Station life through the eyes of a Dutch girl

I stayed at this cattle station, about 300 km out of Katherine, for about five months and had a great time.

The work
Mostly I took care of the cooking and kept the homestead tidy. Days started around seven am and ended after nine pm. The famous Dutch work ethics paid off for the station owner; he said the place never looked as neat. After a few months I slowed down a bit. I forced myself to have proper lunch breaks and luckily I was allowed to use the owners swimming pool. I started to have a nice all over tan.
Luckily I was often asked to help mustering. Besides the cattlemen family members including kids and undersigned went away for days on horseback. In The Netherlands I had horse riding lessons in my childhood. I had attended some equestrian events. Horses were for cuddling and grooming. I was not prepared for these horses. Once a year a horse breaker was called in for a week, to break a selection of horses for that year to use. I was to ride on Dingeling, a horse that needed clear hierarchy which I was not able to provide. Three times I bit the dust and got a worse rider as I feared the horse after that. Although I loved being outdoors for days in a row, my lack of confidence on this horse made it stressful by occasion. The ringers loved to rub it in, enjoying being able to pick on someone less experienced then themselves. A big treat after a days mustering was a dip in a creek and a pick nick in the bush. Later I learned that the horses on this property were also used as buck jumpers at NT rodeo's. Dingeling must have been good at it.
Highlights were the occasional rides with the helicopter pilot and the morning rides with the horse breaker. He was to break one horse for me, which I called Noah. Every morning at dawn he'd wake me and we went for an early ride. What a life...
When the rodeo season started I did some administrative tasks as well and liked the change. I also updated their computer system and filed years of administration away. More changes came when the governess decided to bolt with the stations mechanic and the two girls (7 and 11 years old) needed a tutor. So that became my next temporary job. I loved teaching them and was impressed by the quality of education provided by the school of the air. As soon as a new governess arrived I was back to cooking.
Around Christmas everybody had a few days of and I was left with the gardener to look after the station. He did his usual morning round and then got into his stash of grog. Very rarely I would see him swaying about singing to his dog, a false blue heeler. So I was to look after the various bores, did lick runs and overall inspection rounds. I loved being with Niki, feeling free as a bird and be autonomous. The generators that needed a refill and a pull start were a bit of a worry, but I could handle it. Some old cows or young born calves needed dragging out of the waterholes. Others died and needed dragging to the dead dump. I got fit by lifting so many 20 kg bags of lick into the car and setting them out. Niki kept jumping out of the bull catcher when doing these runs. Despite the heat and lack of water she preferred bolting alongside. Once I couldn't do the full rounds as a tire blew and none of the tools in the back fitted the bolts to change it. The walk back to the homestead took me a good two hours but I loved it. A good neighbor helped me out after a call.
It is funny though, after a few months of station life, how shopping in Katherine could be like a holiday. Just to see some different faces and buying yourself a bar of chocolates was a true treat. But I was always happy to return to the station by the end of the day.

The people
Besides a variety of ringers and one jilleroo there were a gardener, a mechanic, a governess and a Yugoslavian engineer whom carried out some research I never understood the details of. And of course the station owner (or manager) and his partner and her two daughters lived at the homestead. She and the girls kept the place alive and with her a nice friendship developed. I probably wouldn't have lasted as long without her and her sense of humor. I've learned about the expression 'laughing your head off' here.
Also the usual casual workers came along: helicopter pilots for mustering, family or friends whom loved chasing buffalo's in a bull catcher (not for the faint hearted), just came to visit or helped out otherwise, and the horse breaker. Actually the latter was more of a horse whisperer whom taught me a lot about horses, my dog and station life ;) He was a kind person whom put my sensitivity for the sometimes rough ringers in perspective. The ringers made my life hard after a while. The station owner put them straight once over dinner when they were hassling me by saying: 'Now stop bullying her. If she wouldn't have turned you down one by one you wouldn't found a fault in her!' They cut their losses and shut up. But they never became as charming as when the were still trying to charm me into their bunks.

The beasts
The cooks house offered a specialty. In the homestead yards three Brahman bulls wandered around. They were good, but I only found out after I had a major fright when one of them passed on the little path alongside my room. It brushed the door frame while passing. It probably wouldn't even fit through the door but that I only realized much later. I started to love these unexpected visits. Those bulls were so relaxed and friendly. I love the look of Brahmans altogether.
Visits I liked less but got used to too were those of the goanna. When baking or cooking in the kitchen I sometimes heard a hiss behind me. Looking around there it was. At least a meter worth of mini dragon (not measuring the tail). I was told that when scared they climb into the highest point available using their claws, usually humans, in this sort of encounters. The first few times I chased it out with a broom. Later I would secure the food (they love the smell of meat), leave and come back in five minutes or so. It would have left for greener pastures by then. The goanna worried me a bit regarding Niki. She would jump and bark around it and I was always scared that she would end up eaten. I relaxed when she grew up to a small sized heeler with razor sharp teeth.
Niki grew up like a farm dog. Wandering about the house and yards, chasing butterflies. Playing about with the children, riding in front of the four wheeler. When potty feeding calves, Niki loved to dig with them into the bucket full of milk. One day I took her out on a little muster close to the homestead yards. The 150 weaners were near the gate and suddenly returned. Checking out what they were crowding around I found Niki laying on her back in turns snuffled by the cattle. For a cattle dog maybe she was not so much of a heeler but more of a lurer. I sometimes wondered what sort of animal Niki thought she was. She still has the utmost respect for other animals and I love that about her.
Besides the stallion that lived in the yards around the stables, we found a buffalo in the trench one day. I was asked to chase it out but thanked for the honor. Also chasing, running over or even shooting pigs was out of my range of things I wanted to learn in Australia. I wouldn't mind fixing fences over and over again at the price of letting them go.
And of course there were the encounters with snakes and spiders. One python had the tame parakeet for dinner and a king brown explored the storeroom at the cost of its life. Apparently goanna's eat their young, but not the adults.
The most impressive image of this time was the picture of a bunch of brumbies cantering up to the trough near the homestead during a spectacular sunset with the red glow of a bush fire on the far horizon. Unforgettable.

By January I believed it time to move on. The station owner and his partner found me very worthwhile my wage and shouted me a holiday in Broome. We went with both the girls and had a splendid holiday. She met an old mate from a camel race a few years earlier and we got talking. Within five minutes he offered me a job and a place to stay in Broome. I went back to the station and stayed on another few weeks. And then left for a new adventure.