A Farm in Waroona (repost)

Today we are looking back to a visit to a farm in Waroona, Australia.  We met Laurie and John at our Just A Little Further presentation the other night at the Club and sat next to them at dinner that same evening. Laurie is an American who fell in love with Australia when she visited during her university years more than 50 years ago and subsequently emigrated, married John and raised her family here. John is a native South Australian whose family has farmed and raised cattle for export for generations. When they invited us out to their farm in Waroona, we couldn't believe our luck and jumped at the chance.

We took the 35-minute scenic route to the pleasant little town of Waroona (population ~2,000). Laurie remembers a time when the roads were all dirt and hand-dug irrigation ditches for watering the fields were the norm. She took us to the top of the Waroona Dam which supplies water for the farm, which now uses huge pieces of irrigation equipment. Laurie's knowledge of the area made all the difference. She's authored a book about the area, in fact, entitled Drakesbrook Days and Waroona Years: An Illustrated History of Waroona Shire.

Their 2,000 acre farm is only one of three family farms in the area. Additionally, they lease over 3 million acres of government grazing lands in the Western Australia outback as cattle stations. The trek out to their stations, where the bulk of their beef cattle are kept, is an arduous 16+ hours over rough 4-wheel drive roads. Laurie showed us a panoramic picture taken from a few years back. John explained that the horses and camels originally used to muster (round-up) the cattle have been replaced by 4-wheel drive vehicles and helicopters.

Laurie and John still live in the family homestead which has been added onto over the years. The first section of wooden clapboard was built in the late 1890's with a brick addition added in the 1920's. An enclosed breezeway connects the two and serves as a place for morning tea. A picket fence encloses the front yard where roses were still in bloom. A stately old Moreton Bay fig tree shades the yard. A major renovation is planned soon which will upgrade the house using modern materials including the addition of central heating.

When we arrived, all hands were involved in “drafting”, the process of weighing and sorting the cattle, in this case heifers, which were bound for Israel as live export. The cattle are primarily Shorthorns with an occasional cream-colored Australian Droughtmaster in the mix.

Closer to the house, we spotted four little calves frolicking around in a corral. These little guys were orphans and being raised by hand. I asked about feeding them and Laurie said it was done by a Calf-eteria, a system of feeding the calves when the mother was not around. Clever name, huh? There was also a lone alpaca in the corral, recently shorn … not sure how he got on with the calves, but it didn't seem to be a problem.

It's not that David and I have never been on farms before. My aunt and uncle owned a huge poultry farm and I spent many weeks every summer as a kid feeding chickens and collecting eggs. Another aunt and uncle owned milking cows and we spent lots of time in the barn and worked hard during haying season bringing in the harvest. David participated in a couple of trail drives on horseback in Colorado bringing cattle from the summer to winter grazing grounds. Certainly, however, visiting a farm in another country is a novelty and seeing how things are done and what things are called made for an interesting day and a significant change from being on Nine of Cups.

A Dinghy Trip to Home Island

Cocos Keeling Islands

The winds were down and the sun was bright as we dinghied across the lagoon to Home Island. We skirted around bommies in a zigzag pattern and finally connected with the channel into Home's little harbor. The shallow waters prevent supply ships from entering. We'd watched for two days in the outer anchorage while a ship had unloaded supplies with a crane onto a lighter and a barge and then reloaded empty containers.

We passed the ferry dock and jetty and beached the dinghy on the foreshore. We climbed up to the main road, a brick-paved, single lane thoroughfare which was perfect for the quads and motor bikes that everyone seemed to be driving here. As we approached the jetty, we saw the Welcome to Home Island sign and an info kiosk with an island map.

The map and several signposts directed us to the Shire Council's office. We needed to pay our anchoring fees to the shire … $50/week. Like many other small island communities we've visited, the pace was slow and things were laid back. That said, the payment process was computerized and they accepted credit cards. No complaints.

We had passed the island museum on the way in and inquired as to the opening hours.

“I'll give you the key”, said the young Cocos Malay woman. And just like that, we had access to the museum.

