The Sheep Farm

Yesterday and today, we had a stay at a sheep farm outside of Bathurst about 2½ hours from our home in Sydney. We were graciously hosted by the Robards family- Mark, Jane, Naomi and Kieran- members of our church. Mark’s dad owns the farm. He was a professor in wool and animal science, and when he retired, he decided to put into practice what he had taught in theory. He purchased one of the cottages that housed the media at Sydney’s 2000 Olympics and had it transported out to the farm so that the family could have a place to visit.

Although winter is a pretty chilly time to be out there, it is the time that the lambs are born, and a roaring fire in the woodstove kept us toasty inside. (To those of you who are wondering about the chill factor here, they had some dustings of snow last week out there in the country.) The kids (and the adults, too!) enjoyed braving the cold winds and walking out to the pasture to feed the sheep. The highlight was being able to cuddle one of the two smallest lambs. She became quite relaxed, to the point where I didn’t need to keep her still. But she got wise to Mark on the second day and would not allow herself to be caught again!

Before lunch, Mark took Rick and me out to see the full property in his car, as it was too cold for all of us to walk. As we were returning to the cottage, bouncing along in the pasture, the sheep grazed to our left. On our right, we spotted two grey kangaroos, which we had been eager to see, as we had not seen any out in the bush since our visit here in 2004. And then we realized that Waltzing Matilda, Australia’s unofficial national anthem, was playing in the car.

Sheep, kangaroos, and Waltzing Matilda. Does it get anymore Australian than that?

Love, Anne

To enjoy Australian country music legend Slim Dusty performing Waltzing Matilda, follow this link:
http://www.last.fm/music/Slim+Dusty/+videos/+1-CwvazMc5EfE