Day 31: Sunday April 12

    Today was the day I did something I would not have expected to in Australia: visited a sheep farm. Turns out sheep farms are actually pretty big here and there’s one basically just up the road so we figured why not? Not wanting to all cram into the van, Sivan, Emily, and I caught a ride with Chris, an LSA (learning support assistant aka paraprofessional) from our school who we had invited along and we made our way down to the farm. Let’s side note to mention that Terri, bless her heart, is not the best driver and somewhat directionally challenged (no judgment because let’s face it, so am I) so when we got to the farm, there was a sign out front letting her know she had made it.

Once we got there the first thing Emily and I did was jump all over the cutest puppy in the world. Bob is a 4 month old kelpie, which is a sheep dog. His dad and mom, Digger and Jenny, were also nearby. Craig, the owner of the farm, told us they had about 10 acres and 1500 sheep. He explained that the sheep pretty much wonder where they like and anytime they need to be brought in, Digger does that. I’ll admit I’ve never known much about how sheep dogs operate but I finally got the chance to see.

    Craig sent Digger out to the field with the command “Go back” which means go behind the sheep. First he circles the sheep so they get scared and group together. Then he gets behind them so they run the way he wants them to. Two of the girls, Lillian and Laura, actually joined Digger in the running of the sheep and it was pretty amusing. Once they are brought down to the smaller area, they are ready to be caught. This was also something I watched several of the group members try (I, however, did not. The one thing I’ve turned down while here and mainly because it looked a) like a lot of work and b) terrifying- animals are unpredictable!). Turns out it’s quite difficult. What you do is grab the sheep by the chin and turns his head towards his body (don’t worry, it’s not hurting him). Then, put your legs against his side and push his back hip, somewhat knocking them off balance. After this, they just sort of roll right over in between your legs and you basically cradle them. It’s hilarious to see the sheep just sitting on their butts looking up at you. Once you’re there though, you’ve got them. I was willing to at least cradle the sheep to see how it feels.

Of course you might expect them to be very soft but when you think about it, they’ve been living outside so they can be a little rough.

    Our final step was sheep shearing. We learned that sheep shearers are paid by the sheep, the fastest record in the world is 40 seconds (Craig did his in six minutes), and, when done correctly, you will end up with three separate pieces of wool.

The first piece will be the belly, the next will be the legs, and the third will be one large piece that is the rest of it. It’s amazing because when you think about shaving or cutting hair, it falls off in pieces. But with shearing, it’s literally one big piece, like a blanket.

The small pieces are tossed and the large pieces are separated by grades: AA, AAA, Super AAA.

    After watching him do all that work, we were hungry. They served an amazing lunch of sirloin steak (which, yes, I did eat even though I rarely eat steak), salad, potatoes, coleslaw (which I also ate despite the rarity as well), and I even tried beets for the first time (not a huge fan but could be worse). For dessert, apple pie with custard. To work all this off, our last event was both a surprise and a blast: boomarang throwing. Turns out I’ve been picturing it wrong the whole time! Rule number one is the hold it up and down, not sideways. Depending on the make or the wind, you can tilt it a little but mostly up and down. Also, you need to throw into the wind and be sure it flick your wrist. It’s all about the wrist flick. Now, let me just say, my first try at it was actually pretty good. It flew and in the right direction and it curved back towards me, it just didn't make it all the way. My second go however, well...

This is the part where I nailed the fence. 

     We had so much fun watching each other practice and giving it a go ourselves. I’ll admit none of my 5 or so attempts ended with it actually coming back to me but some came close. With practice, it’s sure to happen. We said thank you and good-bye and headed home where I spent the next few hours doing the dreaded p-word: packing. I swear I’m going to have to buy another suitcase; I have way too much stuff! I got a break at the end of the afternoon as we all met up at the villa café and had dinner together. Afterwards we had our very last seminar meeting. Tonight’s topic? Interviews. We talked about all the ins and outs and even did some mock questions with each other. Nerve-racking but important. At the end of the night Terri handed out goodies and certificates and we headed to bed, ready to start our final week in Australia.