Day Four at Outback Packers

Thursday:
Today was the day we were told that everyone usually hated the most. We were told to be up extra early (5:45AM) in order to hopefully be finished by mid day before it got too hot. Fencing was in place for the AM, which requires a lot of physical force and attention to details.

Once again, Craig brought us out onto the property to one of the paddocks where he pulled out two shovels and a large fencing crow bar and then told us we had one hour to dig a hole that was a metre deep. In Canada, this task probably wouldn't be so tough, but in Australia, where the ground is hard, dry and dense, the chore becomes a lot tougher. Out of all the tasks we were given that day, this was probably the one we were most successful in. Our hole was dug and Craig was actually impressed (impressing Craig is like one in a million).

This was just the beginning though. That hole was dug in order to place a very large (and heavy) post into the ground to start the fence we were instructed to produce that day. The remainder of the morning consisted of learning new knots to keep the wires in place and hopefully last for 80 years (so another sorry bastard wouldn't have to do this fence again), lining up each post, hammering them into the dry and thirsty ground, feeding wire through the correct hole of every post, and again more knots and twists to secure the fence.

We started off with a bang and finished with a whimper. The morning of fencing was supposed to end when the morning did, but we ended up taking quite a bit longer than expected and had to finish the fence while the sun blazed down on us, torturing us for our incompetence of fencing. Sure enough though, once again not letting us quit, we managed to complete our line of fence and were able to pack up our equipment and head back to the ranch for some much needed lunch.

The afternoon ended up being a little more exciting where we got to muster the sheep and learn to draft them and do some needed vaccinations and drenching before turning them loose into the paddock. We learned how to properly take down sheep (grabbing them by their bums with one hand and taking your other hand to twist his head towards you making the sheep essentially fall down so Craig could take his sheers and clean them up quickly to preserve their precious wool. The afternoon was quite fun and really forced us to work as a team the whole way through.

By the end of the day, Thursday turned out not to be so baaaaaaaaaaad after all. (get it? Sorry, horrible joke I know.)