Hail! (not so merry)

It’s a fact that I often observe: there is no such thing as a quiet country life.

Not on our place at least … allow me to illustrate:

We had put in one and a half solid days of work in the yards, preg-testing our breeding cows last week.  With our yards chock-block full of cattle, and thunder and clouds rolling in from the west, we decided use our sparse manpower to get as many out and back to their paddocks as possible.  My cousin Dan (a champion block and preg-testing expert) was put in charge of one mob, Mr Incredible and Violet in charge of another, heading for our furthest paddocks.

I volunteered to drive the truck to pick them all up at the end point – a job that seemed like a good call as rain began to fall about half an hour into the it.   I pulled up here for a while (hoping to do a little work on the laptop before the riders drew near).

The rain became heavier, and I decided to try for a new twist on the ‘selfie’. (Soooo easily distracted!)

Clouds, grass, raindrops, truck…

My spin on ‘soft focus’!

Then a ‘clunking’ sound began. Sporadically at first… then thunderously…

Oh. My. Gawd…

Frozen rain…

Thumbnail size hail…

I noticed cattle ahead, heading along the road and down across the creek, so edged the truck down hill (quite cautiously, as the rain was melting the ice into a slippery sludge)…

And I surmised that the riders must’ve been in front of the mob.

So, to make sure they got into a warm dry truck cab ASAP, I decided to cross the creek bed to reach the yards where we had agreed to meet.

Bad decision.

I was halfway through the creek when I saw a little river of water coming down the track.  After Cyclone Marcia ripped through here a couple of months ago, tonnes of sand had to be gouged out of the creek to make it passable.  Unfortunately, the path cleared was only narrow and gave me nowhere to go to try and find solid ground.  Guess what happened next?

Let’s just say, I was going nowhere and the air turned a little blue.

Thankfully the riders were BEHIND me and not in front.

And I willingly handed over the steering wheel to the boys to extricate the truck from creek.

I held the reins of the bedraggled, steaming horses and took photos of drifts of hail instead.

Because, that’s where my talents lie.

Chi Chi with rescued truck in background and handful of sky pellets in foreground…

I call this one: The Eye of The Storm.

(I am nothing if not a pun artist!)

My poor little jillaroo – after we stripped a few layers of sodden clothing off her and warmed her shaking bones up in the sun for half an hour, while the boys put the cattle into the right paddocks!  The hail is positioned to preserve her modesty.

A steaming horse helped put a smile back on Violet’s dial!

Thank goodness for riding helmets (not quite what they were designed for, but useful nonetheless)…

She had decided she is NOT a fan of hail. Most emphatically NOT a fan.  She told me about this very definite opinion for at least fifteen minutes.  I got the message.

Next time she was coming in the truck with me!

She did get quite enchanted by the frozen pebbles strewn along the roadside.

Showcasing some remnant hailstones on a red-cold little hand.

Hailstone posy.

It was Violet’s first experience of this freakish weather event. I have to admit I haven’t seen it too often around here.

We loved the rain that came with it, and were quite lucky it wasn’t more violent.  We all marvelled at the strangeness of it, mid-Winter (normally a very dry time of year for us).  The riders told of how everyone desperately tried to find shelter when it hit, with dogs hiding under horses, and riders sheltering under trees.  Luckily none of the horses freaked out too badly – something that I had worried about as I sat safe in the truck earlier on.

It wasn’t long before the sun and running water melted the drifts of hail into slush-puppy consistency mush.

We returned to the yards to regroup with a cuppa, with discussions about how you NEVER see hail out here, and planned to get the remaining animals out of the now very wet pens.  Then, just after we headed out with this second lot of cattle, a second round of hail arrived.

Seriously.

This time I was the one caught in it, as I opened wire gates along a lane way.  Violet watched on from the ute (down to a t-shirt and undies) cheering me on as I hustled in the sleeting rain.  There are no pics of this. My hands were shaking, along with the rest of me!

Let’s just say the drive home, with the heater on maximum, was a steamy 20 minutes.

And long hot showers, hot coffees and hot soup for dinner were essential to get core temps back to normal.

No real damage was done, except to my reputation as a truck driver, and Violet’s enthusiasm for all weather riding.

Never a dull moment, in this quiet corner of Queensland.

😉

Amanda