A Mickey Bull lines up Tahina!

Signing Out - Tahi Morton

Hey everyone, just giving you a final update on what has been happening for the last segment of this year.

The last few months of K.E.F.L have been jam-packed full of various excursions and the memorable moments that they carry. The second and third two week blocks of Agriculture at the Gibb River Station were completed in this time, and in my opinion they were a huge success. Helicopters were brought in to assist us and complete the muster to its full potential, helping in huge ways. Around 300 cattle were brought down the laneway in to the cattle yards (Which we had been re-structuring for the entirety of the previous days), ready to be marked and drafted. The next three days were spent drafting, crushing, branding, ear tagging, ear marking, bang tailing, castrating and pregnancy testing all of the cattle; a job which can get quite bloody and gruesome. The third and final time that we were out on the station, we had to muster the remainder of cattle which were too young the previous muster. Unfortunately, a lot of them broke through the fence and escaped so we were only left with a small handful of cattle. We spent a few days letting these young cattle settle in and calm down, and then started working them through the yards repetitively to make the cattle more compliant. Not all of the cattle got the idea, though, as one of them charged me, sending me rushing and tumbling over the yard rails. We then drafted the large cattle from the smaller cattle; the large cattle would be caught in the crush, and the smaller cattle would be caught in the cradle, all to be marked and drafted.

Our most recent of excursions was the bike ride down the Old Wyndham Road in week 9 of Term 3. We started our bike ride at about 8:30am on the Wednesday where I promptly burst the valve on my rear tyre, causing great frustration from the heat of the sun. The vast majority of the day was spent bike riding for a total of about 45 kilometres, but we finished up at around 3:45pm to set up camp at Mambi’s (Where I quickly fell asleep after the long day of biking). The second day was started at around 6:00am, where we took turns having a rest in the car every five kilometres. After around 27 kilometres of bike riding, we reached our second camp destination which was Parry Creek Resort. The camp area was a luxury in comparison to Mambi’s, as there was a pool, a shop, showers and toilets, and meat ants weren’t constantly trying to eat you alive. After a day and a night of relaxation, we biked the final stretch of road to reach the finish, biking 70 kilometres in total over the entire trip. It was a difficult trip for me because I felt very sick and run-down the whole time, but reaching the finish was definitely an achievement that not many people our age can say they have done.

That pretty much sums up the last of my experiences for the year. What will I be doing after I complete my last year of K.E.F.L, you may wonder? Well, I am hoping to get my Life Guard ticket and join the Kununurra Leisure Centre team. I will definitely be popping in and out of Perth getting extra qualifications to make myself more competitive in the work force, too.

I have had an amazing time this year, and I have enjoyed every moment of it. I’ll see you all later.

Signing Out - Jeremy Wood

Hi Jeremy here,

Last blog for my KEFL Life,

Haven’t been here for a while so there’s a lot to catch up on!

We recently went out to Gibb River station for the second time, this time it was a very eventful 2 weeks with not only fence work but welding, yard work and a muster!  On the way out to Gibb it was very different to the first time, the rivers were all low and everything was dry, as usual we had the first day to set up everything and collect firewood.

We were straight into it on Tuesday doing fence work and sweating it out in the heat; we did multiple flood gates and used countless amount of barbed wire, fixing broken, slack and twisted wires every 10 metres. We repaired fences that got ruined by the floods from the wet season and some that hadn’t been touched in over ten years. We had to make sure our work was top quality as we did not want to lose any of the cattle that we were going to get through the muster. The station and all the students were really looking forward to this muster, it was most of the student’s first muster ever and it was the stations first non-contract muster in ten years, the excitement levels were through the roof.  I think the thought of the muster is what pulled most people through the hard work and countless scratches from the barb wire, the work we put in through that week was very impressive, we did approx. 46km worth of fencing. That’s a pretty good effort considering almost everyone had no prior experience except the first camp.

