We were in Brisbane when we got the call from Scott Browning at Bamboo Station - little did we know how this would all end and how brief our time as stationhands would be... We were at a pet client's house because we were house sitting for a few days. It was a pretty good set up we had there.. Anyway, he calls and asks if we have found jobs and if we wanted to come up and work. James and I discussed it and decided it was a good plan since we were still looking for regular work. This would be three months of pretty solid work in the middle of the outback. Sounded like a dream to me! He tells us that it's not for everyone - some people come up and stay three days before they realise it's not for them, others stay three months or more. There I am thinking it's a bit strange that he called us out of nowhere (I'd applied over a month ago), but he said he was on a civil works contract and hadn't been home for four months. Oh, that's alright, I think. Surely that means there will be enough work for us to do for three months. So we make plans to go up a couple weeks later at the beginning of September so we could get everything in order before we get to the middle of nowhere and are basically completely off the grid.
Near the end of August, Scott calls and asks when we're planning to arrive in Cairns, as he's arranged for us to get to the station from town. I ask when he needs us and he tells us yesterday....Um, okay? I haven't heard from you since the weekend we first talked and you said the beginning of September would be fine... Well, cattle prices are the highest they've been in eight years, so he really needs to get them in and sorted so he knows which ones are going for sale and whatnot, which is fine. He asks if either of us know how to ride horses. James doesn't, but I do, which seems to be fine because James can always ride the quad. Ok, we'll book a flight and let you know when we're going to arrive. Mistake number two was not making him pay for our flights...
Our flight to Cairns was nearly $300 and booked for the 31st of August. We'd get in spend the night ($55 + food and all) in Cairns and drive his truck to Bamboo the following morning. We do a few things with Gordon who came to pick us up from the airport - get the oil drum loaded, pick up a few supplies for the station, etc. Then he gives us the car keys and lets us go check in and get some rest.
We arrive at the station around 5pm after having left around 8:30 that morning. Such a long day... Only his partner, Karen, is at the house, so she drives down to the shed to get him so we can all meet. My first impression? The dogs are all locked in cages...there are like six in each cage and barely enough room for them to all lay down. UGH!! Not my place to say anything..I'm hoping they are only like that for when they're expecting new people, maybe? Nope, they're like that quite a bit...Anyway, Scott gets to the house and immediately wants to saddle up the horses. I'm thinking...we just drove forever to get here, can you wait?? Karen beats me to saying anything and tells him to relax, let us unpack the truck, and we can do that in the morning. He wants to get mustering done ASAP, obviously. This is obviously the kind of place where everyone works sunup to sundown, and don't get me wrong - I can get with that, but can we have just a couple hours to settle in? We do get the rest of the night in the end to get out and hang out a bit. James and I are thinking this will be a cool experience, even if the two are a bit off their rockers...
Day 1: out the door at 6:30am.
We start off by going out to get the bulldozer, which has just been left near one of the cattle paddocks on the property. Oh, right. This place is around 300 square miles. We drive nearly 35km to get the big truck so the dozer can be hauled back to the house. Scott is pointing out various turn offs for particular places on the station and then tells us about the 29 charges he has against his neighbour for stealing his cattle...right. We get to where the hauler is and he tells us to follow him in the truck. The dummy left it in gear when he turned off the ignition. James turns it on and plows right into the back of the hauler!! I was rolling..Then, we drive back a couple of km to get the dozer and get it loaded..which was a hassle and a half. He has a flat on the hauler and we have to fix that before we can load the dozer... He's already not getting along with James, but the guy is so quiet and not very clear in his instructions.. Are we supposed to know how to do this without ever having been in this kind of environment?? Apparently so. The good part? I got to drive the manual truck all on my own..which is a big deal considering I've never done that before!
