Rockhampton,
Queensland,
Australia
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
The next leg of our journey was a big one (11 hours) so our driver stopped off on the way for us to take part in a game of barefoot lawn bowls. We were then taken to the outback of Australia and we spent the night at a cattle station, we were literally in the middle of nowhere! During the evening we experienced a number of traditional activities and foods, including tasting goat, learing to crack a whip and riding a mechanical bull. The following day we were awoken at 6am and rounded up ready to participate in a competitive goat rodeo (way too early, but was good fun and worth experiencing). We were in teams of three and had to catch a goat, pick it up and lay it on it's side and then brand it (but not with a hot stick). This is not as easy as it sounds when you are running around a wet muddy enclosure covered in goat poo! We put in a good performance though and came in at a respectable 2nd place.
In keeping with the hands-on experience, we were treated to a close up viewing of a goat giving birth, not nice!
