Stoney Creek Farmstay

I just spent the last four days at a farmstay in Eton, which is a small town outside of Mackay. Four days of no other travellers. Just me, four cattle dogs, 15 horses, 3 calves, and a great family. A farmstay is where city slickers pay countryfolk to live on their property and experience country life. Yeah, it sounds like a scam, but it was a great experience. Their ranch, Dunbarra, is very self sufficient. 700 acres in valley, with a waterfall and creek, and forests and grazing pastures, and solar power. The only utilities they pay is telephone. I got to ride horses and joined them in bringing in the horses and taking them out to graze (with a pickup truck and a cattle dog). Dude, I could be a cowboy. The cabin I lived in didn't have a waterheater so it meant cold showers, which wasn't bad especially when it got up to 104 F. No air conditioning.
These folks have built their own house from modest beginnings (read: tin shack). Now it's a beautiful home with wood and stone, but only after years for work. A couple of the days were absolutely perfect for riding: a breeze, overcast skies, and a little sprinkle of rain. As you crest a ridge with the wind blowing, seeing the green trees and grazing lands, it really is a perfect moment. Pick your theme song: City Slickers or Bonanza. It's awwwwesome. Watching the horses gallop away, being herded by the dog is great. Man, I could spend a month here working with the horses. But that's not to be.
I was going to go down to Rainbow Beach to go to Fraser Island today, but I didn't book a week ahead, so now I have a few days to spend between here and there. I'm headed to Rockhampton today. It's the beef capital of Queensland, or Australia. I'm going to see if I can get into a bar fight there. riiiiight. Actually, from there, I'm going to go to the Great Keppel Island and spend a couple days there. After that, I will probably go to Bundaberg, where they make an awesome rum. It's really sweet like sugar cane, which is a perfect drink for me. You're supposed to be able to see sea turtles hatch near there. Oh, and there's a rum factory tour you can take too. Hmm...
After that, I'll go to Rainbow Beach where I'll meet up with some random people and rent a 4wd to go to Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world. That'll be during Christmas. Woohoo!
Oh yeah, more on the Whitsundays...
I met some awesome people during our two days on the boat. I also saw a couple sea turtles. One was during the day dive, and one was during the night dive. It is a freaky thing to be swimming in a murky soup with 2 meters visibility, and have a huge sea turtle (a meter across) swim around you. The four of us that were diving, kept it in our lights, as it cruised around us. This is not the sort of thing I would have done with only one other person. It's like walking through an abandoned house in the middle of the night with a flashlight. Pretty exhilirating, but scary as heck.
I also ditched Bernie, the dude from the UK who, may I say, was FREAKING ME OUT. I'll leave it at that. But it's great to be travelling alone again. Rock on!