Recap pt.2 From Lochinvar

Recap pt.2 From Lochinvar

Echidna Surprise!

                After a long morning of breaking in wieners, Davie and I had just sat down for a much deserved cup of coffee – smoko as they call it – when the station owner’s wife showed up in a tissy. The water wasn’t working, a pipe must have burst. She asked if we would find and fix the problem. A fairly simple, quick task. Yup, we’d get right on it, after coffee.

                Turns out, in order to locate the leak, someone, had to squeeze under the house and inch along the ground between floor joists up and down along the whole house. It wasn’t a short house! And you can guess who ‘someone’ was. Me! So off I went.

                Luckily the water was running out at a pretty decent rate, enough to have made a sustaining puddle, from which I could hear the “drip, drip, drip”. As I inched up alongside the pipe, which had been cut miles too long to begin with, I found the leak. It was no ordinary leak, definitely not a burst from cold or pressure. I called for someone to toss me a torch to get a better look. Sure enough, the pipe was covered in bite marks over about a 3 foot section.

                It hadn’t dawned on me till this point one bit all of the critters that could be living under there. The thoughts that quickly filled me head did seem to speed up the repair job though. But half way along the fixer-upper one of the hoses slipped out of my hand and began pour water into the hole in front of me. I put down my pliers and inched over the whole to reach for the pipe. My entire upper body covering the whole I got hold of the pipe again and rolled onto my side to finish the job when I noticed the tennis ball, which I had rolled into the hole earlier, starting to move a bit. I grabbed my torch for a closer look, praying that I hadn’t been lying in a snake’s nest, to find three giant echidna (kind of like an Aussie porcupine) lying in the hole. The same hole I had just strung myself across, dangling a mere 3” over these fellas.

                Now, we all know that porcupines are not very vicious animals, and echidna are known to be quite sluggish and shy, but we all know what happens when a dog sticks his nose up to a porcupine for a closer sniff... he gets a snout full of quills! And since the last thing I wanted was a snout full of quills I made an executive decision that the job could be completed much more efficiently from the outside and that I should probably hurry up and get out of there, you know, ‘cause we had other work to do. 

                 Interesting fact - Echidnas are an egg-laying mammal. One of only four extant species in the world - Along with the platypus. Who knew!

It Does NOT Taste Like Chicken

It seems the world is fascinated by the claim that so many things taste like chicken. I personally don’t see it, or well, taste it. In several different instances crossing Queensland, I heard people refer to many different animals all tasting like chicken. Not every white meat taste like chicken folks!

Snake, goanna, frog, yes are all white meat, but taste nothing like chicken! The meat may look quite similar once cooked, but the taste is very different. Unless you are just frying everything in heaps of butter, then it all just tastes like cooked butter... If you want the true taste nothing beats roasting over an open fire.

Personally I find snake reminds me of catfish, but that’s just me.

                Interesting fact – Goanna’s have two different types of meat on them, white and red, in their tail and hind quarters.

Hog Tied

Working on cattle station for the first time meant learning all the ropes really, really quick. This included: how to muster properly – using formations and controlling the heard effectively; how to keep up in the draft ring; branding; and, how to hog tie a full sized bull without getting impaled or trampled.

Most of these things got some sort of brief explanation before we got started. Most of these things I was told we were doing before we started. Not the hog tie.

We had just finished up what had seemed like a pretty flawless muster. Just when I thought I could kick back for a quick breather and take in the morning’s good work, Davie flies past me on the bike heading back out into the paddock.

“Get up on side of him,” Davie yells over the two-way.

I had no idea what he was talking about. “Righto!” and off I went. Flying down the fence line to god only knew where. I cleared the brush line just in time to see the big bull break out at full speed from the trees heading away from me. On the far side Davie flew around headed straight for the bull.

Ok, now I think I kinda get it... almost. Kicking it up one more gear I headed in towards the bull, trying to follow Davies lead.

“Get up, get up!” he was yelling and waving an arm for me to move in.

Before I even knew what had happened, the bull was down, Davie was yelling for me to pin it down. Rather than ask questions I figured ‘what could it hurt’ (aside from getting kicked in the chest) and dove off my bike onto of the bull, and without even thinking, reached in, hauled his tail in and around a hind leg and heaved with all my might to keep him down while Davie tied the hind legs.

No sooner was that done than the bull kicked up, knocked me off and was standing pretty aggravated on three legs. Needless to say we wasted no time in putting the bikes between us and the bull and waited for the truck to pull up. When it did Davie scrambled to get the trailer set up to haul the bull on and prompted me to rope the bull and get ready to haul him in.

