The drive from Airlie Beach to Hervey Bay takes around 14 hours in total, so the bus stops overnight. Rather than stay in Rockhampton (which would have been a bit boring!), we headed inland for a couple of hours until we arrived at the Kroombit cattle station, near the town of Biloela.
The cattle station is huge! Huge enough that a Liberator bomber crashed there in 1945, and was only discovered in 1994!
The idea behind the stop was to give us some insight into the day-to-day workings of the cattle station. It was getting dark by the time we arrived, so the main activities were put on hold until the next morning.
After a meal of goat and beef, we were instructed on how to crap a whip. This is one of those things that sounds very simple, but I just couldn’t get the hang of it. I did hear a couple of good “cracks”, but I think I spent more time whipping the backs of my legs and shoulder! I also had a very brief, and very painful experience with a mechanical bull!
We were up with the sun the next morning, and after a quick breakfast we were taken out to do some clay-pigeon shooting, the goat rodeo (which involved catching a goat, flipping it over and holding it so that someone could simulate branding it) , and then help move the goats to a new paddock on horseback. I’m not all that fond of horses, but after being taunted by a seven year old girl on an even bigger horse I got a bit more comfortable with it, and was really enjoying it by the end!
After all the excitement, it was time to get back on the bus. By this time it was still only 9:30 and we weren’t due to arrive at Hervey Bay until mid-afternoon. Luckily, I slept most of the way!
