Thorntonia - Week 3

7 April 2012

Carl had the day off so we took the quick (2hrs) trip to town (Mt Isa) to do some grocery shopping. I had to buy a new pair of work boots as my other ones turned out to be too small, they're not called Mongruel for nothing. Harry and I had a toilet stop at the servo, luckily we looked in the bowl before taking position as it was already occupied by a mouse. Must say I wouldn't want to get a nibble from that when on the loo.

8 April 2012

Lloyd, Adam, Carl, Harry, Will and I went up to the O'Shannassy River to christen Lloyd's new tinnie. Didn't get home until past 9 that night as the fishing spot takes an hour and half to get there. We all had success catching a fish or more. Lloyd must have caught 8 or more catfish and lost a barra, Adam managed to catch 2 barra and miss one, I caught a black brim and Carl caught a brim and my nose. His casting needs work! Fortunately for Carl and I it didn't go through my nose only slightly hooked it, but it sure did feel like I had a nose piercing featuring a barra lure as the nose-ring.

There was a rope swing the boys (young & old) had fun on while lunch was cooking. William was the only one not keen on it and was happy sitting on the bank sucking his thumb.

Harry on the rope swing and Adam is ready to catch him

Barra I

Barra II

Catfish King

13 April 2012

Finally the kids and I got to go on a muster to Johnson's yards (which Harry calls big Johnson) doing the water and food in the 'tuckerbox' ute. Harry and Will took turns riding with Lloyd or Carl on the 4wheeler and bike while tailing the cattle to the holding paddock.

brrm brrm

Adam and Lloyd caught a micky and we had to hoist him onto the back of the ute and drive him to the yards aswell as a new born calf. That was a first for me, but apparently won't be the last.

look what we caught!

The kids did pretty good. Will ended up falling asleep on my lap at the end. The disadvantage  of not knowing where you are is at one point we were tailing the cattle and I kept following the road, which made us go up the side of the cattle, next minute we were in the lead. I quickly (as 1st gear can go) got out of there and parked near the yards. (Didn't realise we were there already.)

yep...they're about the same

Thorntonia - Week 2

31 March 2012
Harry & Will were both eager to try out riding so Lloyd put them both on his old creamy mare.

future cowboys

1 April 2012
Carl had a day off so we went exploring the local area. We headed to a place called Riversleigh and had a look at the O'Shannassy and Gregory Rivers. On the way home through some road works we found out we had a flat tyre. Luckily the foreman working was friendly and lent us some gear to change the tyre as Carl had removed his tools and forgot to put any back in the car.

2 April 2012
With everyone away Carl and I were left in charge. Luckily Chris was still here for another night as I did a really silly thing and blew the pipe of the bore supplying the houses with water. At six that night here was Chris and Carl pulling up a bore. I didn't cop too much flack but apparently I am in the running for the 'dickheads award'. They have an award for the person who does the most silliest thing for the season.

Turned out that wasn't the worst thing to happen, we rushed home after tea in the vain hope to fix the TV. After we were all in the TV room Carl says to me, 'There's a snake', I'm like 'Where?' There was a snake on the futon in the room with us. We all shat our pants and ran out with the brave Carl, oops sorry, the great white hunter, returning to 'relocate' the 'bloody big snake'. And that's all I heard for the rest of the evening 'that was a bloody big snake'. It was really, Carl wasn't exaggerating, it was the length and a half of the futon. So we all learnt a valuable lesson that night, must shut all doors in the house.

4 April 2012
The kids and I went with Carl to check a bore that wasn't too far away. Turned out that Carl didn't know where it was, however we did find another and luckily too as it was in need of some maintenance. Anyway the kids were so tired that they fell asleep on me on the way home so Carl had to go out again that afternoon to find this mysterious bore that happened to be only 6km away.

We had our first official visitors arrive at 5pm, my cousin Kate and her husband Mark and kids Kiera and Jack from Cairns. To celebrate their arrival I happened to cook the most perfect meal ever, roast pork and vege. But before tea we all had fun riding the 4 wheeler and feeding the animals.


Kiera, Will, Harry & Jack

5 April 2012
We (minus Carl, someone has to work)  had a lovely day catching up and going for a swim at the nearby water hole. Once again we all had fun feeding the animals in the evening and enjoying yet another yummy meal.

By the way, Mark brews a smooth drop!

horse whisperer

bush kids

6 April 2012
Sadly Kate, Mark, Kiera and Jack had to continue on their holiday and departed mid morning. Hopefully we will cross paths again in Normanton at the end of May.

The boss returned today so that ended our short rein as 'managers'.