The time I am spending out in Australia seems to be flying by another 2 weeks have gone by and I find myself back at Mandurama. I have been at Lantern hill for a week before coming out to Avondale I had a week smashing down old cattle yards with Hugh. I have also been repairing water leaks which is great fun (not). The 3 Chinese guests arrived and this was interesting as none of the 3 men that came could speak a word of English. The only way of communicating with them is through hand gestures or one of the guys had an app that translate to Chinese! So Alice and I had a laugh whilst the Chinese went about their business taking in the views. The Chinese love to take photos of absolutely everything. They didn't let you do anything without sticking a camera in your face. We gave them a cowboy hat and took them on a tour of the farm in the back of the ute and they loved it and they even got to see some Kangaroos in the wild too. They had a meal and spent the night and were whisked back to Sydney before we knew it. It was all over as quickly as it had begun.

After helping out with the Chinese I made my way back out to avondale. The drive across is beautiful it is proper out back country and there is some beautiful views along the way. I was sent in the Ute which does not get over 100k very often without sounding like it is going to blow up so it took a little while to get here. That being said the ute goes well just not a high speeds! I have been out here for just over a week now staying with Chris and Oz. Chris has a pony that was competing in the Royal Sydney show and they were up in Sydney supporting the pony. So my job amongst other things was house sitting and to look after the other horses they have out here. They came back winners in one of the classes and 6th in the other so I don't think that is too bad going for their first show. They were both ecstatic and have been telling everyone we see since then. I was out here over the Easter weekend so there was not a lot open so I spent most of it checking and repairing boundary fences that have been damaged by jumping kangaroos. As it is getting close to winter now and the nights are getting a bit cooler I was also tasked with cutting up firewood so that Oz and Chris had enough to keep them warm over winter. Australian houses don't have central heating and most houses rely on wood burner for all of their heat. So as you can imagine they need a lot of wood and there is plenty of it for me to cut as there is 600 acres and heaps of dead trees around.

Whilst I was out here I went in to the saleyards at Carcoar and I am led to believe that these are some of the biggest yards in the whole of NSW and they are huge. Was a little different to Warwick up in Queensland. It was interesting to see as all of the cattle were rounded up by people on horseback when they were moved from pen to pen. They didn't have many cattle for sale as they have had a lot of rain so farmers have a lot more feed now.

Friday the 25th was Anzac day and this is a very big event in the Australian calender and the whole day was taken over by remebering those who lost their lives. There was a parade telivised in Sydeny and services across the country. I will making the journey back down to Lantern Hill on Sunday to make sure everything is in order as Graham still isnt about as his leg is still in a cast!