Making lemonade...

"When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."

-Unknown

     I am writing this second Australian post from a cushy hotel room in Perth! I left the station yesterday and am feeling so good about that decision! I'm still very happy that I went and was able to have so many good experiences in my month there.  

Like seeing all the kangaroos! Now, kangaroos are seen as pests by the station owners but I still think they are adorable and love seeing them everywhere!

My favorite times on the station were when I was able to get out and help with actual station work instead of watching the kids.  Because the station is in the middle of the desert, the only way the cattle survives in by having wells and troughs throughout the land for them to get water.  This also means that the station owner has to constantly go out and check to make sure these troughs are filled and the water pump is working.  I was able to go on a couple of "mill runs" as they are called to check the water.  Another really cool thing about the desert is that things do not rot and deteriorate as they do where I am from.  So things like this timber sheep paddock that was built in the 30's is still in almost perfect condition. 

I also got to hang out with this handsome bull and see some of the wild horses and donkeys.

Not really sure what the real name of these are but the family calls them breakaways. Its amazing how many different colors are in these rocks.

So an old couple decided they wanted to live in the middle of nowhere, so they brought this camper up and built the veranda area, planted a garden, and started putting in solar panels for power.  Then they just up and left.  This place looks like someone left for the day and will just be back.  So strange and eerie.

Most of the water is pumped to the surface using windmills.   I cannot get enough of the red dirt, blue sky, and windmills!

I was able to go mustering one day.  Mustering involves gathering all the cattle up and walking them to a place where you have set up fences to gather them in.  In movies mustering looks so exciting, I can tell you it is in fact extremely boring.  Cattle are not fast walking animals so we got to drive in front of the herd at a snails pace for 3 hours.  Its lucky that there was beautiful scenery to stare at.

The next day though I helped process the cattle.  That involved weighing the cattle, cutting the horns, putting ear tags in, and separating based on size and gender.  I was so excited to be able to try my had at putting the ear tags in, just like piercing ears for not so pretty earrings.

The station owners no longer brand their cattle but instead use this tool to mark the cattle's ears. So each station has a registered shape and placement.   The station I was at had the V shape at the top and the other shape at the bottom of the ear.

How's this for a stick bug? Or as my sister put it a branch bug?

These should be up higher in the post but these are the vehicles used for mustering.  They can easily drive into the bush to gather up the cattle.

This cute little guy is named Moose.  His mother is unfortunately nowhere to be found so he is going to hang out on the families lawn until he is big enough to go out by himself. 

 The room on the right has been my home for the past month and the room on the right is the "classroom."

Up until this point putting the ear tags in was definitely the highlight.  That is until a helicopter came!!!!!!! So the helicopter is at the station as part of the governments bio-security team to deal with invasive species.  In the US that usually means a weed or zebra mussels being moved to different bottles of water.  Here those invasive species are camels and donkeys.  So the helicopter is there to do aerial shooting, as in a guy with a gun sits out the passenger side door taking out any camels and donkeys they find.  In one day they can find over 200 donkeys and camels.  

I was lucky enough to get a ride in the helicopter!

We only went up for about 15 minutes but it was an incredible 15 minutes!  

Photos just cannot do this place justice!

After the helicopter ride I was on a high and had second thoughts about leaving.  Then the 7 year old got upset and threw a plastic lawn chair at me and all those second thoughts disappeared. 

But I will always have the fantastic memories of kangaroos, ear tags, and helicopter rides!

 And these views.

For the next two days, I am exploring Perth and Fremantle.  Sunday night I will meet my new host family!  So I am relaxing and enjoying my time alone.

Disappointment....

"When you find your path, you must not be afraid.  You need to have sufficient courage to make mistakes.  Disappointment, defeat, and despair are the tools God uses to show us the way."

-Paulo Coelho

    I had a lot of fears going into starting my aupairing experience in the outback.  I didn't know if I would get along with the parents, if I would be lonely or bored, I thought about being stuck in the middle of the desert and not having any way out unless the family was willing to take me.   None of these ended up being the case, instead I encountered a problem I had never thought would be a problem.  In my life I have taught, babysat, and watched over thousands of children.  I have usually been the strict disciplinarian of all of these situations and have dealt with some extremely difficult children.  Any every time I have been able to work with the children and get them to fall in line or at least behave themselves for a short while.  That is until now.  I have met my match in the oldest child of the family I am currently staying with and the worst part is he knows he has won.  So after my first week here, I decided I unfortunately could not stay and gave the mother my two weeks notice.  

I'm extremely disappointed as I had planned to live here for 6 months and don't get me wrong, there are parts about this place that I am absolutely in love with. 

For example my new hat! The highlight of my day is putting on this hat and going on long walk out into the desert where there is not a single other person for hundreds of miles. 

After the crowds and noise of Seoul, I love nothing more than to have peace and quiet.  And how beautiful is this landscape? 

I have been visited by some wildlife! These frogs greet me every time I flush the toilet.  There are about 20 more that like to hangout in the shower with me. 

Because this is the desert but also a working cattle station, the family uses solar panels and windmills to pump water into troughs for the cattle to drink.  They have 12 wells throughout the property. 

I was disappointed also to learn that people don't really use horses anymore for mustering.  It is much easier to use these jeeps or dirtbikes.  It has also been very hot as it is now summer in Australia, but being in the dry desert makes these temps bearable.  As long as you are in shade, you can still sit outside.

These are the two youngest.  They can be cute at times but are also learning bad behavior from their older brother. 

This some more of the wildlife that has visited.  Its called a bungarra.  Its a type of monitor lizard.

Its funny to see pink headed parrot looking birds in the desert!

This map shows the different cattle stations in the area. 

The past two days we have seen huge thunderstorms.  Because you can see for so far around, I have loved watching the storms come in and go out again.  The clouds are just stunning.

I took about 500 photos before I finally got one of the lightning strike!

One night some kangaroos decided to join us! If you look closely you can see the joey sticking out of the mom's pouch!

Its too expensive to get building supplies trucked in, so instead most stations use ready made trailer buildings that can just be brought in and set down on a concrete slab.  The green building is the kitchen and then the white building is made up of individual rooms used to house workers.  This station doesn't have permanent staff, they just get workers to come during busy times. 

The next couple of photos were taken with my big camera yesterday right before the storm hit. 

So I am disappointed that this didn't work out, but at the same time I am still so glad I was able to come and stay here for a month.  Its very interesting to see how life on a cattle station works and how it compares to the dairy farms that I am used to.  This also gives me the opportunity to experience a different place in Australia.  I will leave here in two weeks and start work with a family in Perth.  They have two little boys a 2.5 year old and a 6 month old.  Then in January, I will move north with the family to a small city on the northern coast.  So instead of being upset, I am choosing to see this as getting three amazing locations to live instead of one!