Dinner at the Kalala Stockcamp

Today we were invited out to the stock camp where the men are mustering the cattle into the yards, processing them and then loading the right ones into the road train. It is a 59km drive down a dirt track to get to the camp. It took 45mins from the gate!The craziest thing is that this was just one paddock. There are 2000 cattle per paddock and they have 22 paddocks! The men stay out there for at least a month straight to get through all the cattle moving the race and the yard panels from waterhole to water hole. There is 4-5 waterholes per paddock and generally 500 head of cattle per waterhole.

Loading the Road Train. The two guys struggling with a cheeky bull!

The stockyards

We watched the guys muster the cattle and then battle with them to get them down the race. Once they are in the race, the cattle get processed. The calves are de horned, neutered, branded and tagged. The cows are preg tested and either get loaded on the truck or if they are preganant get let out. The bulls are sprayed with pesticide, to stop the flies and they are either let out or if they are getting too old, they too go on the truck. It was lots of fun watching and Chris got to help close the door to stop cattle from going backwards.

Wally preg testing one of the cows

Getting a few more cattle into the yards

Chasing the cheeky bulls!

The slackers!!!

Me and my truck :)

The safe cattle!

My Cowboy :)

Lovers!!! On the way to the camp.

Another load of cattle off to the sale yards

Ahh safe she says...safe and pregnant!

After watching the guys doing their hard yakka, we had an awesome meal at camp! We had smoky beef ribs cooked over the fire and a beef curry. It was a great night!

The stockcamp. Equipped with state of the art dongers...NOT! At least they have a kitchen and a shower though :) The men basically all sleep in their swags under the stars.

Sam washing his horse after a very hot and hard days work.

To top off our night, we had a really interesting drive home. We got a lift with a couple in their van who had an interesting way of driving. They didn't follow the ruts, they tried avoiding them at 90kms an hour. So we were dropping back into the ruts and then fish tailing up the dirt road. This guy really had no idea! Then to make matters more interesting...a kangaroo jumped into the side of the van and then under the back tyre. I was then in fits of laughter at this stage! The guys girlfriend was upset because she thought the van might get dented and here I am picturing an indent of skippy on the side of the van!!! On the way home we hit another kangaroo and an ekidna!!! Oh my gosh were we glad to be back at our caravan after that!!!

Then Chris and I did some star gazing under the night sky. The stars feels like they are so close you can touch them. ahhhh....