Day One at Outback Packers

So the week of training is officially over at the ranch in Coonabarabran and I can definitely say I have never been pushed so hard in my life but have never felt so good completing something from at an initial thought seemed unachievable.


Craig Picket, owner and head of the Outback Packers welcomed us late Sunday evening after we were dropped off from a very long bus and train ride from Sydney. We cruised through the town of Coonabarabran (which seemed like a town straight out of a western movie) and we continued to move further and further away from civilization. There were 3 of us on this week excursion (which was the smallest group they've had, so we were in for some real one-on-one time during the week). Me, Trevor and Holly who was from Holland originally but has been traveling across Australia since the beginning of December.
We arrived at the ranch where we were brought to our cabins which were well equipped with comfy bunk beds and air conditioning (thank god) which was pretty much all we needed. We awoke early in the morning (around 6am) to get dressed and ready for our first day. I'm surprised Trev was able to open his eyes this early as his usual wake up time tends to end with a PM. I gotta give him credit though, he was a trooper all week.

Monday:
We were told that Monday was the easiest day. We were brought to the shed where we chose our helmets then we were quickly introduced to our first machine of transportation that Aussies tend to use on the farm, the Quads (4 Wheelers). We were shown the procedures in checking and servicing our Quads as an introduction then we were on our way. The track Craig led us down started from easy left and right turns, up some slopes and then down again. We were all feeling pretty good about ourselves having accomplished all of this in a course of probably an hour. Little did we know, the quad course was going to get much much tougher. Trevor did well throughout the day, meanwhile Holly and myself struggled while trying to maneuver across steep ridges along a dam (which resulted in myself being trapped in water and mud and eventually needed help getting pushed out). All in all, the quads didn't seem easy that Monday, but compared to the week we had ahead of us, the quads were a breeze.