Remembering that our stay on the Rackemann farm is an exchange, our hard work for accommodation and food, a vast number of our days were filled with fence building (,with many barb wire cuts and grazes a long the way,) and cattle herding. It is calving season on the farm currently so every few days a new calf was born. They named a calf after each of us so they'll be able to remember us when they see them grazing around the farm, until they end up as hamburgers anyway :/! During our stay we helped out when the vet came and preg tested the cattle. As I'm sure you all know how this procedure plays out I decided to take a backseat role scribing the cow's ID number and recording the results from the vet. This put me safely out of the firing line for the amount of cow poo that was flying around... Alex wasn't so lucky.
Other than 'farm work' we went to the local Wondai horse races and won a staggering $6.70. I also went and volunteered at Tommy's school for a morning helping the children with their reading and literary skills.
For Alex's birthday we drove to Australia Zoo for the day, which was a scenic, 3 hour drive from the farm. This was a lovely way to spend Alex's birthday. We saw the otter show, the tiger show and the big 'Wildlife Warriors' show. Our favourite part was 'Roo Heaven'. Here you can purchase 'roo food' from a vending machine then are free to approach the kangaroos and wallabies to feed and pet them. Alex also spent a good half an hour trying to get the kangaroo selfie below.
Pam and Greg are an elderly couple, both still keen travellers and outback farmers that currently live in their crazy caravan on the Rackemann's land. Greg helps out on the farm so we saw a lot of him, yet Pam is pretty immobile so sadly spends her days doing crosswords in the caravan. We figured it would be nice to invite them over for a 'birthday tea' for Alex. Pam loves quizzes so we asked her to prepare a quiz for the evening as we knew how much she would like this. This led to an eventful games night including bingo and a number of quizzes that were actually really good. The quiz question that has really stuck in our minds follows:
True or false?
In Japan they grow square watermelons because they are easier to stack.
TRUE. Crazy.
To end our time on the Rackemann farm with a bang and also as a nice surprise for Maddie and Tommy, Alex and I planned a secret halloween party. We got creative and made, painted, drew and fashioned a number of decorations and some very budget costumes with bin bags and sheets. We created games including 'pin the tale on the witch's cat' and a mummifying game involving lots of toilet roll. I wrote rhyming riddles and hide them over the house which led to a very messy obstacle course and set of challenges created by Alex. Overall it was a great success. At least if all else fails in life we know that we'll make excellent children's party planners.
Next stop, Brisbane. Next chapter in our journey, WORK.
No comments:
Post a Comment