On the station we renovated an old camp, right next to a river called Hailses Hut which really is a big open front shred with a concrete floor situated under two massive mango trees. Darryl and Bevin ordered the parts and made trips to Cooktown (50 Minutes) and Mareeba (3 Hours) to collect them, we also collected old parts from around the station that we could re-use such as tin, wood and screws.

The very first job was for me and Meg to empty out the old stretcher beds, old oil fridges and chairs and then blow all the leafs out from around the premises of the hut into big piles and then set alight to them using a petrol and diesel mix. Then we picked up a 45000 litre water tank from one of the yards, strapping it to the bucket of the tractor and moving it around the back of the already standing hut. We then connected up a water pump from the river to the water tank, once the tank was full we noticed it had a very small hairline split in it so we drained it back out again and Bevin made up a metal plate that we could stick either side and bolt onto the tank so I lowered myself down into this water tank for a good 20 minutes for us to completely fix it up - I came out completely soaked in sweat, I had to take my shirt off and let it dry for me to warm up, my shoes were completely submerged in the water in the bottom of the tank too! Eww.

The water tank was up and running, now time to put up an extension to the roof for more shade and a sleeping area. Bevin started by using a Dingo which is a ride on machine with an orga on it to make 6 holes in the ground for the timber ceiling trusses, we then all mixed concrete for a day straight by hand to made enough cement for the 6 holes and for the shower room floor. Once the shower room floor was concreted and levelled off we began to constructed the roof extension, the 6 timber roof trusses were in so we put top hat across the top and started laying sheets of tin down, finally we put the belting up diagonally and screwed it into the roof and timber trusses to make it cyclone proof. It was really starting to look good now!

Bevin welded up a square steel shower room that we brought out and bolted in, Meg and I helped erect the tin walls and the roof. Now for the long drop toilet, Johnno used an excavator to dig down deep enough for 2 ½ 44 gallon petrol drums welded together to fit into, Bevin also welded up a square steel toilet room frame that we also brought to put in place over the long drop then Meg and I put the surrounding walls and roof on. It was starting to come together. We all hooked the place up with lights, electricity, hot water in the shower and running water in the toilet and kitchen sink. We kitted it out with the basics and it was complete. We were all very happy with what we had created, even the boss was very impressed. It will hopefully stand for a very long time on Kings Plains Station which in a few years will be strictly a conservation nature refuge.

Over the course of two weeks Meg and I were in charge of two groups of volunteers from around the world, mainly Japan though. This saw us rolling up barbed wire fences and cutting, poisoning and stacking paper bark trees/ suckers to make damn walls in badly eroded wash outs around the property. This work contributes to protecting the Great Barrier Reef due to the fact we are preventing sediment from being washed out through the rivers that directly lead out onto the reef. This is a programme ran by the Reef Trust that our boss Tim sits on the board for. We are both extremely proud of our contribution to the project.

Since this our main focus of work has been aimed towards cattle work - trapping cattle, picking up cattle, mustering, processing them and branding them. This has led to many very exciting days which we have both loved. As time goes on it has gotten hotter and hotter, 37 degrees to be precise. I have learnt to drive a 8 tonne cattle truck off road, through creeks and gullies which has been my biggest achievement that I am most proud of as potentially I can look into making a career out of it. Over our 3 months here we can honestly say we have learnt more here than we ever have in our life, we have made friends for life, made a very special bond with our Aussie family who we will miss very much, we have learnt things here in these past 3 months we never ever thought we would learn let alone be able to do. We've both got physically and mentally stronger, learnt what hard work really is, lived in the true outback on a property bigger than Cornwall with only 8 people living there. We have stories to tell that will last a life time and take a life time to tell. We have adopted skills for life, met many great people from all paths of life. Meg and I have shared moments together that we never ever could have imagined would turn into fond memories that we will shared and cherish forever. We've completed days consisting of 14 hours in 37 degrees heat, survived 4 am mornings and the occasional 7pm finish, had truly endless amounts of laughter, experienced seeing truly amazing aboriginal paintings that have been there for over 100 years, survived a car crash, encountered deadly pythons, brown snakes and red back spiders, played endless games with Tahnee and Noah who we will dearly miss, seen some beautiful sites along the way and been surrounded by stunning nature and wildlife. Not to forget the 100's of wallabies in our front garden for neighbours.

