What perfume is that your wearing?!

It was quite funny on new years (and at any time really) as there is no point wearing pretty perfumes.. instead the conversation should me more like:
"What perfume is that your wearing?"
"Rid"
I'm wearing "Aerogard myself"
"She smells a bit off to me..."
though we have all discovered now that Bushmen is bloody good!
In case you are wondering if I have lost the plot then yes I am talking insect repellents!
Although talking of perfumes... I often find myself reeking... its strange how all these different farm smeels attach themselves...
from cleaning out the wheat pens in the mprning so it get under my finger nails, mixed with a bit of pig poo which will be smeared down my clothes... then the stains of blood and guts from gutted a duck (or whatever it is that day!)
I've had an adventurous new year so far.. something different always happens everyday!
On New Years Knackers left to go back to his home in Dubbo, that felt weird as I'd got kinda used to having him around!
Heather, Zoe and I did some sheep mustering... with the motorbike and Jack the dog, taking the sheep out of the paddock and onto the road where there is more greenery since the rain... so they could get a feed for a few hours... Jack however is old a lazy so it took a long while.. in which we seemed to do most of the mustering on the motorbike... once we got them out a few hours later it was time to get them back in so we decided to take both Jack and Lucie, that was a bit easier as Jack showed off in front of Lucie, then without thinking to shut away Milkie and Baa we decided to get the rest of the dogs out for a run.. just as we were cmoing back in the gate Milkie and Baa appeared and I saw the visious side of the dogs for the first time... they went mental going for their throats and chasing them wildly like a pack of wolves... they were ignoring Heather screaming at them and they were biting the poor things so to stop them getting ripped to shreds I had to run harder than I ever have before and rescue them... so there I am among a pack of dogs charging about and eventually landing on Baa hoiking him up in the air, with mack still jumping up trying to bite poor Baa, me kicking Mack down, and then planting Milkie between my legs guarding the two of them while Heather dragged the dogs off. I dont know whose heart was beating fastest, mine, the baby lambs or the goat that thinks its the lambs mother... I had to sit on the back of the motorbike holding Baa to put him back in his pen.. Milkie followed Because if you take her baby she'll follow...
After that day you might think they behaved the next day... as if...!
The next day we decided to remove Milkies sisters legs plaster as she had broken it 6 weeks previously.. only Milies sister is wild so this wasnt as easy as it might sound and in the process of catching her Baa got left in the paddock with the horses, Heather thought it was about time Baa got weaned anyway so we thought we'd leave him there... so with great difficulty we mustered the Milkie, her sister and her baby into the pen.. while Sally the dog nearly ripped them to shreds poor things, she goes for their throats so they get bites..
Then to upset them further we decided it was time for Milkies sisters baby to be weaned so heather trussed him up like a chicken and I held him on the back of the Quadbike... and we took him to the paddock with all the other goats... he cried all the way there.. and I had to keep hold of those horns tight.. soon learnt they hurt...you would have thought he was be murdered... but once he got there and saw all the other cool goats there he was fine... and Milkies sister doesnt seem too bothered! Shes all skin and bone so she needs to get in condition again... her baby was getting bigger then her...
We had Sally with us when we took him over as we had planned to take to goats out on the road for a feed. but she went mental again and almost killed a baby goat, shes so blood thirsty. I dont like working with her at all as I panic about all the animals... apparently shes killed a few... alot of farmers would have shot her in a flash.
Then you might have thought adventure was over for the day but when we got back the horses Bug Shot and Be Happy were terrorising poor Baa charging after him and he was almost stomped on, he was running as fast as his little legs would take him but was getting run into the fence at full pelt which easily kills a little sheep, by the time Heather and I rescued him he had several cuts and the poor thing was wet with sweat... apparently sheep will just run till they die when scared.. but thankfully the poor little mite was okay..
