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)