2 weeks before our scheduled departure from the station we booked our car in for a full service and road worthy certificate ready to sell it onto the next backpackers. We thought, in an ideal world we can sell it in Cooktown the closest town to us so we can get it off our hands saving any hassle when we want to travel back down the coast to Sydney. We ended up having to wait 10 days before we left to service it as it was fully booked. Although the luck was in our favour as we advertised it beforehand explaining that the service was booked in but as we wanted to get the ball rolling we wanted to see the interest we would get. 10 minutes after putting the advert on Facebook we had a couple very interested and came to view the car right away. They said they were very interested and desperate for a car just let us know after it has had its service and full road worthy and we will take it for a test drive and take it off your hands straight away if they liked it. We were chuffed as we had advertised it for $3,000 when we actually only bought it for $2200, so thought brilliant!! A couple days later Linda took Ryan into town to drop the car in that evening Darryl got rushed to hospital by ambulance as he had severe pains in his gut, it was a very manic night and everyone was worried stiff about him. That next day not knowing if Darryl would be home we carried on working with Bevin and doing some jobs. Later that day we got a call to inform us our car is pretty much b*****ed. We got quoted around $2500 for 3 of the 6 jobs that needed doing to it before we could sell it. Uh Oh! What an absolute nightmare, we then had a frustrating evening of trying to work out what we could do, as we cannot legally sell it with registration without paying to fix it so we thought the scrap yard it will have to go. We had 3 people interested in the car at this point and had to turn them all down due to the bad news as once we told them how much it would cost to repair they weren't interested. Darryl still wasn't home so we couldn't discuss anything with him to see what he thought and the family's minds were pre-occupied so we tried to work it out. We decided it will have to go to the scrap yard as by this point we leave in 4 days. We were stuck. That next day Darryl thankfully arrived home, he had passed kidney stones and was starting to get back to feeling himself again. During this time we had also been teaching and training up two new backpackers who are here to replace us when we leave, so we were very busy teaching them and never got a chance to speak or organise what is going to happen to the car let alone how we are going to get to Cairns in the next 4 days for our flight. So we had a lot happening. The next day 3 days left on the station was upon us. Darryl asked what the situation was we informed him with our bad news that morning and by that night later that day he called us into his office and said. "Myself and Linda have been talking and decided we will be happy to give you $500 for your car, we will take it off your hands and Linda will take you to the bus stop on Friday lunchtime. We will still pay you for a full day on Friday and you can now relax and enjoy your last couple of days". Everything was suddenly sorted. It was amazing, they have been absolutely brilliant to us and we could not be more grateful. Linda also has taken responsibility for cancelling the registration of our car for us as we won't have time and hopefully we will get some money back to from that to at least cover the cost of the service. We have been very lucky from the day we stepped foot on the station. We could start to relax and with only had two days left to go. As Darryl had been in hospital and the boss had been up so everyone wasn't in the spirit, we had been busy with the new backpackers, the stress of our car and planning the next part of our journey we kind of had forgotten we only had two days left in this piece of paradise. We were sad because we never got a chance to celebrate Darryl's birthday a few days prior to this (the day he got rushed to hospital) and we hadn't had a chance to celebrate and thank them for everything. But with only our last night approaching we came in for lunch that day and they told us that we will all be going to the famous Lion's Den Hotel pub for tea tonight to celebrate!! That made our day as that's all we wanted to do! So that day we clocked of work early at 4pm all got ready and headed over.

We had the best night ever, everyone was so happy! We met the families close friends Jack and Cole over there that we had met previously on many occasions. We shouted everyone a drink and they all shouted them back, Darryl and Linda bought everyone their meals, we had our favourite.. Pizza! The family all bought us some souvenirs from the gift shop too which was lovely, we had written a thank you card for them all and bought the kids some little going away presents for them to open and play with as well. The night was just what we needed and a proper send-off indeed. We all went home and Linda had made Ryan's favourite passion fruit cheese cake so we had a coffee and a slice of cheese cake and went to sleep. The next morning we all got up for one last breakfast together, we finishing packing and cleaned our donga. We both hugged everyone and we all cried, even Bevin who is the toughest bloke we know! Even Karen said when she was giving us a lift to the bus, "Well you must have made an impression for Bevin to cry, he never cries" that literally made us feel so proud and humbled. The kids cried all the way home she also told us.

The following day we flew down to Brisbane where we are going to snorkel around some shipwrecks which we are both super excited for, although it's raining and only 22 degrees which feels freezing to us considering we have been working in 37 degree heat wearing jeans and shirts! We haven't seen rain for almost 4 months. We're going to be here for 4 nights before finally returning back to Sydney for another 3 nights and then we fly out to Bangkok for the next chapter of our adventure. We are both healthy and happy, we hope you all are too.

Speak soon, Ryan and Meg xx