Lambs Stuck in Mud

The smallest of the merino lambs were left unshorn. They will be shorn later when they are bigger and have more wool on them. They were taken to a paddock that has had no sheep in it for a while.
The water in the dam has been evaporating over summer, and there is mud around the edge. So the poor lambs got more than they bargained for when they went for a drink.
It was only lucky that I noticed the lambs stuck in the mud while I was driving home from town today, or there might have been more stuck and some may have perished if they had not been discovered. Matthew and our French helpX visitor Bert were dragged away from the shearing cut-out to rescue the lambs.

Shearing Cut-Out

When shearing is over, we have a "cut-out". It is always a pretty good show, because we have a great shearing team. This year a couple of extras came along with their guitars which made the atmosphere very enjoyable (thanks Leo and James). In the afternoon we had some savouries and drinks, and then we had a barbecue with sausages and chops and drinks and I made up some salads. There are always lots of drinks with shearers. I guess they sweat a lot during the day and they need lots of beer to re-hydrate them. Or something. We go through more beer in one night than we do for the rest of the year combined!We were planning to have our summer holiday at Bremer Bay from the 10th to the 20th of January, but anyone with a calendar will know that today is the 12th of January. Shearing was held up last week with staffing issues, illness and then rain. So the three days missed last week were done this week. Now if everything else goes well, packing up, loading wool, etc, then we can leave tomorrow evening.
And this year I am taking my camera on holidays with me!

Accident on Gibbs Road

We are used to driving on unsealed gravel roads, which are narrow, rough, and often have kangaroos or emus crossing. Sometimes our visitors are not used to the roads, and sometimes I forget to warn them. I forgot to warn our French helpXchange visitors Melanie and Bertrand when they set out for Collie last Wednesday. So while I thought they were shopping in Collie, they were walking the six kilometres home after crashing their campervan on the road. They were so lucky that they were not hurt, but we were all very shaken up. They had bought the van in Sydney and travelled halfway around Australia in it on their Australian dream trip. But the van will be going no further.

They had to climb out the window when the van rolled onto its side.

The kids were pretty sad to see the van like this.

After skidding out of control the van side-swiped these trees before rolling.

I had to call the council so that some workers could bring a loader and move the broken van off the road, as it was creating a hazard. Although there is never much traffic on this part of Gibbs road you never know when someone could come along...
And obviously someone came along after the van was put on its wheels and moved to the side of the road. Because about four hours later when it was put on a car trailer and brought back home there had been quite a bit of stuff stolen. Someone had removed the spare wheel off the front, taken out the stereo, stolen fold-up chairs, a surfboard, diving masks, the microwave oven and more. I couldn't believe it! This is such a quiet and isolated stretch of road it was surprising that anyone had driven past during that time, and for that someone to be of the thieving kind was really bad luck.

School Christmas Concert

Some clowning around on the stage

Today the Darkan Primary School held the end of year Christmas Concert at the town hall. Bonnie and Odette had both asked me to make them dresses for the occasion, so I have had a few late nights with needle and thread. But I hope you agree that it was worth it as they both looked gorgeous. The concert had a circus theme, and it got all the children involved and it was great fun. Odette was at the front of the stage, looking glamorous (not hard) and holding up signs saying things like "CLAP" WOW" and "LAUGH".

Odette on stage

Bonnie was the strong man's assistant so she had to help carry the dumbbell onto the stage, acting like it was very heavy. When leaving the stage she acted like it was dropped on her foot and hopped off. Very funny!

Bonnie on stage

The kindergarten children skipped around in circles a bit and did some leap frog, although Hugh almost had to climb over the kids crouched down on the floor.

Hugh at the concert

Odette

After the entertainment the book prizes were announced, and Bonnie was presented with the academic endeavour award for year 4. We were very proud of her, as the comments were very good. She won a lovely book of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan and Wendy. Her Nanna told her that she had won the same book for a book prize when she was in grade 4too!!

Bonnie with her book prize

And while we are talking about prizes, I must mention that Sophie received two (yes, 2!) prizes at her school speech night. She won the year 7 award for Society and Environment, and the year 7 award for LOTE (Languages other than English - she has done Japanese and French during the year). During fourth term she also received a high distinction in a year 11 French exam. Because she is very advanced in French after living in France, the school made it possible for her to join with the year 11 French class. It was great to know that she can still perform well in a larger group of children, as she was always the winner at Darkan.

Hugh's First Motorbike Race

Odette, Bonnie and Sophie, with Hugh on his motorbike.

Hugh says that when he grows up he wants to be a motorbike racer.
Well he is far from grown up, but he has already ridden in his first motorbike race.
Even though his birthday is not until December he received a Yamaha PW50 motorbike in October. There was no point buying it and putting it away for two months... :)
So with three weeks experience riding the new bike, he set of early on Sunday with Roger, with his bike in the back of the car. Roger was on duty as a first aid officer, but as there was only one injury for the day he had plenty of time to spend with Hugh. The Wasmann family had encouraged Hugh to ride at Collie, and he set up with them, even wearing Regan's spare outfit and protective gear.

Ready to race...

The gates are down...

Steady...

Hugh is down! But not for long...

A bit of help from a competitor's father.

I didn't arrive at the track until lunch time, so I missed his first race. As the day wore on and the bigger bikes tore up the track it became quite hard for Hugh's little bike to handle the conditions on the sand track. By the third race he really struggled, and needed help to get through a couple of sections of the track. He toppled over a couple of times, and the commentator was really supportive, saying things like "it was the bike's fault" or that "the wind blew him over!" He described Hugh as "a helmet on wheels" because he was so small. But he looked like a real motorbike racer, and he came home with a medal. He was a proud and happy little boy.

Hugh may look like a motorbike racer, but Odette looks more like a fashion model!