The day of the muster was tense but an exciting day everyone in the community was happy, but Clyde, Lynette and Michael were very very stressed, the muster started with the helicopters leaving at around 5:30am to start pushing the cattle towards the station. Confusion of where the cattle were being pushed towards caused more and more stress, the cattle finally got onto the station at around 11:00am, all the gates were set and everyone was in position. All the students were in the cars and sitting behind the cattle, pushing the closer and closer towards the yards, through all the excitement a few cattle got rammed and injured and unfortunately we lost a couple due to dehydration and injuries which is common. We let the cattle settle that night, they had feed and water in their pen and had plenty of room to move around.

The next day we moved a few cattle through the crush, everything from small 3 month old heifers to large 400kg+ bulls, some of these cattle had never been in a yard let alone a crush, we were very careful whilst handling the bigger beasts as they could potentially cause a lot of damage. Everyone worked well with each other, teaching each other how to do this and that, everyone gave everything a go even the cooked bulls testicles, which is a KEFL tradition (as we have been told). The days started off fairly slow with only about 60 cattle going through the crush, but as we got more confident and started to get in a routine we started to see the cattle fly through the crush. Unfortunately once we had finished with all the cattle it was time to head home, which I think everyone found disappointing, it was a really great experience.

Only five short weeks after we found ourselves back at the station, ready to tackle everything that was thrown at us! Peter, Kalani, Marcus and I started working on an old Nissan patrol that was in the workshop since the first day we got there. Before we started working on the car we first cleaned the workshop which was a complete mess, after cleaning we slowly began to work on the car ruling out everything, after 4 days of working on the car we figured out that the glow plug wiring harness was shot. After finishing with the car we then went and did some yard work, not working with the crush but just using the younger cattle and continuously working them through the yards, to give us experience but also to get the cattle used to being handled and pushed through the yard. Before we knew it we were all sitting around the fire with the community, for us year 12’s it was a little bit sad because it was the last time we will be out at the station. We thanked the community for having us and we also gave Clyde, Lynette and Michael a huge thank you for everything they had done to make all of the year possible. We got to go to a very lovely place which they said was a scared spot that the community don’t tell anyone about, this was a great privilege.

We also went on a mountain bike camp for three days starting at the Kununurra end of the Old Wyndham Road, we racked up the bikes at 5:30 and we were off by 7:30 we unloaded the bike by eight and had to change some pedals, some came off really easy but others didn’t. Andrew figured this out the hard way by splitting his knuckle on the sprocket and having to go to the hospital for butterfly stiches and glue. We biked a solid 45km on the first day landing us at Mambi Island for the night, the next day was an early rise, getting on the bikes by 6:30 and arriving at Parry Creek Lagoon Tourist Park by 11:30. A swim in the pool was a must and so was a shower, we had a good afternoon just relaxing, the night was good we saw some snakes and a crocodile in the lagoon but it was an early night as everyone was knackered.

The third day was going to be an easy ride only a short eight km’s and then straight to school and back home. Unfortunately, for the other two year 12’s and I it was our last camp in school ever, with only  1 and a half weeks left of school you could say I’m fairly excited for bigger and better things once I graduate. But I am upset and I will definitely miss this amazing group and miss all the great memories we've had, I could not have asked for a better group of people to spend my last year with, not to mention a great, proactive, helpful and hilarious teacher that made the year happen. Thank you for everything Ms Audas, I will miss you and your killer farts.

Signing out for the last time,

Jeremy wood (Woody)

Josh Adkin here...

Since the last blog we have been really busy with work, school, Tafe and also camps. I am currently working at the Kununurra Visitor Centre every Monday and the Kununurra Community Resource Centre every Tuesday as part of my school based traineeship. I am currently doing two different cert II courses, one in Business and also in Creative Industries, which means I have a lot of work to do.

At the end of last term we embarked on our first camp block to Gibb River Station it was a long 5 hour drive out there packed in a troopie with me, Justina, Katie, Shiriya, Kerri, Peter and Alex. We all squeezed into the car with no leg room because we had all the boxes of food and other stuff. When we finally got to Gibb River Station we unpacked and set up camp. Most of the week we were fencing, we started by taking down the old barbed wire and taking out the old post and hammering new posts in and then putting the barbed wire back up and re-straining it, this created a holding pen for the cattle – that we will use when we come back out to Gibb. On one of the days we got a killer, one of the station people killed a cow, then we went and skinned the cow and cut up the meat.

