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!