Stay Seated and Look...: Farming in Victoria for my Second Aussie Visa

I'm writing this post from my new home- a sheep farm in rural Victoria, where I am slowly become a sheep mustering master! Coming from a city-loving girl like myself this could seem unpredictable, but the best things in life always are!

As I've previously mentioned, backpackers on a working holiday visa need to do 88 collected days or 3 months straight of 'specified work' in a regional postcode to be able to spend another year in this fabulous country.

I found a lovely farm willing to take me on as a volunteer for 3 months in exchange for food, drink and accommodation (like WOOFing) near Hamilton in western Victoria (3314- on the postcode list yay!), around 3.5 hours from Melbourne.

Having minimal farming experience in the past, my experiences so far have been a real learning curve!

So far I've been;

Mustering (gathering) sheep into 'mobs' (groups)
Droving sheep (moving) from one paddock to another on my trusty quad bike
Drafting (separating) the ewes from the lambs as they run down a 'race' (metal runway)
Repairing wire fences
Driving the Utes all over the farm
Bottle-feeding gorgeous little orphan lambs
Preparing hay paddocks ready for mowing
Testing stock water quality for salt levels
Weighing lambs for selling to Aussie supermarkets
Assisting with lamb marking- which includes a 5-in-1 vaccination, ear tagging, and castrating their tails and boy-bits with elastic bands (elasticators!)

It's been Spring weather so far so a bit of everything, though as it comes into summer I'll be ditching my very attractive waterproof trousers, jacket and gumboots in favour of a sun hat, t-shirt and shorts ready to get a farmers' tan :)

Here are some pics of my farm life so far...