Woolooga steel and timber

As of late it has been a mixture of adventures from retrieving flattened wire picket fences and patching others, to demolishing old timber cattle yards and making timber driveway gates and grids, cattle proof again. 

The camp has volunteers coming and going all the time. People coming for a few days or longer. Some reasonably local, some from interstate and some with foreign accents. All here for the same reason, to lend a hand. 

The foods good and the company at night around the camp fire interesting.

The farmers are always happy to see us and very appreciative. Some providing muffins for morning smoko and others invigorating home brew drinks after a days work. 

Dragging a fence back

Before

After

Before

After

Woolooga BA

 Moved from Murgon to Woolooga, only ~65km toward Gympie.

The camp is being hosted at Brooyah Station, a large property just a short distance north of Woolooga on the Bauple-Woolooga Rd.

What a great place! Plenty of space, great views with facilities and not far to the flood affected farms. Brooyah homestead is on high ground and was not flooded. Offering the place to BlazeAid is very generous and the camp has been running here since February this year.

Power, water, hot showers, laundry with machine and dryer, also a vacant house for cooking that has a balcony overlooking a private lake, fantastic.

Just a small group of volunteers forming 2 teams of three are going out each day. Very comfy.

The Mary River is notorious for flooding, seven times just recently, apparently. Relocating a fence a bit higher up the river bank required hacking a track through heavy undergrowth. Carrying everything, tools, wire, pickets and drinking water it felt a bit like Himalayan Sherpas looking for Dr Livingston and finding Apocalypse Now. Hmm, mixing movies?

Did some regular farm work as well like ripping up and winding up fallen mud covered wire and posts and clearing curtains. Curtains as one farm hand described the long grass that is left draping over the wire on low lying fences after the water recedes. Generally whacking the wire with a stick will dislodge most of the grass and any snakes.

Woolooga and Murgon

Got away as planned mid/late July. But the wheels fell off, so to speak, with the unexpected temporary closure of the Woolooga BlazeAid camp due to resent rain. Arrangements were made for me to work a farm until the camp reopened but illness of the farmer prevented that from happening. So ended up cruising around the Gympie Shire. Kandanga, Gympie, Theebine and Kilkivan. The weather was excellent, sunny cloudless days with only a light breeze. Mind you paying for it at night and especially in the early morning with the temps down to single digits.

Bored I decided to go to the BlazeAid camp at Murgon. They had a covid scare and I was avoiding the place until the all clear but decided to stop living in a bubble. RAT testing showed all was (should be) good. 

A small camp of 3 teams going out each day with a group of wives doing a great job cooking.

I joined a team going to Ol' Bill's Place. Bill is 90+ and still working the farm. He has a wheelie walker for getting around the house and a stick for everywhere else. He's not real quick getting about but can still climb onto the tractor or drive the gator.

We looked like emus walking about the paddocks picking up timber that had floated down from the hills around his low lying farm. But there were fences and bush gates to rebuilt as well. The paddocks are still damp and getting bogged was always a consideration.

Available work was limited due to soggy paddocks on the remaining farms yet to be done, so we kept going back to Bill's. On day 4 we started doing gardening around the house, much to Bill's surprise and pleasure. Long smoko and lunch breaks with Bill entertaining us with stories of his past. All part of the BA service. Also worked another large property that been established for many years and helped finishing up there.

Murgon camp was obviously in the throes of winding up. I contacted the co-ordinator at Woolooga to hear that it was reopening again on Monday 8th. So a new camp, new people, new experience.

Old slab hut from way back when.

Product of much stick picking.