Drier than a dead dingo's donger

Thursday 24th April

Thursday is sheep mustering day. Once again, we saddle up and head for the hills. It is raining – thank God for Driza-bones – we put them on and instantly feel like stockmen, although they are a bit smelly – I think it’s what they are oiled with. Jillian is glad about the rain. According to her, lately it’s been “drier than a dead dingo’s donger”. I guess that’s pretty dry. She’s likely to get a better price for her cattle at the sale yards when there’s rain about, as buyers would have nice green paddocks to fatten up the cows for sirloins and rump steak – apologies to the vegetarian readers, but as I’ve recently discovered, that’s life on the land!

Back to the sheep … by the time we had ascended the mountain, a large rain cloud had descended upon us, and it was pelting down. I had thought spotting black angus cattle in the mountains was hard, but looking for grubby grey sheep in the gullies and blackberry bushes in the middle of a cloud is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Sheep are also quite stupid, all you need is for one to go the wrong way, and of course they all go – like sheep! Luckily we had the dogs on our side again, who took care of the strays. I also noticed that Blackie didn’t mind giving them a bit of nip on their woolly bums to get them going –very cute, not to mention helpful. Luckily it was such hard work that we didn’t notice how cold it was, until we started to make our way back to the sheepyards. So happy to get back to camp and dry off in front of the roaring camp fire, and thaw out my hands in a nice hot cup of tea!

Just a long enough break to get enough feeling left in our hands for the afternoon’s activity – sheep shearing!!! Yep, I did it, although I’m not sure how my sheep feels about her haircut – it looks like a dog’s breakfast (good country saying!!). Shearers generally get paid by the sheep they shear, and the going rate is $2 per sheep. I would be lucky to make a dollar on this one, she’s a bit rough. I think I’ll stick to teaching yoga for sure! x x N