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.