Calamity Jane, or Govvie? You decide!
Host: Legune Station
Written by Kendra – Governess, Legune Station.
Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink! Well, that is a slight exaggeration. I have been living at Legune station since January 2016 and I have spent most of my year getting systematically soaked on a daily basis for one reason or another. I even took to wearing gum boots on a regular basis to keep my feet dry! I started the year doing odd jobs around the station, the wet season tidy up jobs that happen every year. I felt a like Michelangelo painting the Sistine chapel ceiling as I spent quite a lot of time painting the beams around the outside of buildings. When I wasn’t painting I was cleaning. This is where I discovered I was unable to go within ten foot of a hose pipe without getting wet. The water just seems to flow towards me.
Washing the car is always a water disaster waiting to happen!
As the year crept on I became the full time domestic cleaner. This meant more opportunities to get myself completely soaked. I enjoyed the work, the homestead always looks stunning and I tried my best to maintain the high standard. Cleaning the showers was a general disaster for me. I like to rinse the showers out with disinfectant and warm water. I could turn the shower on and off getting only a minor dribble on my sleeve. The fun came when I had to wipe the shower trays out. There is no way to tell when the final dribbles will suddenly release themselves from the shower head. I tried waiting a few minutes, diving in quickly and various other techniques with no luck. Every single time, without fail, I would be on my hands and knees wiping the shower tray and the water would triumphantly pour over my head and down the back of my shirt.
By the time I got to the 3rd building I had usually given up and just resided myself to the fact I would be soaked again. Generally I avoid water at Legune because of the crocs!
Croc spotting – from a distance!
As you can imagine, covering the gardener’s duties for a couple of weeks was generally asking for a multitude of water related problems. It got to the point where I no longer saw the point in trying to not get wet. Mowing day was my favourite. I loved whizzing about on the ride-on mower. It reminds me of the pod racers in one of the Star Wars films. However, it is a sad fact that I have black fingers; this is the opposite of green fingers. Plants and bushes start to wither and die if look at them for too long. Fortunately I managed to get through the gardening stint without killing too many plants. The tree that fell over as the mower went past was not my fault. Honest guv!
Giant Boab tree. This type of Boab only grows in the Kimberley.
Mowing the lawn in full sun protection.
At the beginning of October I became the Governess at Legune. You would think that this would be the end of my water related problems. I still have to dodge sprinklers on a regular basis. I am usually away with the fairies thinking about school (scrap that, I am just away with the fairies most of the time!) I habitually wander into the path of a sprinkler fountains on the lawn. I also feed two poddies every morning I am usually wet and smelling of milk buy 6.30am.
Always posing! In a concrete water pipe near our dam wall.
I love being the Governess, I feel like Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music. I have even treated the girls to a rendition of ‘Doe a Deer’ on my guitar. I could tell by the look on their faces they were overjoyed. By the time I took over as Governess, the bulk of the hard work had been done. The girls are so enjoyable to be with and recently we have been working on the Christmas play. It is going to be performed in the style of a TV news report with interactive video features.
The perks of being a governess. A dance performed as part of our Christmas play.
We have had tremendous fun filming using a green screen to put the girls in different locations around the world. I am sure that their Mum and Dad think that we don’t do any work. We are always doing arts and crafts and things like synchronised swimming in P.E. (yes, I got soaked despite not being in the pool!)
Being the Governess has definitely ended the year on a high for me. I love being creative and thinking of new and interesting ways to present the lessons. I have a massive science experiment planned for next week involving six buckets of water . . .