Mid-way through the camp I was getting worried that we might not be able to get back to Kununurra because the river was too high to cross because it had been raining flat out. I had to fly out to Adelaide the day after we were meant to get home so I was quiet concerned. After two days of fear Mrs Audas told me that the other car that was coming to pick us up could not get over the river, I was really sad because I was really excited to go to Adelaide. But then Mrs Audas and Mr Coltman told me that we would catch a plane from Gibb River Station to Kununurra. Ryland, Owen, Zack and Mrs Audas boarded the 5 seater plane and had a 50 minute plane ride instead of a 6 hour car ride – which the other KEFL kids had to endure. I was very happy about this and that was the end of the camp.

Last term we left for a canoeing/kayaking camp down the Upper Ord River, we started at the Lake Argyle Dam wall and left with high spirits and happy faces. We stopped 5 km in to jump of a rock we all jumped and some of us did different tricks like back flips, after about 30 minutes at jump rock then we paddled down to our first lot of fast water we called it obstacle 1 it wasn’t as fast as we thought it would be but it was still fun. After that we paddled to sandy beach where we ate lunch. After lunch we sat down relaxed and then had our first Kefl war! It was Jeremy, Alex, Peter, Andrew, Ryland and Bianca onto me. It was a good battle but I think I won. We left sandy beach and were only half way. Another hour passed and I was fed up with paddling and wanted to stop and go home but Marcus (my canoe partner) kept me going, for the rest of the journey me and Marcus would join up with Justina and Bianca’s canoe to have little breaks, where we would stop paddling and eat chocolate and lollies and we called them chocolate breaks. So every time we were tired and wanted food we would just yell “chocolate break,” after a long 7 hour day of paddling and 25 km we had finally made it to our camp. We set up camp and got the fire going and sat down and relaxed, after dinner we played some camp fire games and then went to bed ready for another day of canoeing.

We woke up the next day ready and rearing to go, we all got dressed had breakfast and started paddling up Coolamon Creek, it was good fun paddling up this creek because it was a very narrow creek and lofts of trees where we hand to lay down in the canoe to get under. So we went to the end of Coolamon Creek turned around and set course back to the camp site, when we got back to camp we found out that we didn’t have to paddle anymore and where having a boat to pick us up, so we packed up camp and waited for the boat. When the boat got to the camp we loaded the boat and everyone climbed on board and we went home to Kununurra. It was a hard long camp, but I really enjoyed it.

Coming up for KEFL we have lots more camps and activities. I am really enjoying KEFL and never want it to end… this is the opportunity of a life time and I would recommend it to any person starting year 11. You will get the best out of it and it’s a one in a million opportunity.

Thanks for reading…

Josh

Rylandia Checking In...

Since the last time I have written on this blog, the KEFL crew have been on a one week block to Gibb River Station, we have started horse riding out a Yeehaa, and have completed a canoe/ Kayak camp. All of these activities have helped me gain important life skills and extraordinary experiences that I will never forget. This year for me has gone the quickest by far, it’s crazy to think that next year is my last year of school.

We have now finished Canoeing for the year and have started mountain biking, we have a camp for bike riding next term which we will be riding to Wyndham on the Parry’s creek road. Today is Friday and on Monday we are departing for Gibb River Station at 6am for a two week block. The last time we were at Gibb we were fencing preparing for the muster to keep the cattle in the yards and into where they need to be.

This time we are doing a little more than fencing we are working with cattle but still doing a lot of fencing. On the first Gibb River Station trip we were out on the station for five days and for the majority of the time it was raining which made fencing a little bit easier as it was super-hot. Whilst we were there we went out with some of the locals and did a killer and ate it that night, it was an awesome experience and lots of fun. The trip home came along and there was a bit of a dilemma… there were not enough cars to take us back because the Pentecost River was over a metre high and could not be crossed. So I was one of the lucky ones and ending up going home on a chartered flight from the station to Kununurra.

