16 | Cattle Ranch

The next leg of the journey took us from Noosa to Rockhampton. A mere 7 hour train journey across the Australian scrub. Although desolate, it had its charm and we managed to see a couple of wild kangaroos along the way. The music choice was pretty limited on the service so Justin Bieber’s album was played over twice; I barely survived the journey!

Once we arrived in the late evening, we headed off to our ‘country camp out.’ We arrived to a small burning campfire with a series of Swags set up ready to go. Perfect I thought, I can look at the stars and fall asleep. However the owner pitched them under the branches of a tree… No view for Oliver tonight. This slight disappoint was followed by the story of being told there were bird eating spiders in the area and some had been seen at the camp just a week ago, oh sweet dreams!

Before hitting the hay we were treated to a Kangaroo stew and homemade beer bread. The farmer then proceeded to get his whip out. For those of you who think this is leading somewhere, it doesn’t. The control whip is used to control the cattle by cracking the whip in a movement that breaks the sound barrier. The knot tied sting on the end of the leather creates the noise. Apparently the guy has caught his horse a couple of times out in the field and as you can imagine, it jumped in the air pretty swiftly.

We woke up early at dawn to the sound of country music and the scent of fried eggs and bacon… thank you GOD! After a taste of heaven we headed off for a morning walk and a visit to a farm where we fed the goats, horses and pigs. It was a small insight into the day-to-day running of a farm but it was enjoyable nevertheless.

We had the afternoon to relax after the cattle ranch so we stayed at the Emu Beach resort in Rockhampton. Our Loka guide took us on a walk around the headland to look at the turtles swimming in the bay. After a short 30 minute walk and 100 mosquito bites later we thought it would be fun to build a human pyramid whilst waiting for the bus. We successfully formed one and another collapsed just before the final person stood on the top. Poor John had to take my weight at the bottom and his face was turning white as he locked his arms. Ricks face started to turn red but I am not quite sure if it was the British sun burnt skin or due the pain he was in.

Nothing that a beer couldn't fix in the evening mind you.

#Food #Tour #Nature