Two weeks ago, I was on my way back to Sydney from our ASC Outback trip. Let me start off by saying the Outback that we saw wasn’t exactly what I had expected. It was still an outstanding trip, just not quite what I had imagined. Here’s three reasons why:
1. I don’t know about you, but when I think of the Outback I think of desolate. However, the very small part of the Outback that we got to see was incredibly green! This past year they’ve had the most rain they’ve seen in the past 15-20 years. This has resulted in the land being covered with little patches of yellow, white, and purple wildflowers. Very pretty (and extremely good for the farmers – the grass they have now can set their sheep grazing pastures up for the next 3-4 years!), but it was not very desolate. If I may also add, we were told that this is the most consistent green landscape they’ve had in New South Wales in the past 40+ years. It was indeed a treat for us to be able to witness the land in this way.
2. Another thing I associate with the Outback is hot weather. Well, it was rather cold while we were there. Not South Dakota cold by any means but definitely cooler than I had expected (probably about 50s-ish). I wore pants and a sweatshirt/jacket pretty much the whole time. Fun little tidbit: it was actually warmer in Sydney than it was where we were. Granted, we were still in New South Wales (northwestern corner: “Back O'Bourke”, that basically just means west of Bourke).
3. Last but not least, we stayed at a farm (Trilby Station) that was located on a flood plain. Yep, a flood plain…in the Outback. The thing about flood plains is that the soil takes on a more grayish color because of all the silt. This meant that for the majority of the trip we weren’t actually on the true deep red soil that’s so closely associated with Australia. However, we did get to play in the red dirt for a while on one of our property tours as well as during a class exercise on some sand dunes.
Here are a few fun facts about Trilby Station and life out in the Outback:
-Trilby Station is a family owned and operated sheep farm consisting of 200,000 acres (yes, I said 200,000 acres! That’s over 300 square miles by the way…). Pretty much all of that land is separated into different paddocks (pastures) used for grazing. They have almost 17,000 sheep on their property along with who knows how many wild goats (wild goats are all over. If they’re on your property, they’re considered yours. Farmers will actually build taller fences than what’s required for sheep in order to keep the goats on their land. Wild goats are practically free money – all you have to do is muster (herd) them and take them to the market).
-So how the heck do you keep track of 17,000 sheep on 200,000 acres? By plane of course! Gary (the husband) makes rounds in his little aircraft a few times per week to check on the water supplies, fences, and herds. When it comes time for shearing, they use a plane, motorbikes, and dogs to muster the herds. Some fascinating stuff right there. I still can’t imagine that much land with that many sheep even though I was there!
-Trilby is in a very fortunate geographic location - they have the Darling River running through their property, a constant water source. I found this kind of interesting…once in a while they’ll get a major flood. It’s not like a flash flood though – they have about a six-week warning before the floods come. This gives them enough time to move all their sheep to the paddocks on higher ground as well as their planes and helicopters to an airstrip out of the flood plain. Once the flooding hits, in order to get into town (or anywhere for that matter) they have to take a boat from the house to the other airstrip and then a plane to wherever it is they need to go.
-They have a traveling pastor/reverend/minister that makes rounds to the farms in the area every once in a while. If I remember correctly, they also have a community church service about once every month. It doesn’t matter if you’re not of that certain denomination (or even a Christian for that matter). Everyone still goes to the service to support one another. If people don’t go, the service won’t happen. It’s a cool picture of community support.
-In addition to the flying pastor, they also have a flying doctor. If a serious injury or whatnot occurs at one of the farms, it takes the doc about an hour or so to fly there. There’s no guarantee that he’ll be that quick either – he could be out on another call. Because of this, the farms are equipped with a kit packed full of different types of medications, all labeled with a different number. When you call the doctor, they’ll walk you through what you need to do and tell you what number medicine you need to administer. It’s an interesting system, and I guess it works quite well.
-Mail only comes once or twice a week. And again, that’s all delivered by plane to the farms as well. Talk about a flying mailman…
-Most farmers can’t make a living in Australia merely by farming anymore – they need a supplemental source of income. For Tribly Station, that’s running a resort/cabin/outback experience thing.
A few more things to mention about the trip:
-It was a 12-hour bus ride out to Trilby Station. Because of bus driver laws, we had to split this up over 2 days. The actual time we spent at Trilby was only 3 nights and 2 ½ days.
-We had an amazing bus driver (we’ve had him on past fieldtrips – he does all the ASC bus driving). Back in the day he used to do cross-country Australia tours, so he knows pretty much ALL there is to know about the Outback. What a wealth of knowledge! Oh, and he has a mullet. That just made him even more awesome.
-Two of the three nights we were at Trilby I slept outside. The stars out there are awesome – reminded me of what I saw in the Grand Canyon. You could see tons of shooting stars and satellites.
-If I haven’t already mentioned it, this trip was for one of our Australian culture classes. Let me just say, best fieldtrip I’ve ever been on :) Because it was for a class, we had a few discussions and class-like things while we were there. Overall though, it was very chill and relaxed.
- While we were there, we got to talk to a kangaroo hunter. Kangaroos are nocturnal; likewise, you hunt at night using a powerful spotlight attached to your truck. Fun fact: kangaroos can only be shot in the head. Apparently the hunter gets a fine if he hits the ‘roo in the body. This is because the body is used for meat (either human consumption or pet food). Since we were all so interested in what the kangaroo hunter does, he went out and shot a kangaroo for us to see. Kangaroo fur is so incredibly soft (much softer than a koala, by the way).
-As far as deadly snakes, spiders, and other creatures go, we saw none. That’s probably a good thing…
-They fed us so extremely well on this trip (and pretty much everything was homemade too!). We had at least a meal-sized portion at every eating time throughout the day: “brekky” (breakfast), morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and supper (supper refers to a snack before bed, not interchangeable with dinner). So much food!
-Every evening we’d all gather ‘round the campfire and share life stories. Lots of group bonding happened during those hours as well as throughout the rest of the trip. It was so good to get to know the other 32 Americans studying here in a different type of environment. I’d probably have to say that this was one of my favorite parts of the Outback trip.
Well, that pretty much sums up the trip. A lot more has happened these past two weeks back in Sydney, but I’ll save that for another entry. I must say though, it was difficult to get back into the swing of classes after being on break for two whole weeks!! And guess what….I only have 5 more weeks of class left, 6 more weeks total in Australia. Time has gone by fast!! Part of me is ready to get back home, but another really big part of me doesn’t want to leave just yet. I always seem to leave a place with a tinge of sadness because I know that I was only able to see/experience a small part of what’s truly there.
I 'spose that’s it for now. I hope you’re all enjoying the autumn season!
P.S. they have Outback Steakhouses here…same chain as in the States. For some reason, I didn't really expect that.
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