I knew it was time to update the blog when one of my lovely Year 11 students, Alice, turned to me at the start of class the other day and said, “Mr. Wismer, when are you going to update your blog?” Yes ma’am!
Growing up on a beef farm in Canada, I know a bit about cattle farming. But farming beef in Australia and farming beef in Canada are very different. The two biggest differences are the weather and the size of the farm. At his peak my father was farming about about 1600 acres (I think) and had about 120 breeding head (I think). That meant that at the peak of each year we probably had roughly 250 cattle on the farm. This was fairly big for the area when it came to running a family farm without employees. Here in Australia stations in the middle and north of Australia are measured in the mill ions or acres, or even by the square kiliometre, as acres are just too small a measure. That is incredible. Also, the fact that it never snows here and there is virtually no need to feed cattle other than on the pasture means that investment in infrastructure such as barns, tractors, haying equipment, harvesting equipment, etc. is much lower on a per head basis. The nice weather also means you can be a bit more “hands off” as a farmer.
Fiona’s parents, Alan and Joyce, hosted us on their farm in western Victoria. It is a beautiful piece of land in the area where Alan’s ancestors have been farmers and business owners for several generations. They have had the farm since Fiona was small and have a great house there in a little enclave of trees with a great view over the paddocks. We arrived mid-afternoon and it was soon clear that the kids were in heaven. Alan was shipping a load of cattle out the next day so Cormac and I readily volunteered to help get them from the paddock into the corral. Cormac was incredibly happy to be caught up in the action and it made me realize how much of a pleasure it is to work on a farm. When we got back, Alan fired up the brick pizza oven and Joyce whipped up some extremely yummy homemade pizza. The kids ate first and off to bed we went. Then the adults poured our wine ate our pizza and sat around the fire, finally getting to know each other (after all, although Ulrika had spent some time with Joyce, this was the first time we’d spent any sort of significant time with the Williamsons). What a great night it was. The discussions jumped from life in Australia vs. Canada, to education to them regaling us with fascinating stories of their travels all over the world. As midnight approached we finally went to bed, well fed and very contented.
Growing up on a beef farm in Canada, I know a bit about cattle farming. But farming beef in Australia and farming beef in Canada are very different. The two biggest differences are the weather and the size of the farm. At his peak my father was farming about about 1600 acres (I think) and had about 120 breeding head (I think). That meant that at the peak of each year we probably had roughly 250 cattle on the farm. This was fairly big for the area when it came to running a family farm without employees. Here in Australia stations in the middle and north of Australia are measured in the mill ions or acres, or even by the square kiliometre, as acres are just too small a measure. That is incredible. Also, the fact that it never snows here and there is virtually no need to feed cattle other than on the pasture means that investment in infrastructure such as barns, tractors, haying equipment, harvesting equipment, etc. is much lower on a per head basis. The nice weather also means you can be a bit more “hands off” as a farmer.
Fiona’s parents, Alan and Joyce, hosted us on their farm in western Victoria. It is a beautiful piece of land in the area where Alan’s ancestors have been farmers and business owners for several generations. They have had the farm since Fiona was small and have a great house there in a little enclave of trees with a great view over the paddocks. We arrived mid-afternoon and it was soon clear that the kids were in heaven. Alan was shipping a load of cattle out the next day so Cormac and I readily volunteered to help get them from the paddock into the corral. Cormac was incredibly happy to be caught up in the action and it made me realize how much of a pleasure it is to work on a farm. When we got back, Alan fired up the brick pizza oven and Joyce whipped up some extremely yummy homemade pizza. The kids ate first and off to bed we went. Then the adults poured our wine ate our pizza and sat around the fire, finally getting to know each other (after all, although Ulrika had spent some time with Joyce, this was the first time we’d spent any sort of significant time with the Williamsons). What a great night it was. The discussions jumped from life in Australia vs. Canada, to education to them regaling us with fascinating stories of their travels all over the world. As midnight approached we finally went to bed, well fed and very contented.
