Cowboys and bikers

Just over a year ago I wrote about a calf I saw in the paddock of a property close by. Here’s the picture of the little cutie.

I put that picture in this post because something weird happened here on Saturday night – something to do with cows (and I didn’t get pictures).

I need to set the scene:

It was Saturday afternoon.  A cattle truck drove down our road to the left. That road goes nowhere, there are another two sugar cane farms and then nothing but mountains, and behind those mountains is the blue Pacific. Hubby and I thought the driver must have been lost because the farm with the cattle on it (as per the picture above) is in the other direction.

Then all our power went off.  I checked the electricity provider’s mobile site. Unknown fault, Unknown timeframe. Blackout. Great.

We sat on the front porch watching the sunset (our regular end-of-day routine). Then several cowboys on quad bikes and a few cars we didn’t recognize drove by. That was odd – but it was Saturday Night Wine Time, so we didn’t take much notice, until…

ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE!

Some newly delivered cattle had run through a break in the fence on the other farm, taken to the mountains, and ended up at the dead-end of our road.

There were cattle running around the road and in and out of the sugar cane paddocks. The cowboys on quad bikes were trying to round them up.  Cattle ran through the yard and the dogs went ballistic. The fact that there are so many farm dogs around here made the cowboys job difficult. All our dogs are fenced, but that doesn’t stop them from barking.

Due to the blackout we couldn’t turn any of our house spotlights on to assist in finding the poor cows, so the evening was full of flashlights and torches and car lights trying in vain to find them.

The problem was (and still is) that the sugar cane is taller than the cattle, so as soon as they get in they can’t be seen.

Sneaky little cows…

So the most part of the night was spent searching for cattle and then watching others search for cattle while we finished off our bottle of Sauvignon Blanc.

They didn’t find them all so we’re still searching – don’t be surprised if I post a picture of me riding a cow home after dog walk.

Then on Sunday my neighbour, Joey, took me for a ride on his Harley. I was a bit tentative at first because I was sure we’d get half way down the road and hit a stray cow. Luckily that didn’t happen!

We went for a ride to Cairns down the long open road that leads to the city from our farms. A favourite scene of mine from Let Sleeping Gods Lie kept popping into my head – “She clung to him as he opened the throttle. The road lay out in front of them like a party streamer.” 

It was an amazing experience. I’ve only been on a motorbike twice before (many years ago) and I’ve never been on a Harley.

I’ve decided it was so good I’m going to do it again some day.

I think we look pretty tough 😀

***Have a great week!***

moooooooooo