Bogarella – our first Outback Links job - Part 1

After a very slow 100km trek on dirt roads, over some 30 odd cattle grids. We finally reached our first 'Outback Links' job, outside of Augathella. Various stock, mostly cattle with a few seemingly wild goat herds watched our slow progress with mixed reactions but mostly with that of disinterest. When we finally sighted the house, some 3 hours after leaving Augathella, 2 dogs raced out to meet us and welcomed us with a noisy greeting as dogs are bound to do, marking their territory on the tyres as soon as we stop moving. The young mistress, Kira and her 3 year old son, Darcy, soon joined the dogs in welcoming us to their property. We took a quick look around and were introduced to a few amenities etc and then we were left to settle the Robbiebago and a have a well deserved rest after all that driving.

You call this a road???

And don't forget the bulldust that gets into everything!

Our jobs here are more of a general/handyman around the house and a guests’ donga. The first morning was spent with the 3 of us (the owner as well as Bob & I), replacing a flyscreen on a sliding door as well as cleaning the donga and getting back into a state of cleanliness ready for upcoming guests. The verandah is to be re-oiled for protection within the next few days. I rescued 5 pretty green frogs out of the toilet bowl. There was another frog that was rather dehydrated and he too was rescued and given a good rinsing and hope for a full recovery.

Watching a storm come in

As with most working families everywhere, there are always jobs that just never seem to get done, probably even more so when it is a huge 60,000 acre cattle station such as Bogarella. This is the case here with a few handyman type jobs thrown in for good measure such as replacing old taps, replacing the flyscreens on some of the doors, a vacuum and clean up of the farm house was also on the agenda as with attacking a pile of ironing. Some of Bob’s jobs included some more cracks that need fixing on the walls, a touch of plumbing and many other such odds and ends.

Just one of the colourful birds at Bogarella

One of the odd aspects of being here is the isolation for us. We have no mobile reception and thus no internet, so we feel kind of cut off from family and friends. I asked Kira if she gets lonely out here and she says not as she gets to see friends regularly and her parents live just down the road. The owners do have a satellite TV, phone and internet but we don’t feel we can keep on asking to use it even though they have always been forthcoming when we have asked for specific reasons.

Bob took this photo of the moon rising through a tree

Next entry will cover my first cattle muster! ... well sort of the end of the cattle muster!