I boarded a bus at Bendigo bound for Pyramid Hill (where my new host was to meet me), and what a fascinating journey it was. The city soon gave way to barren landscapes, the road a dead straight one that cut through golden yellow plains. It was flat, featureless, and infinite. Our only stop on the way was Dingee. Dingee was the only settlement for miles, but it was just a few houses, a small store, a memorial hall, and that was it. Pyramid Hill's name soon became obvious as a pyramid shaped hill rose above the endless flat ground. At Pyramid Hill, I met my host and from there we travelled a further 20 minutes, during which we didn't see a single other vehicle.
The dairy farm at which I will spend the next three weeks (at least) is home to 200 cows and plenty of other animals, including some tiny, adorable puppies. Today was supposed to be pretty uneventful: I watched and learned the milking of cows and performed a couple of simple tasks. However, it was not eventful. We headed over to another farm owned by my host to drop off a barrel of hay to some cows, in a place that was truly the middle of nowhere. On the way back, we ran out of fuel. This would have been a complete disaster in years past, given the distance between us and the next nearest person, but a quick 'phone a friend' had someone on their way to rescue us with a spare tank.
Later on, we received a call informing us that one of my host's cows had been spotted astray on the road. This was after nine and we had to find it before dark. Find it we did, and with the stars emerging the cow was guided back to its proper location.
All this meant that it was well after ten until we had dinner. The next few weeks are going to be a brilliant experience and I can't wait to become an expert at milking cows. Stay tuned.
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| A view from the farm. |
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