Everyday Life on the Station

Some friends have been interested in everyday life facts :

How often do we get into town ?

How often does mail, milk, bread, groceries and vegetables get delivered ?

Power, water supplies ?

                               

*  The mail comes once a week on a mail plane from Leigh Creek in SA, through Adelaide.

*  One of the stockmen drives into Quilpie, to the north, with a huge trailer once every 3 months for bulk supplies of all things... Groceries, chicken, fish, sausages, veggies, bread, milk. Fresh veggies are brought in from the Bellara Gas Centre each month. The stores supply is for staff here and the Outstation, about 20 people permanently and these numbers increase during Muster. 
All our beef is killed on the station, this is known as ' a killer.' Chicken or fish is served about once a week, all other meals are beef. Bread is stored in its own large chest freezer in bulk. Milk is bought in UHT cartons by the pallet. Fresh veggies are served early in the weeks, and just before the next pick up time we tend to get more dishes with canned veggies in them. Breakfast, smoko ( morning tea ), lunch and dinner are cooked by the wonderful cook who keeps us all well fed during the week. On weekends we raid the fridge for leftovers, or the 

stores sometimes to cook for ourselves.

*  Thargomindah, 250km to the east, is our closest town for basic supplies, haircuts, etc. it 
has what we would call a 'corner' shop, small library, petrol suppliers/auto mechanics and is
 about a 3 or 4 hour drive. 

At the moment we don't tend to drive off the station on weekends as we are happy to relax, go for walks, read, sew and for something novel cook. But I am becoming desperate for a haircut so a weekend in 'town' is on the cards.

* Power on the station is supplied via a generator. There are two which are alternated so every second day between 7 and 7.30am they are switched over and we lose power for a few minutes. We make sure on those days not to turn on computers and other technology in the schoolroom till that has occurred.

*  Water comes from two sources. Drinking water is pumped from the rain water tanks, when there is water in them. Currently we do not have a water tank attached to the house so we bring it up in a cooler from the kitchen a couple of times a week. All other water is pumped from Cooper Creek, and I have to say it takes a long time to get used to seeing it come out of the taps ! !

           

                                                    Our weekend visitor !

Posted by Lynne

Friends Visit the Station

It was great to have friends, James and Kerry, visit us on the Station 

two weekends ago !

They arrived in their 4wd and caravan just as we were sending the boys off on the Friday afternoon and stayed till Monday morning. It was good to sit and chat with friends and share our new home and surroundings.

We took them on a tour of the home paddock and buildings and walked down along the river taking in the bird life. We drove out to look at the Aboriginal Standing Stones, the Aboriginal Burial site, and around a very small area of this huge station. 

They shared a meal down in the dining room, and a BBQ - station style, with all the station staff. We raided the kitchen and stores for quieter meals up at the house and generally had a real social time. 

Below is a photo of the smallest camp kitchen that is taken out to the stock camps. Notice on the back the old fold up beds used to put the swags on ! These are only taken out for longer camp outs, there are several types.  We are watching the station plane taking off to do a sweep of the river looking for cattle. He flew over us later as we walked the river edge.

The Cooper Creek is an iconic part of the Qld outback which we now call home for a while. It is very low at the moment. We frightened a few Brolgas before George could get a photo of them.

A view of the Aboriginal Standing Stones site which is quite different to other sites. We spent quite a long time there as it was so interesting !

 Thank you Kerry and James for visiting us ! It was so nice to have visitors !

Posted by Lynne

Our Home for Six Months

For those who have been curious about our new home for the six months we are living at the Station, here are some photo's. 

On arriving we were very surprised at the spaciousness of the house, having not seen any photos of this property. Families from other properties had sent photos of the accommodation they provided and we had been prepared for almost anything. Often this would be donga's.

But we are blessed with spacious newly furnished accommodation. Half of the house is the schoolrooms and the other half, ours, has an open lounge, dining, kitchen and a main bedroom with walk-in and ensuite, and an internal laundry.

The area above is to eventually be a grassed area for the children to use during school time. Each house on the property, in the home area, has a yard with watered lawns.

Below are some photos of the interior of the house, which came fully equipped and furnished. 

As we unpacked our coaster bus, which is now our home, it was amazing how well set up it is. A few on the station asked where the ' stuff ' kept coming from. The bus had almost all the little extras we would need. 

Ps I even brought my sewing machine and rag quilting materials, and already have a lap quilt and bag on the way !

 

Finally, the beautiful view from our windows each night before we go to dinner.

Posted by Lynne

Our First Teaching Week - What Else Could Go Wrong ?

We have spent our first week and a half settling in and learning the ropes. The first few days  here on my own were spent clearing through the schoolroom cupboards and sorting resources till late at night, re-organising display walls, attempting to organise a timetable and teaching. 

Our timetable is full on, from 8am to 3.30pm, as we work around up to 7 on-air sessions a day, our teaching sessions, and smoko and lunch which are all cooked and ready for us when we arrive. It's very important to be on time! So I have set my iPod to make interesting noises at every change ... It barks, sounds alarms, goes boing, plays the marimba and sings at us. The boys are getting good at knowing which sound is for what ! (dinner is also provided for us, so no cooking)

Our first few teaching days went well if you don't think about anything to do with communications ! The boys had trouble logging in to SODE (School of The Air) and the main computer went down. Then the laptop had to be used for lessons which meant only one child at a time for on air lessons and no other videos, tutorials, or teaching tools could be accessed on line for the other boys. The headsets with phone wouldn't work so the poor boys had to hold phone to ear while working. But amazingly we all had a good first few days? Usually up until lunch time we may have one of the boys accessing an on -air lesson while we teach the other two. This teaching time could include accessing short videos or tutorials of up to about 5 minutes, or teaching tools online or discs. Our youngest boy is doing Prep/Kinder so he may watch and listen to interactive videos with rhymes, songs or letter and number recognition activities.  By Thursday we had sussed out all the problems  and corrected them and it was much better .... but now ! !  there are no on-air lessons for a week and a half while children from outlying stations take it in turns to head in for cluster meets for a day  at regional towns. Our closest is Windorah, about 5 and a half hours away.

Our learning time is very full on but we have spent the last half hour or so of our days shooting baskets, making African habitats in the sandpit, making and investigating the  properties of gloop, making lemonade in our kitchen, stretching our minds with tricky games, showing us around part of their 8,910 square km back yard, and getting to know each other.

Overall it has been a good week !

Posted by Lynne

George's Drive Out in the Bus

George finally left Thargomindah for Durham Downs Station on the Friday towards lunchtime, 4 days later than expected. The trip was a good one and our 1984 coaster handled the drive in well,    

 with very little dust finding its way inside. George had taped a few vents, floor hatches and inlet holes  and we were surprised at the way she travelled.

The Station is north west of Thargomindah, and he travelled along the road towards Innaminka before turning north past the Bellara Gas Centre site. This natural gas field is situated on Durham Down's land, along with other gas and oil fields. Workers off the station head to Innaminka sometimes on the weekends, so we will take a weekend and head off there and to the Burke and Will's Dig Tree sometime.

Posted by Lynne