Every now and then, especially when I have an upcoming event that is more than an hour from home (which, by the way, is anything further than Stanthorpe or Tenterfield), I find myself wishing I had a LandCruiser ute that was just a tiny bit newer than my 1,695,000km, 1985 model). After all, it will turn 40 next year. Especially when the weather is hot, as the Mighty Quinn, my name for the old Cruiser (my second choice was Sparky), has no air conditioning.
Australia Day is inevitably a scorcher and this year was no exception, as I headed off to the Highfields Pioneer Village on the eve with a load of sheep for shearing. I also had to make a few stops picking up parts for work, so the journey turned into a four hour sauna. At least the sheep got to enjoy a gentle breeze in the back. Australia Day dawned a glorious day despite the BOM prediction of rain.
The sheep shearing went well, and it couldn’t have possibly gone any other way with young Tommy Sharpe, a fifth generation gun shearer doing the demonstration. I hadn’t met Tommy before but one look at him told me that he was the man for the job and would draw in the crowds. Tommy was quick and clean, doing a first class job on the English Leicester ewe and patiently holding the ewe for about 10 minutes for everyone to inspect and touch. No easy job that!
I was to be the commentator for the cow milking. I am definitely not a very good public speaker and I was lost for words when the cow wouldn’t let down her milk. Keith Polzin sat down with a bucket and proceeded to milk one of the toughest milkers I have seen. As he lifted the bucket from under the cow, his brother, Merv, had some prepared earlier and quickly tipped it into the bucket which they then used to do the butter making demonstration.
The day went well and by 3.30pm I had the freshly shorn sheep loaded and headed for home, or so I thought. Just before Drayton I blew a tyre. Nervously I called the RACQ, worried they might refuse to change the tyre with the sheep on the back but about half an hour later a wonderful young man turned up and said no problems – until we found the spare had perished beyond repair.
Calling the mobile tyre repair man established that the 32 inch tyres on the Mighty Quinn were apparently no longer made. It was just on dark when the tow truck arrived, loading us up and taking us back to the Pioneer Village.
Next morning, waiting for the tyre shop in Toowoomba to open, I was given a tour of the new workshop at the village and some rather unique machines that had been recently acquired. One was the smallest internal combustion engine in the world. Another was one of only two Fiat S76 vehicles built in 1910 to attempt to beat the world land speed record. One of these vehicles actually ended up in Australia, although there is some uncertainty as to whether the one at the Pioneer Village is an original or a rebuild. Both items had been purchased at a deceased estate auction in Dalby for Ray’s good friend, Neville Morris.
There had apparently been stiff competition from a phone bidder in US and some men at the auction were saying to Ray, “How can we stop this vehicle from going overseas?” So Ray bought it. I asked him if those people urging him to stop the car going overseas offered to contribute towards the purchase? Ray laughed and shook his head. I felt honoured when Ray started up the car for me.
It was lunchtime before the tyres were fitted and by the time I reloaded the sheep it was around 2pm. Only about a kilometre from the village I felt the rear of the car rocking and shaking. It was really hot outside when I got out to check the wheel nuts and tail shaft. Both were okay but something was wrong so I headed back to the village. Ray took the car for a drive, then checked the tyre pressures. On the back one was 40 and the other 65! That rectified I headed off again and got home just on dark. The sheep were ever so grateful to be let off, I had a shower and crawled into bed – it had been a very hot 3 days with much of it spent in the sun.
I’ve been onto my bucket list this year and I’m doing quite well. I have lost 5kg in five weeks, well on my way to my target of 21kg, in time for my trip to the UK and Europe in September!
I have booked my tickets, been in touch with Alice, and Tom and Lottie in the UK. I have spoken to Tess, my German Wwoofer from 2020, and emailed Julia and Greta in Lake Constance and Switzerland. I have a fair list of things to see, some are concrete and others are on a wish list. I am even planning to put in an application to go on Bargain Hunt UK!
My sister Yness Cathy and her daughter Emma are coming up on Saturday and I never like to let a chance go by if I need anything brought up from Brisbane. I texted Yness, asking if she would mind bringing a couple of pigs up for me. I am attending the Allora Heavy Horse Festival next month and it would be great to take pigs again.
“Pigs?” she replied, with a worried emoji. “Guinea Pigs – I guess so, I don’t think Emma will mind putting them in her car as long as they can’t escape,” she said.
“Well,” I replied, “not guinea pigs, large Black piglets, but they are only a month old and you could put them in a large cardboard box, I’m sure they will be very quiet. If you bring your esky I will give you some lovely bacon in return for bringing them up.”
I think my sister’s eyes would have been bulging out of her head at this point and perhaps she was having second thoughts about coming to visit.
Dora, Dear Richie and I attended the Stanthorpe Show a couple of weeks ago. We took along an array of sheep breeds, Loui and ZigZag, the Damaras (African Fat Tails) again being the most popular. It was wonderful to catch up with Tony from Riverina Stockfeeds who had generously donated feed for the prime lamb section. I am a big fan of Riverina Stockfeeds. I have found their products, such as Calf Crumbles, XLR8, Pig Grower and Lamb Feedlot, to be superior to anything else on the market and my stock have measurable success in terms of growth rates and condition on these products.
The 16th and 17th of March will find me at the Allora Heavy Horse Festival. If all goes to plan, I will have the Large Black piglets with me, as well as different breeds of sheep, and a friend bringing some mini goats. You may recall I attended the event last year with Julia and Greta, and it was an amazing event with plenty to see and do.
Back on the farm we missed out on all the big rain events. When Warwick had around 100mm, we had 17, followed a week later by 26. It has, however, really dried off again and the dam up our end is now just a few water holes. It would be great to see some rain going in again.
That’s about it from me for this month.
Love, Judy
