From Deutschland to the Plains
Host: Anna Plains Station
Written by Helen Stoate – Owner, Anna Plains Station.
My adventure began 16,000 kilometres away from Australia. Somewhere over there on the other side of the world is a small town named Veen, which I call home. It is near Düsseldorf in Germany.
After I finished my studies back home in Germany, I decided that I would like to see more of the world and see what is beyond my little home town. I wanted to discover the world, meet new people, and learn more about other cultures. So I packed all my important belongings into a little backpack, said goodbye to all my family and friends back home and my journey began.
On the 14th of August 2013 I finally arrived in Sydney. From a small town to a big city, it was an incredible culture shock. After a few weeks in Sydney, I decided that it was just too busy for me and I am not a Sydney girl so I moved to Queensland where I spent a week on a training farm learning mustering on horseback, fencing, and working cattle in yards.
To be honest I thought that it cannot be that hard because I am from a dairy farm back home. However, I soon noticed that everything is different over here. We never used to castrate our cattle by ourselves or muster the cattle on horseback, or use a helicopter to round up large herds! Our country is not even big enough to have such big paddocks to do it.
After a couple of days on the training farm I received a job offer. I was more then happy about it when they told me that it was in Western Australia and in the Kimberley. So I took a flight to Broome to work on Larrawa station near Fitzroy Crossing.
The mustering season ended sooner then I thought so I had to leave the station after a few weeks and this gave me the chance to go to Anna Plains in November 2013. I was still in the Kimberley but about 600 kilometres from Larrawa.
My duties were to feed the calves around the homestead, and this is actually the only job that you can compare with farm work in Germany. I also had to do some fencing, help at the yards, and there were plenty of fires to fight. After four weeks of work I had to leave Anna Plains as well the end of the mustering season arrived.
I resumed my travels along the East Coast of Australia until the opportunity to return to Anna Plains eventuated. I caught the first plane back to Broome and was happy to renew friendship with my calves.
I have met a lot of nice people over here in Australia and learned a lot about the culture. I really enjoyed my time here in Australia and will apply for my second year visa in a couple of months to do some more farm work and travelling all over Australia.
Making new friends.
Working cattle in the homestead yards.
