain portable chemical toilets.

The catering trailer also has a portable 4.5 kva generator attached to the front tow hitch, that will provide all the power for the kitchen and the campsite with light stands set up to provide lighting during dinner and breakfast. Once we had finished helping Anthony, who was now busy preparing dinner, we went to check on the horses, which Chris and Greg had offloaded and got them settled into one set of small yards near camp.

Another gazebo had been set up close by, where the hay, feed and water supply barrels are located, undercover from the harsh sun, along with all of the saddles and other gear. The horses seemed to be settled ok, so we headed over towards the boss, who was on the UHF radio at his ute, talking to the pilot, with Chris and Greg hovering close by, waiting for further instructions.

Within twenty minutes, we had all the horses saddled up and ready to go, we had hand-held radios attached to our shirts, along with a water bag and snacks in the saddle bags, and we set off to assist the chopper in bringing in the first mob of cattle.

It was almost dusk when we finally knocked off for the day, with the cattle in the yards, and the calves separated, so they could be tagged, given a needle and put a knacker ring on, before being reunited with their mothers. Anthony did a wonderful job of providing a delicious dinner for us all, and in return, Jarrad and I helped to clean up afterwards, while Anthony was preparing snacks for tomorrow.

After five exhausting days, we were finally on the return journey back to the homestead, but we had to delay it until the morning of day six, as it took longer to finish the work at the second out-camp location. We had been at the station for a little over seven days now, and we only had six days remaining, before we had to make the long drive back home, with it being Sunday, once we arrived back at the homestead and unpacked everything, and put the horses in their yards, we had the remainder of the day off, as a rest day.