“Rope and haul?” I thought. Then it struck me why Davie had passed off this coil of rope earlier on. Joy, lets lasso an angry bull with a short rope. Good idea.

I was shocked at how easy it actually was. Whether it was just natural skill, or the fear of getting it wrong the first time and getting mauled, I made pretty quick work of getting the bull roped, and with a solid tug had him back down into a manageable position.

It wasn’t long before we had the bull on the trailer, tied down and were heading home for lunch. All in a mornings work.

Not bad for my first time. We had three other instances like this during my weeks on the station. Always a different situation. Always happening in the blink of an eye, and never an extra hand to hold the camera. But man what a rush.

Recap: Lochinvar to Darwin - Part 1

            Recap: Lochinvar to Darwin - Part 1

Working on a cattle station had its ups and downs. Many more ups than downs though. While I didn’t get very much time off away from work I did manage to find ways of making use of my time to turn work into more of an adventure than one may have thought possible.

            As I mentioned before, Davie, the station Manager/Ringer was very helpful and extremely knowledgeable about the bush: wild foods, medicine, identification, you name it. I was very impressed.

            I spent many afternoons quizzing him about different plants and animals we would stumble onto. He even began pointing out a lot on his own after a while. I think my sense of adventure rubbed off on him. He would get nearly as excited as I would when we would stumble onto a snake track or goanna hole.

            I was given a 4-wheeler to use during my time on the station - For work and for play. This made getting away to the far reaches of the station much easier whenever I had a little time to kill.

            I had a pack sitting beside the door ready to go for anytime it looked like the work day might finish up with daylight left to spare. Wasting no time I’d be off across the country side flat out to see what I could bump into in the fading light. Every good explorer knows that dusk is the best time to go searching for critters. They are all just poking their noses out for the night, AND there is just enough daylight left to hopefully snap a good picture or two in the process.

            Everyday held no shortage of interesting and exciting elements. Hope you enjoy these highlights of the last two months...

            Warning: The following may contain slightly disturbing and icky content... But this is real life folks.

                Piggin’

                How much more fun could you get in a day of complete and utter failure!

                I was lucky enough to spend an afternoon with a local roo-shooter, Reece, who is also an avid wild pig hunter. Hunting pigs Aussie style is quite different than anything I have really seen, but completely up my alley!

                There are no guns, or bows or firearms of any kind used with these guys got out for a day of piggin’. A good dog and a big knife is all you need to get the job done. I had the knife!

                These guys spend the day cruising the river banks, fields and tree lines looking for tracks, poop, pig holes, any sign of animals in the area. When sign is found the dogs are put on the trail to track down the pig. If the trail is hot the chase is on! We had several exciting starts on trails with the dogs going wild, unfortunately none of them turned up any pigs in the end.

                But, when the dogs get onto a trail and track down a pig, the run it down and corner, or pin it, and hold it until you can put that trust big knife to work.

                While our day ended empty handed, just the thought of racing along through the trees with your dog – in hot pursuit of the pig – to down your catch with your bare hands is, well, well that’s just kind of epic, no?

                I did make many attempts after that day to down a pig, but was eluded by the same huge porker every time. I think he could tell when I was coming, and if I was armed or not, as I would usually only catch sight of him with I was completely unarmed or was racing off to finish a job or round a mob of cattle.

                Going Banana’s over Goannas

                A LOT of people give me strange looks out here when I talk about goannas. Most people find them to be quite a filthy and disgusting animal – at least when eating them is in context. I suppose that is understandable when you have seen enough, watched them feeding and actually understand what they feed on. But, now fully educated on the subject, I still like the buggers!

                So what is it that they feed on? Well I am glad you asked!

                For the most part, the species that I encountered most often, the goulds goanna, feed on rotting, decaying animals. Yummy! There’s nothing quite like pulling up in front of a dead cow and finding a large lizard chowing down, buried waist deep in a rotting carcase.

                Grilled goanna for dinner anyone? I suggest a back leg or the tail.

                Goannas have been a crucial part of bush tucker for hundreds of years. It is a classic dish usually cooked by laying the whole lizard on hot coals and slowly roasting it whole. This is the traditional and probably best way to cook them, as the skin is very tough and protects the meat while cooking, then peels off effortlessly after cooking. But if fired lizard guts aren’t you thing then skinning and gutting them also does the trick, in which case it is recommended to roast them on a spit over a fire, or, if available, marinade the meat in vinegar and roast wrapped in foil (or leaves, whichever is handy!).

                It was winter, the dry season, while I was at Lochinvar. Most reptiles were hibernating for several months in our area of South West Queensland. But who could blame them! I never would have expected that I would be waking up to frost every morning in Australia! Regardless, the odd goanna poked about on the warmer days in the earlier months, but as the season died and what you would class as spring came upon us, they were everywhere! Green goannas, blue goannas, yellow goannas, brown goannas! I was blown away!