So... the nest day.. (today) we were feeding the goats using the backhoe (big tractor with a huge big scoop thing at the front and back) as we had been weeding so much it was enough to fill the big scoop at the front.. when we observed Milkie and Baa had escaped and we heading down the road... so we had to muster them in the backhoe! Though terry happebed to be coming out at the same time in his ute... so they were getting mustered by a backhoe and a ute... Terry driving so fast tools were flying out of his tool box on the back left right and centre.. when they both came charging towards the backhoe big scoop thing (I'm sure its got a technical term!) so we scooped them up... only of course they were going to leap out... so the only answer was for me to get out the backhoe and into the scoop with them practically lying on top of them to hold them in (getting a few kicks and scratches but mananging fairly well! so there we are Heather driving the backhoe along the road and back to the farm... with the scoop in the air with me, a goat and a lamb in...! it was great fun... I grinned all the way home!!! Needless to say before i got out I made Heather take a photo! as I scooped them both out and heaved them in their pens for the night i also discovered Baa had left be a surprise...one of his balls had fallen off!!! Dont worry though their had been a rubber ring round them so they were due to drop of in the not to distant future anyway!!
But of course thats not all thats happened the last few days... in my last entry I said how the pig we had killed was roasting in the oven as I wrote.. well that was so yummy... the best pork roast I've ever had!! That was New Years Day dinner..
We also killed 4 ducks the last couple of days.. another thing I can add to my CV. Heather was very impressed as she said shes never known anyone to keep up with her plucking a duck before.. she killed them by chopping their heads off with an axe, let them flap around for a while to finish dying and for the blood to drain out a bit (the run around a bit like chickens when you chop their heads off), then we put them in boiling water for a couple of minutes to loosen the feathers then yank the feathers out. Then after watching Heather gut the first one I wanted to do mine which means reaching in and getting its heart, lungs and gizzards out and even its quack (its voice box!), then into the cool room they go for dinner another night. Heather and Terry always let animals hang in the cool room for a while before eating as it allows the meat to set... apparently you shouldnt eat a sheep till 7 days after it has been killed.
Heather and I went out doing fencing one afternoon which was a bloody hot job digging sand out and diging up weeds that had grown around the electric fences stopping it working.. mind you the weeding was pretty hot work today as well.. I must be getting fitter.. I've been increasing my lengths in the pool each day too even though i'm kanckered by the end of the day I've been doing laps before I fall into bed of a night... last night I did 50... so next its got to be 60 I guess! I havent done them today (slacker) because I have a sore ear and dont want to get an ear infection..
the other day Heather encouraged me to drive the quadbike with her and Zoe on the back... I regretted it immediately and if she offers again I'll be saying no.! I'm nervous enough about driving and Heathers one of those people that swears and shouts before she thinks... and it was too terrifying for me with a baby on the back too.. but I did well (I mean I know I can drive them anyway as I did in NZ - when I say drive I dont suppose I'd pass a test) although I dont think she'd agree after they almost went flying off the back! So I'll be saying yes if I can drive it on my own but a definate no with people on the back... especially a baby.. I'm just too nervous that the baby will fall off and it will be my fault.
I have been thinking more and more about my driivng test... I know it would be the best thing for me to get it over and done with. Though in Austrlaia now you have to do 120hours of driving first... which is a lot!! though maybe over 2 years i could do that after all if I met someone who wouldnt mind me driving them to Alice Springs that would be about 20 hours!! I would just need to meet patient people to let me practice!! and I admit people seem to have heart attacks when I am driving (cant possibly think why!) and I've never been the sort to react well to shouting and swearing.. thats why it was good in NZ with Aria and I teaching each other.. she was 12 she didnt notice if I drove badly!
I have applied to a 2 help x jobs in the Blue Moutians where I plan to go to next.. so I just have to wait and see what happens... one is a family with 2 young boys, she runs cookery classes and needs help with the prep for them, the other is in a backpackers... so either would be nice... and if I dont hear back from either I'll go to the Blue Mountains anyway and then go on to Sydney and see what work I find on the way down to Melbourne... I will stay where I am for a couple more weeks and then be off... need to keep moving if I'm going to see all this country!