So, I was back from Melbourne on Tuesday, spent the next day recuperating when I got a text from Vishnu asking whether I would be interested to spend a couple of days at Megan’s in the country. Lucy’s (Megan’s friend) family were tailing sheep that Saturday and they said that we could come along for it. I almost said no, then thought that I would never get this opportunity again. Furthermore, Megan was always going on about how nice Wilmington is and the many attractions that they have there. So, I packed up my stuff again and we drove down the next day (Thursday) to the Wild family residence. =)

It was only a 3.5 hour drive, which was nothing compared to the 8 hour marathon I just did 2 days before. Plus, the scenery on this trip was way nicer than the scrubby bushland on the Ade - Melb route. I have to say, the green rolling plains and clear skies were much nicer. We made good time to Wilmington, passing by various other small towns along the way. Some were very cute and I wish we had time to stop and visit the shops and local attractions. Seeing the bakery at Bordertown previously made me curious to see how the other bakeries in these towns would look like and whether they serve good pies as well. lol. We stopped at Snowtown for lunch which seemed quite empty and peaceful. Megan later told us that Snowtown was where all the murders were. Apparently some psychotic person there went on a killing spree recently and his nephew also committed suicide (for another reason). Vish and I had no idea about it before that. I suppose we would have given that place a wide berth if we knew. Luckily we made it out of the town alive and unharmed. Yet. =P

We saw lots of weird, funny sign posts along the way as well. There was Dublin, Virginia, Melrose (reminded me of the TV series), Wild Horse Plains, Wild Dog Creek, Yellowman’s Creek, Balaklava, Gladstone, Laura. I had fun reading out all the interesting signboards. However, nothing beats this:

=D Megan’s last name is Wild. She has German heritage so it’s just a coincidence that her last name reads Wild. Although I guess quite a few people pay her out for having such a last name. Her initials are even funnier but I think I’d better not mention them her. It wouldn’t be nice for her. Anyway, how cool is having your own street name?? =) It’s not Wild St, or Wild lane. It’s Wild’s way!!!! LOL It looked cool on her driver’s license.

Megan’s family owns the general store in Wilmington so basically, they will never have to worry about supplies. How convenient it is to just walk into your shop and grab whatever you need. Even the petrol pumps are theirs. O_O

That night Megan’s sister, Krystal drove us over to Pt Augusta which is the nearest country city port for some Salsa classes. One really needs skill driving in these country roads at night. There’s minimal road signs and no street lamps. Furthermore, Krystal took shorcuts which meant driving pass fields, all of which looked exactly the same to me. Then, there is also the need to watch out for Kangaroos, and foxes and other animals that might just decide to spring out in front of you as you’re speeding along. Anyway,imagine that, having salsa classes all the way out here in Pt Augusta. What was I doing in Adelaide??? It was fun though. There were only a few of us with one instructor so he could spend time with each of us. It was a fun lesson. Now I just have to go back to my ballroom dancing classes in Adelaide. Yeah, I’ve decided to try out some classes on Saturday although I have only been to 2 so far (exams and holidays and me not being around). I was ready to drop the minute we got back.

We had to get up way too early the next day as we had to drive up to Lucy’s place in Booleroo. Then it was another drive to the grazing land where all the sheep were kept. They were rounded up the day before so all we had to do was to separate the ewes from the lambs that were to be tailed. (I saw alpacas at the fields!!! Apparently, they’re the ‘guardians’ of the sheep and omg, I wish I had my camera with me then!!! *sigh*) Ok, when I was told we would be tailing sheep, I thought somewhere along the lines of ‘following behind the flock’. Turns out ‘tailing’ means cutting of the tails!!!!! O_O Apparently it’s to prevent blow flies from laying eggs near the moist region around the tail which will eventually kill the lambs when the maggots start burrowing into the flesh. So, they had this whole contraption set up and the lambs are placed onto the seats (they remind me of the dentist’s chair), and after the hind legs are strapped in, we then inject them with Glanvac and rabies vaccine, tag their ears, brand them and cut of their tails with a hot iron blade. O_O I know, I couldn’t believe it at first. I was like ‘really????? Omg….’. The hot iron blade was supposedly the best way by far since the heat cauterises the tail as it is being removed, reducing blood loss and also infection. Before that, farmers used to saw it off with normal blades and left the lambs bleeding. Still there was quite a bit of blood squirting around when the blade was not hot enough or had pieces of burnt wool etc stuck to it. By lunchtime, I had quite a few splatters over my hands and arms because I was standing next to Lucy’s dad who was doing the tailing (No, I did not try, I just did the vaccinations, and carrying lambs after that). Thankfully, none got onto my face. O_O