Housed in an old white-washed brick copra storage building, the museum was small, one large room, in fact, but it held some interesting items and provided some background information on the Cocos Malay population. I was particularly intrigued with shadow puppetry which is an entertainment art they're working to revive here. The Clunies-Ross family, the owners of the old copra plantation, did everything possible to maintain the isolation of their workers, forbidding fraternization with visitors or even use of communications. Having left their homeland generations before, much of their culture, including their language, has morphed into a unique Cocos Island culture and only recently have they had the opportunity to explore their roots.

We had also asked the shire office for a recommendation for lunch.

“It's Friday … nothing is open today for lunch”, she explained. “On Friday, we only work a half day and everything closes. You might try the supermarket for some fruit.”

Hmm … all restaurants closed on Fridays and evidently throughout the weekend, because why would anyone want to eat out over the weekend? This is island life. We headed to the tiny Shamrok Supermarket. Though there wasn't much in the way of freshies and the frozen food section was pretty empty, I was glad to see that civilization had indeed come to Cocos … there on the shelf were Hello Kitty and Angry Bird animal crackers. We passed on those in favor of a couple of apples for lunch.

We wandered along well-worn paths, past rows of pre-fab houses with antennas stuck on the roofs.

The Clunies-Ross family had built Oceania House during the heyday of the copra industry. The remains of the building still exist although a new Oceania House, which looks to be a luxurious place, is in the process of being built. The walls of the old estate are crumbling and little is left.

The cemetery was at the northern end of the island and we decided to dinghy north along the shore for a visit rather than walking. The graveyard was a beautiful, serene clearing, well-tended and cared for. Cocos Malay grave markers incorporate an Islamic motif on each grave. Many were draped with the traditional scarf worn by the women. Some had umbrellas and some tiny canopies to protect the graves from the sun and elements.

We also found the family burial site of the Clunies-Ross family dating from the mid-19^th century.

The tide was low and we pushed and pulled the dinghy quite a ways offshore before finding enough water to set down the engine. We passed tiny Prison Island, the island to which Alexander Hare and his seraglio of women were relegated, and thought about a stop there, but the entrance was too shallow at the moment and decided to leave it till another day.

A 20-minute ride around those same coral heads and we were back at Cups, hot and dusty from our little excursion ashore. Once again, the turquoise blue water invited us to cool off and relax. A refreshing dip, a sundowner in the cockpit, dinner and a movie. Really … it doesn't get much better. It really doesn't.

On Leaving Australia

Australia is one of those places that Americans dream about visiting. It's exotic, Down Under, and the people speak English, but with great accents. It was certainly a tick on our bucket list when we arrived in Bundaberg in November 2011. Nine of Cups has been here for nearly three years. The crew has had its family issues back in the USA, but still we've managed to be in-country the better part of two years. Australia is a huge, glorious country … as large as the USA and just as diverse. We took a moment the other night to try to identify highlights of our visit here and it was tough. Off the top of our heads, we came up with 25 … way too much for a blog. So we whittled it down to the Top Ten. Seeing our very first kangaroo ... in Bundaberg ... and hearing a kookaburra's song for the first time

(The animals in particular were always a highlight)

New Year's Eve anchored in Sydney Harbour watching the fireworks with friends in 2011

Watching the start of the world-famous Sydney-Hobart race on a friend's boat in Sydney Harbour on Boxing Day 2011

Tasmania's wild west coast including Port Macquarie, the Gordon River and Port Davey

Being tied up to the wharf in downtown Hobart, Tasmania for the Christmas season 2012

Anchoring in front of Port Arthur and visiting this national landmark known for its severity and tragedy

The magic of Deal and King Islands in the Bass Strait

South Australia's beauty and hospitality from Adelaide to Streaky Bay

Crossing the Great Australian Bight in a rather non-traditional fashion

Rounding two Great Southern Capes … Southeast Cape (Tasmania) and Cape Leeuwin (Western Australia)

All these highlights are places and things, but be assured that Australia's number one asset is its people and they have truly been the highlight of our extended visit. We have been overwhelmed with friendship, kindness and generosity. We thank you all!

And then, of course, we think of all the things we haven't seen and the places left unvisited and the friends we haven't met yet. Makes us think we need to come back and continue our Aussie travels. By the way, I'm singing Waltzing Matilda as I write this … just sayin'.