On the canoe camp we went to the argyle dam in a bus and started our journey on the lake. We travelled 25 kilometres on the first day passing through some awesome parts of the lake such as rapids, tight spaces and reed and spider infested spaces. Once we got to the camp and set everything up we played some campfire games and mucked around for a while. I shared a miniature tent with Andrew, we could barely fit. In the morning we paddled to the very end of Coolaman creek and went through spider’s webs and log obstacles. Once we got back to camp we paddled downstream a bit to a rock we could jump off to kill time waiting for the triple j boat to come and pick us up to take us back to town, once it arrived at our camp we loaded it up with all of our gear and travelled down the river to the triple j dock. We were picked up from the dock and taken back to school to unload.

School is going well but the camps are always better - until next time goodbye.

Kerri Searle (Kezza)

Hi there, last term in KEFL we started our outdoor ED activities, this included us canoeing at places such as Swim Beach and Lilly Lagoon. We also got to participate in an expedition from Celebrity Tree Park all the way to swim beach – this expedition was pretty fun and we got to practice our rescues, I am fairly good at getting back into the canoe after a roll over.

On the 7^th of March we went to the Gibb Station for a week where we completed fencing. We had to pull down all the old fencing and put in new pickets and 4 tiers of barbed wire. Apart from this work, we did some fun activities like swimming at Gibb River road crossing and playing basketball with the lovely Nullagunda community kids. Shiriya and I got some driving lessons, as we had no clue on how to drive a manual car, thanks to Michael we are now okay at driving with only a few stalls. The Gibb was an amazing experience, we got to do new things and meet new people.

Recently we went on a 2 day canoe camp where we launched off at Lake Argyle dam wall and we canoed 25km to Coolamon Creek. It was a hard journey but it was worth it as we got to see the beautiful Kimberley scenery. We set up camp at Eco-Adventure camp site where we set a fire and relaxed for a while. After dinner we did a variety of campfire games, this allowed us to bond and gets to know each other better. The next morning we were up early and started packing up the camp site. After we packed up we hopped into the canoes and went for a paddle down Coolamon Creek where we showed Makka and Miss Audas our skills. We had to do stern rudder, sweep strokes, J strokes and swap from back to front of the canoe and vice versa. After that we had a swim near our campsite and then we got ready for the Triple J Tours to pick us up. I would like to thank Makka from Eco Canoeing for taking us on these amazing canoeing adventures and teaching us the ways of canoeing!

Our Schedules have been pretty hectic this term as a group of us have started horse riding. Every Friday so far it’s been good learning the ways of a cowboy and making a bond with our horses. Soon we will be going to the Gibb Station for our second trip; this one will be 2 weeks long. I can’t wait for the trip and hope it’s a blast.

Bye for now :)

4th Gen Wood Chopper

Bestie Selfies - Kez and Shaz

Digging Post Holes

Counting Cattle

Katie Havili

Hey there Katie here again

This year in term 2 in K.E.F.L we went on our first camp out to Gibb River Station for about 6 days. Sunday and Friday were our traveling days. We met the Station Managers Clyde and Linnette Russ, we also got to meet the elders of the Station Alfie and Nancy White and Yvonne Burgu, and they were all so lovely, warm and welcoming. 

The first part of our camp was to pull down and clean up the holding yard and a laneway. We also had to mend all the broken fences for our muster later on in the year. It was my first time fencing. I had to be shown a few times at first how to tighten and strain the wire around the trees or poles, but it was overall a good experience. At the end of the week when we had seen our finished holding pen and laneway- I felt extremely proud and a huge sense of accomplishment.

My favourite part of our camp was when we went out to get a killer and I got a chance to have a go at skinning the cow. It was my first time but I found it easy once I knew how and where to skin the animal.

My other favourite time was when we got to go out for a swim on Thursday afternoon after we finished doing the fencing, we played footy in the water, and it was really fun.

This term we went on Outdoor Education camp which was to Coolamon Creek. We started from Lake Argyle Dam wall and it took us 6 hours to reach our destination Go Wild’s Eco Campsite.

The Obstacles we faced weren’t really as hard as I expected, the water was just flowing really fast. We went one Canoe at a time through the Obstacles, otherwise if we all went at the same time we could have capsized.

Overall we canoed 25km, I was proud that I could get back into the canoe after capsizing.

