IF YOU WANNA COME THE WHOLE YEAR! - EVEN BETTER!
All over Australia – a lot of things depend on the WEATHER and people talk in Wet season and Dry season, some stations don’t start “there hectic schedule” til they can get access by road.
Below are preferred times that are recommended only of times you could come to get the full experience. It’s a general out line of weather and different activities that could take place around that time of year. For example, at the beginning of a season before we start mustering when things are in full swing and could be a little over whelming if you turned up in the middle of it!
So with your help we can only plan, but sometimes weather and other unforeseen circumstances will throw us curve balls and change our plans that make us adaptable and flexible to suit situations.
The information below is to provide you an overview of what our year should look like, however some dates can always vary depending when our rain happens or frosts start – and unplanned lighting strikes that create fires we can only be ready for.
Summer season
December to February
ALWAYS depends on our weather! But usually the most randomest times, so you must be a flexible go get kinda attitude! You could be stepping straight into water runs, fire fighting or just a casual winding down end of year and prepping for the next year!!
Our permanent crew are usually off for holidays . It ends up being a great opportunity for anyone who want to get more involved, since we have a smaller crew, people more jumping into different roles.
In all, there are tons of opportunities for someone looking to learn different skills. This is usually a great time to come, it can be a mix of busy and quite times.
Autumn season
March to May
This is our busiest time of year as we will be mustering and processing every cow on the property. You will be seeing cows in your dreams by the end of it! Anyone coming at this time must be willing to learn how to ride a bike or at least already be a competent horse rider. During this time, (depending on the station, you fall in love with) you might also be camping for a period or the whole time so we can attend to cows in more remote areas of the station. It’ can be a great time and one where we always get very close as a team.
“Since we are so busy during this time, we ask that people coming to commit to staying the full season.” PLEASE (From every leader on a station.) cause stations have an induction time… and there’s a hell of a lot to learn straight off the bat, and it’s all very time consuming.
Also, this time of year is school season!! So, come and help teach some of our little ones too if you like. Either way, this is a fantastic time of year to come but is very fast paced and long days to experience everything a station can offer.
Winter season
June to August
We have reached winter time and nights start to get pretty cold so definitely bring warm clothes! While things have HOPEFULLY slowed down (again no guarantees in this business) there is still plenty of maintenance work, fencing, water runs, and light cattle work to keep us all busy.
Social calendar has usually kicked into gear as well which means there is often opportunities to leave the station and go to rodeos and even fishing trips with the whole crew!
Spring season
September to November
This time of year, we will be doing our second round of mustering. So just like first round we will be flat out every day bringing cows in, sorting them, then walking them back out to there paddocks. It gets hot this time of year (dry season) but the weather is quite lovely as we are almost guaranteed cloudless days and an opportunity to work on our (farmer) tans!
Beyond mustering we will still, as always, be fencing, doing water runs, various maintenance jobs and just making sure our little world keeps moving forward.
Some places, will be winding down, while others may be flat bickies depending on the season they have had.
If you want to come and do 6 month on a station, try to come from Dec – May. as depending on the rain event for the season, you’ll be prepared if we have start mustering earlier.
It’s just a good mix June to November for a 6 month stint!
Check out the types of jobs you can do, working on a cattle stations.
A Station Never Stops
Above is a snap shot and a general out line of the types of things happening around the station throughout the year. Things will always vary from day to day, station to station and season to season. But if you want to stay longer and continue your journey after the “end” of a season, stations always have other work going on. Don’t be afraid to chat to the station owners, managers and talk to them about your goals or long term plans, things you want to learn and things they would be happy to teach.
If you are a backpacker, or have time off for a period and want to work bush, then above hopefully might help when it comes planning and what you could handle.
If you’re looking for a change, change of scenery then move to a station.