Tales from a Broad #13

Sydney – Casterton in double time!
Tuesday, June 19, 2001

Wow, the last week is a blur in my mind. I’ve seen a large swath of the country in about six days, and encountered some wonderful people. I’ve been able to see a little bit of what makes this country great. I can’t wait to see the rest of it.

For those not exactly sure that I do for a living, I’m the Facilities Coordinator for Newsforce Australia. Basically, I organise where our satellite truck and flyaway dish go in this country. I talk to clients, do quotes, arrange satellite feeds, coordinate with our operations manager. Basically, I do everything that everyone else doesn’t have the time to do.

Early on Wednesday, June 6^th I got a call from Channel 9 in Sydney asking us to go to Casterton, Victoria for a live feed for their Saturday Today Show. Seems there was going to be a Kelpie dog auction in Casterton, which is a very big thing indeed in those parts. Of course we would be able to do it. Then I got a call from BBC Wales, asking us to quote for 10 rugby games starting in less than a week. The first job was in Townsville three days after Casterton. We’d do that too if they wanted us to.

I don’t know if you know much about Australian geography, but Casterton is hell of a long way – and three states away – from Townsville. Casterton’s about a three hour drive West of Melbourne. Townsville is up North near Cairns. Phil the engineer and I would have to drive the 1300 km to Casterton in a day and a half, then do the 3000+ km to Townsville in less than three days to do the BBC rugby. That’s one hell of a drive through serious Australian outback. As Phil would say, giddy-up!

Seeing as the truck was in Bathurst (about four hours from Sydney) on the Wednesday night doing a rugby game, we couldn’t leave Thursday until mid day when the truck got back. I spent the morning making last minute phone calls and preparations. When the truck arrived, within ten minutes Phil and I were on our way. A ten minute turnaround – something all companies dream of.

So, Phil and I were off. This was not a pleasure ride, however. Some serious driving would be required to get to Casterton on time for our job. Some of the cities we passed included Albury, Shepparton, Bendigo, Maryborough, Ararat, and Hamilton. You soon learn that most small town cities in Australia are very similar. Very clean. The people are polite and seem happy enough. However, it’s the surrounding countryside that really is special. Australia is a beautiful country, and the geography changes quite a bit as you go North to South. It’s not all tumbleweeds and desert. The south of New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia is lush, green and quite cold at times. There are towering gum trees and rolling hills of green, thousands of sheep and newly born lambs. It really is most spectacular.

Our trip to Casterton was uneventful. Thursday night was spent in Shepparton, New South Wales, in quite possibly the most opulent Best Western in the world. A world summit could have been held in my room, and about four people could have fit in my bath. I didn’t, mind you, but I could have.

The next day, a short stop in Hamilton revealed the “Canadian Rooster” chicken shop. Of course, I needed a picture. After a quick snap we headed onto our final destination for this first job. Casterton. It’s a small city of about 1500 people. Built in the early 1800s, most of the buildings have remained unchanged it seems. Nestled in a valley of rolling green fields, Casterton is the sort of town where you wave at people as you pass even if you don’t know them (although odds are that you do). Foreigners, especially foreigners with accents, are welcomed immediately. They are neither pushy nor closed-off. These are lovely people.

But the lovely people would have to wait until tomorrow. Seeing as Casterton was fully booked out for the Kelpie auctions, we headed to Mt Gambier – about an hour away and across the border in South Australia. Mt. Gambier is a pretty big town, all things considered, and the afternoon was spent buying phone cards (our phones didn’t work in Casterton, so we had to buy a different network pay-as-you-go cards), maps, finding a place to sleep, and a little bit of sightseeing. Got a pic of myself in front of Blue Lake. It wasn’t very blue, but they said that changes for a few days in November. Hmmm.

That night, as we headed out for dinner, Phil noticed that our back wheel was low. After a quick zap of air and a few hours it was obvious this was a slow leak. So, with a steak dinner and a bottle of wine in us, we proceeded with a wheel change. Now, this is not as simple as it looks. Linkforce 8 is a three-ton, 5-meter long Mercedes Benz MB140 van. Not a little compact car is this. Lucky for us, we had four jacks on hand that we use to stabilise the truck for when we are on jobs (a trembling satellite dish is not a good thing during a live broadcast).

So, we got out the spare and starting jacking our baby up. All was going peachy. We got the flat off, and moved the new one into place. However, before we were able to fit it correctly, the jack spot folded under the weight of the truck and the truck fell onto the spare tyre that was not even on the truck yet. Yikes. Had that tyre not been there, we would have been toast.

NRMA to the rescue. A quick call to roadside assistance sent an angel our way. We never did learn his name, but within 15 minutes of our call Angel had an industrial-sized jack up and the new tyre on. He was bamboozled by our technology so as thanks we fired up the dish and hit the satellite. He acted like it was the most amazing thing he had ever seen. And without being nasty, being from Mt. Gambier, it probably was the most amazing thing he had ever seen. Refusing our offer of 50 bucks as a thank you, Angel promised he would stop in the next time he was in Sydney.

The next day, up at 4:30 am, we made our way to Casterton in the dark and set up the dish all ready for the Kelpie dog auction.

Kelpies are largely considered, in this area, to be the ideal sheep dog. The average farm here has about 4000 sheep on it, and each dog can do the work of about two people. The average farmer has 4-6 dogs. Most buy them when they are puppies and build a relationship from there. It takes up to six years to fully train a dog. Kelpies are born and bred in the area and all descend from one puppy that came over from the UK in the 1800′s. Since then, they have been bred to become the smartest sheepdog around. They really are the most eager-to-please things I have ever seen.

Missy the Kelpie dog

Channel 9 was interviewing the auctioneer of the event, John Lawson. Several of the dog owners – sheep and dogs in tow – were on hand to talk about their particular dog. Before the interview, the owners put the dogs through their paces, and worked with the six sheep an owner had brought along. It was incredible watching the dogs work. There’s a special relationship between the two; something built on trust and love. As one dog owner said, his dog is priceless. Although some of the dogs could sell for up to A$5000, nothing would ever make him part with his.

I can’t say enough about the people of Casterton. The five or six I met were welcoming and curious about our truck and my accent. They answered all my dumb questions and THEY even thanked US when the interview was over. This Kelpie auction is the major event in their calendar, and you could tell they loved what they did. They really were the loveliest people, simple people who believed in helping out their neighbour and treating everyone they meet with respect and politeness. They work long, hard days on their farm but were happier than I think I ever will be. Made me want to move to Casterton and give it all up.

But honestly, I don’t look good in gum boots, so after the ten minute interview, Phil and I packed up, got the punctured tyre fixed, had a pie in the local bakery, and headed out of town to Townsville. We had a long journey ahead of us.

…and you thought THIS was exciting, wait until my next update. Until now I had never seen a kangaroo live in the wild. Even after my epic journey from Sydney to Perth and back, they had remained elusive. I was starting to think they didn’t exist but were instead a fabrication to help tourism.

Well, after leaving Casterton, that would all change. I would certainly come close to a ‘roo. In fact, too close. I saw more than one ever should and Linkforce 8 suffers a mortal wound in the outback because of it…but that will have to wait until my next edition.

Stay tuned!