With no expectations -at all- I can not say that something disappointed me. What I can tell, are some personal struggles I had which I didn’t expected. Contact with the outside worldIn general, I am not an active social (media) person on the phone. I barely call; answer my messages late or not at all; and check my mail once a week (if I am lucky). This is why I didn’t expected that I would miss having contact with the outside world. Or more specific: people from back home. Sending a text to my mom; ask advise to my friends; and talk with my brother. Just those small conversations.  It’s…

My time at the station had come to an end, and I was leaving with mixed feelings.  I knew I was going to mis the quietness but I also felt ready to see some other faces for a change.  I felt sad while saying goodbye. It felt like I was leaving home; a safety. Instead of leaving by bus (what everyone without a car did), a girl from the station offered me to drive to Cairns together. She was going into that direction anyway, and this was more fun for us both. The drive was six hours, so some company was nice. We decided to makes some stops in between: we…

A rodeo; the perfect reason to ask for some days off.  It was a little tricky, while the weekend of the rodeo was coming closer. It all depended on the weather.  If the fields where dry enough to harvest; then there was a lot of work to do. But the last couple of days, they had been waiting because of the fact that those fields were too moist at the moment. At the end.. The field stayed moist enough -for us- to be able to leave the station for a couple of days. Rodeo time!  A rodeo, a thing I know from movies. From series. But now I got to…

It’s hard work.When you buy meat in the supermarket this is not what you think about.   Once a year -which take a couple of months- it’s time to move some cattle (cows) to the other properties (in this case Melbourne). This process is divided in different steps.  First catch the cattle – load them in the trucks – unload – brandmark and castrate them – bath them – let them dry over night – load them in the truck again and drive off. This process takes at least three days, with a number of around 80 cows at a time.  I’ll let you do the maths, but -with an…

Like we do with our cats and dogs, the cows need to be clipped as well. This is a quick process which happens within seconds (if you have the right guy to do so).  One day, I heard a rumur -what didn’t turned out te be one- that you could eat the balls of the cow.  People who are working on the fields do this sometimes, apparently. As a lunch or in between breaks.. a lot of protein 😉  P.S Not raw.. they would grill the ball fist.   With my curious face, I had to know if this was true. And It was.. The next morning, I got a chance…

When you live where you work – and you work where you live, it’s impossible to keep those separate.  There is no private. Almost no privacy.  It takes a lot of effort to keep something to yourself or to protect a secret. It feels sometimes like you are living in a soap serie.  Because there is not a lot of entertainment, there’s a lot of time for talking and time to notice situations and certain behaviour.  This has pros and cons.Like everything in life. On of my favoriete after-work activities was a camp fire. We would drive a little bit in land -close to the water and in an open…

Throughout the day (even the week), the food is always quit the same.  There were a couple of recipes -combined in a map- where we could choose from what we wanted to make. For dinner, sweets and desserts.  Call it the cooks’ bible Eating breakfast was for everyone on there own.  Some people didn’t ate breakfast at all and others just had a coffee.  I always ate a bowl of cereal before preparing smoko. I am just hungry when I wake up. A girls has got to eat.  And otherwise, I will eat all the pancakes; made and ate by myself. “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day” And…

Because of the simpel fact that a human have to eat every day, means that there are no days off for a cook working at a station. So, every day; 7 days a week; 14 hours a day. But if you compare the kitchen duties with the outdoor workers, there’s is no reason to complain.  Outdoor work means a lot of times in the sun, physical work and -sometimes- no breaks. No toilets, no facilities and earlier mornings. Working in the kitchen means airconditioning, always time for break and no pressure (if your time managing is right). You can eat whenever you want and you start later in the mornings. …