The next morning the cattle truck arrived and Alan made two friends for life when he convinced the cattle truck (a transport truck) driver to let Cormac and Stella ride in the cab to the gate! I’ve never seen bigger smiles on their faces. We then were toured around the area, visiting parts of the Great South West Walk (GSWW), a 12-14 day hike which does a circle around the south-west coast of Victoria, starting and finishing in Portland. I did this walk solo when I was in Australia in 2001 and it was incredible how much I remembered from this area when I saw it again. So much was similar, the most major change being the wind farms which have popped up along the coast. It was really nice to relive a part of my trip with my family and it was also nice to have some local context to the area. We then had lunch in town with some extended family and then went down to the port to check out the “catch of the day”. Off the south coast there is great tuna fishing – and Alan shared a story of him reeling in an 85kg (roughly the same weight as me) monster a few years ago! There were no giants brought in while we were there, but we did see some very fat seals, and a large and aggressive stingray feeding on the entrails that were being thrown into the water by fishermen.
That afternoon back at the farm, we did some fishing of our own, with Alan patiently teaching Cormac how to cast into the pond. Though nothing was caught by rod and reel, we did put down the “yabby” (crayfish) nets and pulled up a nice little pre-dinner snack. Though Cormac was intrigued by the little guys, when it came to picking them up he was a bit hesitant. In the end he did get a hold of a couple for a short amount of time – a pretty big accomplishment for him. I still haven’t quite worked out how the yabbies’ get into a pond in the middle of a pasture… but that will have to remain a mystery for now.
After cooking the yabbies’, Stella decided it was bedtime for the cute pink crustaceans and Alan, being incredibly patient and quite playful, was willing to go along with it. Soon two of the boiled little fellas were soundly asleep on the pillows in mom and dad’s bed. Thankfully, Alan was nice enough to convince Stella they would be more comfortable “sleeping” on Kleenex, rather than directly on our pillow cases.
Once all yabbies’ were eaten and the children in bed, we sat down to another one of Joyce’s exceptional meals. Listening to more great travel stories and discussing everything under the sun, it was another unbelievably enjoyable night.
After cooking the yabbies’, Stella decided it was bedtime for the cute pink crustaceans and Alan, being incredibly patient and quite playful, was willing to go along with it. Soon two of the boiled little fellas were soundly asleep on the pillows in mom and dad’s bed. Thankfully, Alan was nice enough to convince Stella they would be more comfortable “sleeping” on Kleenex, rather than directly on our pillow cases.
Once all yabbies’ were eaten and the children in bed, we sat down to another one of Joyce’s exceptional meals. Listening to more great travel stories and discussing everything under the sun, it was another unbelievably enjoyable night.
The next morning we were disappointed that we had to leave as we had had such a wonderful couple of days. But off we went, headed to visit the Chaney family in Anglesea. David and Katya and their two boys, Thomas and Ben, live just down the road from us on campus and have a fantastic home in Anglesea which they escape to on weekends (when they get the chance). Dave is actually from northern Washington State (Bellingham to be exact) but has been in Australia for almost 20 years now. He and Katya are a lovely couple that Oliver Amiel (a coworker/friend at Brentwood) had told us to look out for, as he knew them well from his time here in Australia. While visiting the Cheney’s we did the normal things you do when you visit people, you know, drank coffee, had treats, let the kids feed exotic birds from their hands… just a typical house call.
After that, off we headed home. With a few days to settle back into routine before school and just in time for Ulrika to run the Geelong ½ marathon! She finished the break in championship style, running a 1:55 (much faster than she predicted) less than 8 months after Niall. She looked great doing it too!
That was the wrap on our first stint of travelling here in Australia. We had a wonderful time and can’t wait until the winter break to head up the coast and see Sydney and parts of Queensland. We are so blessed to be spending time in this beautiful country!
That was the wrap on our first stint of travelling here in Australia. We had a wonderful time and can’t wait until the winter break to head up the coast and see Sydney and parts of Queensland. We are so blessed to be spending time in this beautiful country!