Droving & diving

We had some visitors here last weekend – our final weekend of the school holidays.  And despite the fact that they had travelled SO far (from Chicago, via Perth!) and that they are seriously urban (Chicago!) we decided to tempt them with a seriously rural adventure…

DROVING.

After a couple of practice rides in the yards, donning helmets and mounting their steadfast steeds (Winchester and Taszar), our young visitors (we shall call them M1 and M2) suppressed their nerves and headed out with our crew (including a few very handy dogs).

Look at M2 – she’s a full-on horse-lover this one, and was all ‘Cowgirl UP’ in attitude.  Taszar was a proper little gentleman (as we knew he would be) as they helped bring up the tail of the mob.

It was a slow ride, as our young jillaroos got the hang of riding in some wide-open spaces…

And sometimes our guys were helpful in instructing the new recruits…

(Violet helping M1 with some rein adjustments.)

And sometimes they were NOT…

No Dash. NO Violet… that is NOT how we show visitors how to ride…

See… This is what happens when you have trick-riders in the family…

A couple of hours, and many wildlife photos with their Mama (and Nana) later…

Our riders completed their mission – with Dash doing his best John Wayne/Tim McGraw (black hat, black t-shirt) impersonations …

Go Cherokee!

And mega skies and happy horsemen and women made for a sweet end to the adventure!

Of course, riding was not the only ‘bush task’ on offer.

There was also feeding the weaner bulls…

And hanging off ropes over the river.

Yes, it IS Winter.  And NO, it wasn’t cold.  Well, not really.  Not for me anyway, safely on the bank snapping photos.

As the sun set, they were still at it… with Mr I tweaking the rope setup, and four very wet, very enthusiastic teens/tweens gleefully flinging themselves into the water.

Another tweak.  Nice balancing Mr I… and yes, I MAY have been waiting for an ‘into-the-drink’ shot here. Shhhhhh…

Violet  swung high and far.

She’s a competitive little sausage, our Violet.

M1 getting some height on that take-off too…

Eking every last drop of light out of the day…

Mother Nature gave us a gentle welcome to the night…

And a roaring fire helped warm young bones before hot showers and pizzas all round.

Like everyone, we get caught up in the day-to-day and miss the magic of the bush.  Sometimes, you just need visitors to help remind you of the amazing world you live in.

We really love sharing our little corner of it with our mates, and with you here too!

🙂