George Hayward, 2012 North Queensland Sustainability student blogger, writes:

Saturday, June 2

Finally! A place that feels like home. Today we arrived at our farm stays, and it has been quite a comforting experience thus far. I’m with the four other male students on a 260 acre property that has been owned by this family since 1985. Upon arrival this morning, we noticed how similar it was to homes in the U.S. In the guest house, we’re sharing a big room that has bunk beds, board games, carpet space, outlets, and anything else we could want. It also has its own bathroom, small kitchen, and living area! Compared to the close-quarters we had been staying in, this is a palace! Not to mention, this has been the best food of the trip so far. We had a late lunch, a chocolate-based snack, and a dinner that produced “food babies” as my colleagues called them. This term basically refers to eating so much that one appears to have a baby in the belly. Well, it was a very happy baby.

In the afternoon we played a rugby game (two hand touch, of course) with the two granddaughters of our hosts. Their names were Zoey and Tori, and they were exceptional. We bent the rules slightly, and blocked whenever they had the ball, but their blazing speed and dazzling footwork was enough to avoid the big, scary defensive players (us). It was great fun that not only helped the students bond, but also helped us bond with our family.

Sunday, June 3

Despite it being before 8 a.m., I’ve already done more than many a summer day in the past. We woke up around 5:15 this morning and hit the barn by 5:30, where we started feeding the cows right away. I fed two separate pens, helped with another, and then teamed up with the other guys to feed some cows in the back of the barn. Afterward, Mike and I went with Dennis (our host) to feed grain to the bigger cows. It took about forty five minutes as we filled troughs with about 8 full buckets of grain and then moved on to another patch. To move throughout the farm we rode on a four-wheeler which navigated the mud like a champ. When we finished, we visited the cows again to say hello and then headed back to the room.

After breakfast we ate, we went back to work and dehorned many of the calves. This is a necessary part of the job and saves much trouble down the road but isn’t fun for anyone, even Dennis doesn’t like it. When this process was complete, we had the opportunity to chop wood on a chopping block. It was actually much harder than expected but we eventually learned that it’s more about rhythm than sheer power. Regardless, it was fun to actually participate in an activity that we had seen so many times in movies. They make it look deceivingly easy!

For lunch we got to experiment with some distinctly authentic Australian food: kangaroo burgers. Surprisingly, it tasted better than I expected. Kangaroo meat is really just a hybrid between burgers and steak in my opinion.  With full bellies and rested legs, we headed back out to the farm to do some more work. We fixed some fencing and mixed more feed – this time molasses, which we learned s an economical yet still nutritional meal for the cows.

Monday, June 4

The next morning two of us woke up to help on the farm again. After some milking of the cows and friendly one-way dialogue with them, I went to catch some photos of the sunrise. I noticed it the day before rising behind a hill and stopped in my tracks. It was beyond beautiful. I certainly didn’t want to miss the opportunity today. I guess it goes to show: the early bird get the worm but the early bird also gets to see breath taking sunrises!