Me, Lucy, Megan

Scratching on the Scabiguard vaccine

Okie, this is a relatively light-weight lamb, hence you see me carrying it like this. Others are not so, and trying to catch them before they run away…. =.=” Plus, I noticed that smaller lambs tend to be friskier, hence they are more likely to jump out of your grasp. And the kicking, don’t get me started. I confess I derived huge satisfaction from dumping them onto the tray and hearing the clicking sound when their feet are locked in.

We finally finished tailing by evening. In total, we tailed 471 lambs!!!! They were all returned to their mothers and let out back to the fields. We tramped out way back to the shed and had ice creams and chocolate as a reward. =D Lucy’s dad then took us on a ride in his ute over their grazing fields. A considerable piece of property which they had leased from someone else. It was freezing cold being out on top but the view was amazing and the sunset, the rolling plains….. And I forgot to mention the stars!!!! I’ve never before seen such a night sky in my entire existence!! I could see the milky way with my naked eye, you know, the stars and the misty bits that one usually sees in photos. Maybe it’s just me but I honestly have not seen so many stars in the sky before. I even saw a shooting star!!!! Can anyone believe that??!?!?! In just the short space of time we were standing outside, we spotted 4 shooting stars!!!! I thought they were supposed to be very rare??? =.=” They probably thought me crazy getting all excited about the night sky but seriously, I may come from Sabah but I do not think we get such clear skies back home. There’s always clouds and city lights that block out the starlight.

After a hard days work, Lucy brought us to the local pub at Booleroo which supposedly serves the best meals around the area. Better the Wilmington where Megan’s from and definitely better than Melrose (Haha…). One thing about Australian (or maybe western countries), EVERY town whether big / small, must have a PUB. Must. You can live without a school / cafe / bakery / supermarket / whatever else, they’d probably even put up without a post office but a town cannot be called a town unless it boasts its own pub. =.=” What’s wrong with tea huh??? Or can’t people just drink coke and be happy??? =P Anyway, the dinner was so so… I wouldn’t eat there if I was in the city and had better options but I guess for local fare, it was acceptable. Besides, you wouldn’t have any other choice anyway. Someone ought to go open up a Chinese takeaway there. =) I saw one in Port Augusta. I guess, the Chinese can’t live without their food eh…

Saturday was our last day spent in Wilmington. This time we didn’t have to wake up early although we were all up by 9am anyway =.=” Megan showed us around, pointing out the houses and shops along main street (they had a toy museum!!). We saw the school she went to, the local bakery, visited her music teacher, Oma (her charming grandmother, who has the most wonderful tangerine tree and garden gnomes!!!!), checked out her sister’s new house (which was only 5 min walk away. So why move out??? Some western quirk about independence I guess. She’s only 20 la….), saw her vineyard, the old farmhouse (omg, real stone walls!!! and chimney!!!! excuse my excited digressions). It was funny how every time she pointed out something, she also gave us a brief summary of the history of it. So basically, it’ll be ‘See that white house in front, that’s where X lives now although it used to be the retirement home for old people and once when there was a bush fire, we had 20 ambulances come down here to the house to evacuate the old people except they didn’t know that it was no more an old folks home’. See, living in such a small community, everyone knows everyone else. It takes a little getting used to. I think Megan’s family might have mentioned to someone about us coming to stay because I swear these people knew my name the moment they saw me. Argh, I do not live well with random people calling my name. O_O At least let me introduce myself first can???? Just like from the movies and storybooks, we also saw the places of the town’s eccentric residences. You know, like the X brothers who keep all kinds of weird animals in their yard, and Mrs F who lives without electricity. I can just imagine them being gossip material when people run out of news. Just pull them stories out to chew and munch together when everyone’s bored and put them back again for the next dry spell.