Day 124

 Day 124
 Wow, How have I kept count!

 We are well into spring here in Alice Springs, and it's feeling like an Ontario summer heatwave.

 I have just emerged from an incredible walk-a-bout across the West MacDonnell Ranges. While I did fall short of my sightly over ambitious goal of 450Km in 15 days, I feel like what I took away from the experience was exactly what I was intended to get.

 The Larapinta Trail is a [roughly] 225Km track stretching from Alice Springs historic Telegraph Station across the West MacDonnell Ranges to the summit of Mount Sonder (1297m). It is now rated as one of the Worlds Premier hiking tracks, and I couldn't resist the chance to take it on! On average it takes 12 - 14 days to comfortably reach the end from Alice Springs. My goal was to reach the summit of Mount Sonder and return to Alice all within 15 days, [roughly] 450Km, carrying all of my food, and supplies, plus 5L of water as I set off each morning.

 Sounds pretty keen, eh? Pretty stupid if you ask me! What kind of idiot takes on something like that? (Never mind the fact that we are sitting in the middle of desert country)

 Well, that idiot would be me! Like they say, better an Ambitious Idiot than Ignorantly Stupid!


 Ok, so maybe I'm the only one who says that, but it makes sense to me! After all where would we be with out overly ambitious yahoos doing rediculous thing? Probably over-crowding Europe...

 The trail varies in grade from section to section, and was, I will admit, much more challenging than I ever imagined it would be. When they say very hard track they mean it! I crossed everything from sand flats, grasslands and mulga flats, to river beds, chasms and gorges, to some of the highest mountain peaks and challenging ridges and scrambles in the Northern Territory.

 Over all it was an incredible experience. 7 days "gone bush" as the Aussies say. Every night camping out under the stars, just in time for the full moon to last my entire stint! There was, and still is a very high fire warning in effect, so a toasty fire to end me off every night was usually out of the question, though. In fact, I was actually two weeks late setting out on my expedition due to bush fires that tore through the Ranges the weekend I was due to arrive in Alice Springs. The effects of the fires were very harsh n some sections, every day I wandered through the burnt out country side, ash and char as far as the eye could see at  times. But, thankfully there were some untouched areas, holding some of the most spectacular wildlife and vegetation I have ever seen.

 But in the end, the heat caught up with me as a result of having to embark two weeks late, as well the weight of my pack played a big factor in my having to leave the trail early. Setting out from Alice Springs with near 30Kg in my bag was pretty stupid, and that kind of weight doesn't drop quickly on rationed food and constantly refilling water supplies.

Bruised, blistered and broken I sit here at Alice Lodge Backpackers happier and far more content than a pig in warm... well, you get the picture. A long story short, I am personally quite thrilled at where my trek took me, the things I saw and did and the awesome people I met.

 Stay tuned for the detailed version of my trip, including some sweet photo's. But first - and I thank you for baring with me on this - to finish catching you up on my earlier adventures out of Queensland and Darwin!

Day 99

                Day 99

                Its day 99, it’s been over 14 weeks since I arrived down under. It feels like it has been much longer already.

                I have reached Darwin safely at last. Yet another change from my original itinerary, hopefully to prove as fulfilling as the last one!

                I’m in the heart of croc country and the home of famous film croc Burt - Most famous for his role in Crocodile Dundee as The Crocodile. Pretty cool I’d say! And you’d think being in the land of crocs would make it easy for a person to get their hands on a little croc meat... Apparently not. The search continues.

                Before leaving Lochinvar Cattle station I was offered a position on the station full time as station hand. I declined, anxious to continue on. At that point I was planning my next big move – reach Darwin to set up the details of my to-be epic trek across the west MacDonnell Ranges. 28 days across one of the world’s best ranked trials. Front to back, then back to front. Normally the full hike is about 12 days, but I want to hike in, then, hike back out, hence the 28 days.

                But, as luck would have it, I received word yesterday that the area has been under great duress from high volumes of wild fires. At the moment nearly half of the trail is closed off and hikers are urged to stay clear for the time being. I should be receiving more information from the National Parks and Wildlife office tomorrow. Regardless, I leave Darwin on Tuesday, making my way to Alice Springs. So here’s fingers crossed that all pans out.

                With very limited internet access during my time on the cattle station, maintaining regular blog entries was pretty tough. So stay tuned for a proper recap of my adventures down there as well as my venture north from Augathella to Darwin.

                For now, it’s off to bed to rest for tomorrow’s day of deep sea Barramundi Fishing!