Well see yaa next time!!

Bringing things up to speed!

Heya, it is Tahi again; just bringing you all up to speed on what I have been doing for the first two exciting terms of K.E.F.L (Kimberley Education for Life).

Terms one and two have carried an abundance of exciting and memorable events for all the K.E.F.L students to experience, starting with our one-week excursion to the Gibb River Station. Our week consisted of many different and unique events, all of which were completely new to me… yet, none the less enjoyable. We started the week by dismantling and re-building fences; a hot and sweaty job, but, it is always rewarded with the feeling of accomplishment and a nice comfortable bed to return home to. Fencing was the main job for the week, although, on the way home from a relaxing swim at the Gibb River, we stumbled across a very large Goanna lizard. I did not realise that they were such good eating, that was, until Alex and Peter darted out of the car with a hunting knife and an axe. The Goanna was chased up a dead tree and met its life’s end. We were all hungry from the thought of the Goanna, so we returned home to the Beef that we had acquired from the day before, the meat from the killer. The killer was taken from out in the bush, and took roughly 45 minutes to skin and part meat from guts and bone. The meat was very lovely, although, next time it would be best to cook the ribs properly… The cow was still mooing.

Even just this week we have been on a trip to Lake Argyle, to paddle 23 kilometres up to Coolamon Creek (A total of 34 Kilometres in total). It was a very fun experience, one that I have already experienced twice now. It was hot, but it was nothing that a few well-timed splashes can’t fix. The night was then spent at Maka’s camp, where we had dinner and lunch around a campfire.  

It has been a great two-terms.

Some Group Photos!

Michael Jeffery - Ag Trainer

Goanna Hunting!

From the Captain!

Things have been fairly quiet on the blogging front of late… the KEFL crew have been extremely busy with their traineeships, school work, TAFE and Agriculture training.

We have just come back from our last stint out at Gibb River Station – a memorable and amazing experience for all involved. I am so very proud of all the KEFL students on the tremendous amount of effort and time put into making Gibb River Station a functioning station again. Some of their achievements include:

• ·      Over 45km of fencing – barb wire and plain wire fencing
• ·      Building a holding pen and a temporary cattle yard
• ·      Improving the existing permanent cattle yard
• ·      Building and installing 7 flood gates
• ·      Participating in two musters – one with helicopters, one on foot and in cars
• ·      Putting 480 large cattle through the crush – de-horning, castrating, branding, ear tagging and marking
• ·      Drafting and training 35 Weiner heifers, steers and bulls – than using the cradle to de-horn, castrate, brand, ear marking and ear tagging.

On top of these amazing achievements KEFL students have been actively involved in community work and development at Nullagunda Community. This has resulted in the Agricultural Industry recognising the hard work of the students and the community and awarding a $100,000 grant to fix the permanent cattle yards and install two bore pumps for water in two paddocks.  A big thank you has to go out to Michael Jeffery from KTI for being a patient and knowledgeable Agricultural Trainer – and for allowing us all to experience life at Gibb River Station – we can never thank you enough for this.

Thank you to the wonderful support staff who travelled to Gibb River Station and supported the KEFL students. Geoff Burrows, Jamie Coltman, Brendan Forbes and Jenny and Ed MacNeill, thank you for coming and supporting the kids, and seeing what they achieve in fairly harsh conditions, we hope you had a great time.

The KEFL crew will be posting their blog entries very soon and will tell you in their own words all the wonderful things they have achieved. Stay tuned for photos, videos and detailed accounts of their success.

 

Nullagunda - Love! 

Galvins Gorge 

Well done KEFL crew – you guys rock!

KEFL in the Workplace!

Alex Ripps - Engineering - Top End Building

Kerri Searle - Business - Ord Irrigation

Thomas Chulung - Engineering - Kununurra Engineering

Jeremy Wood - Automotive - Coates Hire

Peter Davies - Automotive - Kununurra Toyota

Marcus Cooper - Automotive - Kununurra Toyota

Katie Havili - Community Services - Save the Children

Shiriya Barnes - Business - Small Business Centre

Josh Adkin - Business and Creative Industry - Community Resource Centre