Well, we get it all loaded and drive back to the house for breakfast and it's now about 10 am....yeah, that took forever. After breakfast, back out the door to put out lick (which is some sort of grain mixed with urea that helps them digest the dry grass). As we check the cattle, we're also checking the squares they're locked in to make sure they can't escape. That means checking the fencing, so he's teaching us how to fix the barbed wire fences. He lets James try once and doesn't ever say anything to me about using the plyers... At one of the squares, he has James get out and stand at the gate while we drive around it, not thinking we'd have much fencing to fix.. Turns out we were gone about 45 minutes because so much of the fence needed fixing. James got so worried he came looking for us - he was not a happy camper. I hadn't even noticed it had been that long, but he was ready to call the police and all for all the nightmares he had going through his mind.. Everything was okay in the end, though. By the time we finish, it's nearly dark, but I still have to get on the horse I'm meant to be riding the next day. So, Scott saddles up Mr. Ed and I get on. They tell me he's sort of a pain, but you can keep control, if you try. I've been on horses that tried to throw me off, so I wasn't worried. Turns out, the horse hasn't been fed yet, so all he wants to do is go back to the barn...nightmare. I'm having to be really heavy handed to get him to do what I want.. Not liking it. Then, I try a canter...not good. I'm bouncing around in the saddle and nearly coming out every third step. Pain in the ASS!! The saddle is entirely too small and I can't keep a good grip on it. Absolutely not going to work. I tell Scott and he nearly yells, don't ride it, then! Excuse you....I'm doing my best. And there's no other saddle, so we can't do the mustering.... Oh, right. The quad is also broken, so the whole deal is pointless.
Well, while Scott is out letting out the cattle, Karen starts talking to us about everything. She tells us that it's unlikely he's gonna keep us on the station since we can't do the mustering, we don't have an agreement since we didn't settle when he'll be paying us, and a few other things... James is raging and I'm starting to get worried.. We're out hundreds of dollars at this stage..what are we gonna do?? And what the fuck was he going to have us do after the cattle were mustered and sold?? That only takes about two weeks and he promised us three months work. What a prick.
Later, Scott asks me if $200 is enough...I should have made him pay for the flights, but it's too late at this stage...so we take the $200 and Karen drops us at the roadhouse around 9:30am. We spend most of the day asking people if they'll take us, but it's a Saturday, so not many rolling in. The ones who are going are already full or not going straight there. This guy, Mick, comes up asking if we're waiting on a taxi. James kinda laughs and says, yeah something like that. Then tells him our story. The guy says, Scott Browning. I affirm it and he does that no-good motion in front of his throat. Not many up that way like the guy. Great! We got screwed by the one station owner who is disliked...Mick finally says, if you're still here in the morning, I'll stop and get you to head back to Cairns. AWESOME! We wait a few more hours with no luck, so we book a room for the night. The next morning, we're up early and waiting for Mick. He said he'd be around between 7-8am, so we're out there before 7am, just in case. He never shows.
Now what? We'll be stranded for days? So, we start asking more people and eventually this trucker pulls up. James goes to talk to him and the man tells him he'll think about it. When he's getting ready, he comes over to tell us it's our lucky day - he's taking us to Cairns! YAY!!! Words cannot describe how happy I was at that moment. I didn't even care that we had no idea about this guy...all I could think was, we're getting out of here!!
Well, this guy can talk! He's so friendly and telling us all these stories about his time on the road and all. He's really funny, too, so we're laughing most of the way. We're about halfway back when he nearly runs out of fuel because something is wrong with the tanks, so he needs to stop and fill up. We get to Lakeland - three hours from Cairns! He comes back and tells us, guys, we have a flat. Awesome....Good news: he has a spare. So we go to change it - yes, we helped him do it - and the knuts don't go into the rim....Perfect, our luck's run out...He calls back to his boss and tells him, but the other seven need changed, as well, which means we're staying the night in Lakeland.. It was actually enjoyable. We got on with our new trucker friend really well, and the motel was right down from where the truck was stopped. Plus, it had a bar and grill! This is the best night we've had since we left Brisbane!! Well, I get tired and need a shower, so I left them to their drinks. James told me that our friend said I was a really nice lady and then asked if he wanted to get drunk with him. HAHAH! <3 Bromance ;)
The next morning, we have to get over to the truck at 6:30am to wait for the tire guy to arrive. By this time, plans have changed because he's going somewhere else now and not back to Cairns. Told us he'd still drop us at the bus station in Mareeba, so we'll still make it back. Then the tire man shows up and is getting to it, when our friend comes over to tell us we've got a lift to Cairns because the tire man offered to take us! Again, I am so beyond happy!! We're finally on the road back and are talking to him a bit. Turns out he's from Wales and is married to an Australian woman. He's been here a good few years and has not been back since. He's also completely opposite to our trucker friend. Not so talkative, which is fine by me. I'm still on a super high from finally being on the way back to Cairns.
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