chudleigh park, queensland, australia

since my last blog of china i’ve done some traveling south. i went to vietnam for a few weeks and traveled with my danish homie, iben. we saw some of the most beautiful beaches i have ever seen on the island of phu quoc. it’s small, remote, and easy to get around.

from vietnam i decided to go even farther south to perth, australia. i honestly don’t know why i picked perth of all places in australia but the tickets from ho chi minh city were pretty cheap so maybe that partially had something to do with it. i landed in perth at 10pm and found a place to stay. the next day i bought a toyota van with a mattress in the back and started driving north along the west coast of australia.

for 3 weeks i’ve traveled to and thru beautiful cities and national parks such as coral bay which has water the color of turquoise, the tourist beach town of broome, gorgeous kakadu national park, and prospering darwin. while staying in darwin i found a job to work on a cattle station (paid with food and accommodation covered) in chudleigh park, northern queensland. i thought it sounded like fun so i thought, hell i’ll try it. before i left darwin i was asked to pick up kristina, a 20 year old german who needed some farm work experience in order to be granted her second year work/holiday visa. so we roadtripped the 23 hours from darwin to chudleigh park.

chudleigh park is located just above the small city of hugheden (pop. 1000). on the station amelia (22, australian) runs the show. the other workers are jobie (21, australian), kat (29, belgian), kristi (25, danish), and kristina (20, german). it’s crazy to think that it’s pretty much 6 twenty-somethings running a 420,000 acre cattle station. needless to say there is a lot to do. a shit load to do. we work 12-14 hour days (which is why i haven’t communicated with, well, anybody since getting here [love you guys!]), 6 days a week, and the temp is high 80’s. on most days breakfast is at 5:30am and we’re usually home around 7:30pm. but i’m constantly doing something different and it’s really fun. i ride tractors and forklifts to feed cattle, quads and dirt bikes to muster them, and amelia has taken me up in her helicopter a couple times. i’ve never been in a helicopter before and it’s frickin cool and i have to admit, it’s funner than the small airplanes i’ve flown.

i don’t know how long i’ll be here chasing cattle, but like what i told amelia, i’m playing it by ear so we’ll see. and i really wanna post pics but the internet here is limited to usage so i’ll have to post them when i go into town next.

i hope everyone is doing well out there!! i'll post more when i get a day off!

hi auntie becky!!