Yee-haw! Experiencing the cowboy life at Kroombit Cattle Station

After spending the last few weeks exploring Australia's beach towns on the east coast, it was a welcome change of scenery when we went on a bit of a detour, and drove 200km inland to the Kroombit Cattle Station. There we got to experience what life on the outback was like 100 years ago on a cattle farm, (well except that we had flush toilets and electric lights).

After a quick hike up to the local view point (it was very cool to look over the outback - very different than the east coast), the real fun started when we had a mini-rodeo. The first event was the skeet shoot, where I discovered that I'm actually a decent shot, by which I mean I didn't miss all 5 targets, I ended up hitting 2. (Fun fact: I have to shoot lefty because I can't wink my left eye shut - I can only wink my right eye shut.)

Next it was time for the goat rodeo, where team "Goat To Hell" finished a respectable second place. (Note to my mother and sister: our team included a veterinary nurse, and we handled our goat extremely carefully/humanely - no need to alert the SPCA). The next "event" was straight out of Jackass - the guy in charge brought a cattle prod and zapped the hell out of a few foolish volunteers. And yes, of course I was one of those volunteers. Not content just to get a zap on the arm, I ended up standing in front of a crowd with my shirt up, and got a big shock right on my chest. I really wish it had been caught on video, as my reaction to the shock was certainly not the most graceful thing in the world.

After dinner, we had a chance to learn how to crack a whip, which I discovered I am absolutely terrible at, although I was quite good at accidentally whipping my own arm instead. The final event of the night was the mechanical bull. Absolute hilarity ensued. I managed to shoot one video of a friend which could be the next viral sensation on youtube, once I figure out how to work with the obnoxious video format my camera uses. Keep your eyes peeled for it!

And now, time for pictures. Enjoy!

we get our intro talk cowboy-style. During the talk the horse hacked up a piece of partially-digested grass and almost hit someone's lunch. Awesome.

group photo at the top of the lookout

me preparing to shoot some skeet. Them's good eating!

Team "Goat to Hell" poses for the requisite pre-rodeo publicity shot

Team "Goat to Hell" in action, en route to our second place finish. (once again, no need to notify the SPCA, the "brand" we are applying isn't real, although Kate did help us out by supplying a realistic "hisss" sound when applying the fake-brand).

me riding the mechanical bull - I actually did pretty well, holding on for about 18 bucks on my second try. Not pictured: the massive bruise I had the next day on my left inner thigh from the rope I was grabbing on to. Fun times.