Hancock’s lookout was the first attraction we visited. Bascially, it is, a lookout where one can see the Flinder’s channel, and various other landmarks which I cannot remember now *shame*. We also packed a barbecue lunch to bring with us to Alligator Gorge, THE attraction that everyone who passes through Wilmington should visit. If you don’t, you’ll suffer the wrath and disdain of the good people there. Haha… Okay, the weather was lovely that day, cool with bright sun (often causing one to get sunburnt without realising). We followed the steps down to the gorge where there was a river running and then, Megan and her sisters proceeded to lead us down to Narrow pass. Instead of following the trail, we went via the river, jumping from stone to stone, trying not to fall into the river. Imagine that, I kinda feel obliged to do my best here as I supposedly live ‘in the jungle’ as Vish so often like to point out. So this should be second nature to me right? =P So I admit I was a little more cautious, but I managed to come out of the trek with both feet dry. Megan and Vish both slipped on the same rock (which was being deceptive) and had to content with wet shoes fro the rest of the day. =) I’m glad she didn’t drop my camera when that happened. I almost had a heart attack. She dropped her hat instead. Phew. Of course, I was concerned Megan as well. =P

Hancock’s Lookout

Narrow Pass

After the trek, we had a BBQ lunch of sausages, onions, potatoes and bread. I was introduced to the wonderful ‘bbq toast’. Almost 3 years in Aus and I never thought of barbecuing bread buttered on both sides. O_O I have been missing out. =.=” A bunch of tourists were also enjoying their own BBQ not far from us. The wonders of free BBQ grills. Unlike back home in Malaysia where one would have to cart their own bbq grill or at least the coals to their destination. Here, one can easily find gas / electric grilles at parks, seaside and with just the push of a button, one can start cooking. If I find myself homeless one day, I would live in the park near one of these and be able to enjoy teppanyaki everyday. =D How to beat that huh?

Kangaroos which were nothing like the tame ones at zoos / tourist farms where you can walk right up to them and pet them. These ones turned tail and ran as soon as we got anywhere close. This is as near as I could get with zoom. There were emus too, and foxes but no alligators at alligator gorge. =.=”

We initially planned to leave for Adelaide by 2pm but we never made it out till 5-ish. =.=” Ended up driving in the dark again (not me, I was just dead weight, as usual). I was exhausted, and had to spend today recuperating. Sore muscles in my arms from all that lifting, and legs (I suspect from the trek). I probably spent a few hours writing all this down although I think only my mom (hi there) would bother to read this through till the end (kinda like my report to her eh?). Most people would probably just scan through and gaze at the pictures. =P Anyway, I am glad that I decided to spent the weekend with Megan and her friend. Although I came back smelling of sheep (even my camera has some lingering sheep scent on it), I got to see and do things that I would never have thought to do on my own. The sights, the people are all so different. Their concerns / issues etc are mostly about the crop, price of stock, rainfall, the local footy club…. I noticed that the kids here seem to mature differently as well. They grow up just as fast as city kids but in a more responsible kind of way. Different environment resulting in them developing different kind of survival skills.Most of the ones from the country are way more grounded than big city kids. I think in the end, me coming from a place that is in between a city and a small town, I kinda grew up in limbo. Neither sophisticated like the city kids, nor realistic like the country kids. I’m making a rough stab at guessing that most of them don’t really see university as a must after high school. As in, nobody’s going to think any less of you if you decided that tertiary education is not what you need after high school. Better to use the money in other ways than spending it on a degree that you probably don’t need. Nobody’s gonna say you’re not smart enough or whatever.

So yeah, that how I spent the last days of my holidays. School starts tomorrow and I did no prep AT ALL. *dies*

ps* I passed anthropology. 1 more mark and I would have a Distinction. This kind of confirms my suspicion that my tutor is prejudiced against me =.=” or he could not tell me from the other Japanese girl. *sigh* At least he let me pass and I have all my 12 credits, meaning I do not have to take any electives for this coming semester. =P I just felt that I had to say this here. So, case closed people.