The final week and wow – what an adventure this has been! This week I was back in Oatlands staying with Brady and Carly. After a nice walk on Monday morning, Siril and I went into Oatlands for another look around, some lunch and of course more ice cream! In the evening, we headed along to the Sorell AGM which was interesting to attend and compare to AGMs back home. It was great to hear what the club got up to over the past year, the plans for next year and their charity links. The committees over here elect four people, President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer. The meeting wrapped up and it was a bit emotional saying some more goodbyes having had such a fab time with them all over the past few weeks.
On Tuesday, I was let loose in Carly’s car! I drove over to Brighton to pick up Siril as we were heading to New Norfolk for the day. Despite the Scottish-like forecast of wind and rain, the sun made an appearance. We grabbed some lunch, did the Derwent cliff walk and I finally found a boomerang in a souvenir shop that supposedly comes back when you throw it… excited to try it out back home but might wait until post-harvest when it’ll be easier to find if it doesn’t return! Siril and I then went our separate ways as she was going to Tasman for a few days with Bridgette.
Brady had organised for me to visit a local Dairy and Sheep farm on Wednesday. I drove over to Annandale in the morning and met Bree at the sheep handling area. We sorted the sheep with the help of her dogs before moving a few herds to different fields. I was given Bree’s farm ‘ute’ (pickup) to drive for the day and it was great fun. After having a look at the dairy side of the farm, I was treated to a delicious BBQ for lunch. In the afternoon, the team held a farm meeting. It was good to listen in on this as the farm was very forward thinking and used various technologies to help improve pastures and crops e.g. an app which monitored and highlighted faults with the electric fence system. Bree gave me a full tour of the sheep paddocks and explained how she moved the sheep around in accordance with what paddocks had the right amount of grass for them (they measured the grass to help make the decide). I was also shown a paddock with a centre pivot irrigation system and the difference was incredible, the grass was as green as the grass at home! After a brilliant day, I headed back to Brady and Carly’s. Thank you very much to the Annandale Farm team and Bree for having me.
On Thursday, I was let loose in the car again and decided to have a look around Campbell Town and Ross, both small towns on the side of the highway. In Ross, I paid the famous bakery a visit and tried the vanilla slice which lived up to it’s name and was indeed very tasty. In the afternoon, I headed back to get my bags reorganised and make some tablet for Brady and Carly before we went to the local RSL for dinner and some drinks.
On Friday I said my goodbyes to Brady and Carly as I was heading on a road trip to the West Coast. They were fantastic hosts and I thoroughly enjoyed staying with them. The first stop on the road trip was to Coles Bay and Wineglass Bay. We walked up to the viewpoint which had an incredible view of the bay and the famous white sandy beaches. The weather again was on our side and the sun shone all day. On Saturday, we started the drive to the Gordon Dam, passing by Mt Field. The road was very windy but the scenery was spectacular. I was totally taken aback by the sheer size of the Gordon Dam, it made your stomach flip looking over the edge at the very, very long drop to the bottom! I walked (very quickly) over it and back again, another landmark ticked off the list. We then headed out to a small town on the coast called Strahan and took the boat up the Gordon River to the World Heritage site, famous for the Huen pine trees. The trees were ideal for making boats as the wood doesn’t rot in water but due to it being over felled, they are now a protected tree species and only one person is licensed to scavenge the forest floor for the pine. On the boat back, we stopped at Sarah Island, a famous, brutal, convict island. We had an excellent tour guide who told us many stories about the island and the almost successful escape attempts. It was great day and also my final day on the exchange!
I’m not quite sure how to describe and sum up just how amazing these past 6 weeks have been. Everyone I met was so friendly and welcoming and each day was a new adventure. I think I manged to squeeze in most of Tasmania, which is thanks to my brilliant hosts and the Rural Youth members. This exchange has been very memorable and rewarding, I couldn’t recommend it enough to other Young Farmers! I am now flying to Melbourne for a couple of days then back home in time for the Highland Show. There are so many people to thank for making this exchange possible especially SAYFC and Rural Youth. I am very grateful to have been chosen to go, it really has been a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.