Another two weeks have gone by and I am still residing in the now not so sunny Southern Highlands. I am settled in at Lantern Hill now and getting to grips with the place and beginning to find my way round the local area. This is always a good thing especially when I need to go and pick up some feed for the Horses. During the past week Graham and I have been cracking on repairing old boundary fences which are in dire need of replacing and whilst he has me on hand we have been getting them replaced. it is remarkable the cattle haven't escaped before now. The Chinese visitors have been postponed and are suppose to be coming on wednesday if they will come we shall have to wait and see. We have still been washing out the wound of Brave (the injured horse) morning and night. There is signs of the wound beginning to heal which is promising. We also draughted off some weaner cattle which we sent on a truck up to Avondale so that they can grow out some more as there is not much feed at Lantern Hill.

In between all of this I have been mastering the art of being able to crack a stock whip. It has taken be a good few days and much to the annoyance of the local houses I have got the hang of it. I had first opted for the dangerous methods of hurling the whip out in front of me and trying not to whip myself and realised there must be a safer way. In stepped Graham with a bit of tuition of how to do it as if I were sat on a horse and after a while I got it. For those of you that don't know what I am talking about it is worth having a look on youtube it is an art in itself. Once I had mastered it there was no stopping me. The week was topped off by a trip to the pub at Bundanoon again to meet some more of the local tradesmen who reside in the pub of an afternoon. I am beginning to become a regular at the pub and again was offered a job working on the carnies by Paddo. I informed him that again I was alright working for Hugh. Bundanoon was a hive of activity this week as the Brigadoon festival was on. This is a Scottish highland games festival to celebrate the heritage of the town which harps back to Scotland. I went along to the festival and braved the weather (it was raining) and all of the kilts to have a look as to what was going on. There was not a huge amount to see so I soon found myself back at the Bundanoon pub with Hugh who had joined me and of course Graham. By the time Hugh and I had left Graham and his peers were already on the shots of rum. It was only 4 o'clock. What happens to Graham next I did not witness so I can only tell the story of what he has told me. The story goes that he was at Sam the plumbers house on the veranda with a shall we put it a overweight bloke. The big man was a bit light on his feet it would have seemed and found himself off balance about to fall of the veranda. In the midst of all of this he reaches out to the nearest thing which happens to be Graham who he catches unaware and somehow Graham manages to end up beneath the big man who landed on his leg and broke it. Ouch!

How things can change rather quickly in the space of 24hrs. I have now found myself somewhat in charge of the place for the 6 or so weeks that Graham will be off work. I had filled the week with a few of the remaining jobs Graham and I had started and then started out with some more jobs Alice had given me. One of the jobs was to move some cattle into a different paddock. In the process a calf had shot down a fence line instead of through the gate so I headed after it on foot as I couldn't get down on the quad. As I was heading down the hill I stumpled upon a black snake who was soaking up the afternoon sun was a bit of a shock so I took a picture of him and carried on after the calf! The job I have to focus on is taking down a set of redundant cattle yards which are making way for some horse yards. Hugh and Alice were to and from Lantern Hill a lot this week Alice stayed until Friday morning, Alice is great company and a good laugh to be around so the evening were full of laughter. The fitness campaign and no drinking during the week have continued which can only be a good thing. I have been doing a little bit of swimming as well to mix things up. I have only managed to get up to 700m so far! Without feeling like I am drowning. Friday came round before I knew it and without the company of Graham I headed to the Pub and to my surprise he was sat at the Bar schooner in hand! Bit of a shock! There is no stopping some people from heading to the pub. Next week the Chinese guests will be coming for a night so we shall see what sort of people we end up with!