The “kid” has grown up!
Host: Yarrie Station
Written by Breanna Dorrington – ‘The Kid’, Yarrie Station.
You may remember a story of the “Kid” from a few 2013? Well she’s back and growing up awfully fast, which for some is scary – but for Yarrie we are very happy about as every school holidays she arrives the more helpful she becomes out in the paddock!
Hi. My name is Breanna Dorrington. I am a 14 year old girl who loves the Outback.
Unfortunately, I have to go to school in Perth which means I can’t live out on the station, but it’s okay because I still get to go there on my school holidays.
Brea at Yarrie over Christmas time, with Annabelle, Pip, and Tamsy.
Last holidays was a blast! I had so much fun catching up with my family and friends, every time I go back to Yarrie Station there are different people there and some who have moved away. I have so many adventures and a great time and I absolutely loved being in the hot weather to defrost.
I flew up to Port Hedland where my dad picked me up. He lives in Marble Bar. As soon as I got out to Yarrie we had mustering to do. It was Monday and we went to a place called Cattle Paddock, we started at 5am and I was on a horse called Paddy.
It was so much fun; Paddy and I were flat out following Ann for the start of the morning until we herded up. Once we had all the cows together we held them up for about an hour while we waited for the bull buggy. That was pretty low stress at that point so the billy was put on and everyone had a cup of tea.
Once the bull buggy got there we started to move the mob back to the holding paddock. I was on the right wing making sure no cows popped out and got away. That is my favourite spot because it means I get to do lots of work on the horse.
But it wasn’t so much fun when we came up to a heap of Caustic bushes, that meant a lot of dodging and weaving so I didn’t touch the berries and burn myself. Paddy was so good because he looked after me and made sure I didn’t get hit by one.
We were mustering until about 2pm in the afternoon then we waited to be picked up by the horse truck to go back to the homestead. We knocked off at around 5pm after we un-saddled, washed, and fed the horses. When I got home I had I nice cold shower and some rest, I needed it.
Brea on the Cattle Paddock Muster.
The next day we went back out to Cattle Paddock to bring the cows back to the station. It was a very long walk and we had a few disasters on the way.
I was put in the lead and we headed off down the road which lead us towards home. As cows sometimes do, they decided to go out the side and sneak off into the creek and make a run for it. Ebony whizzed out to get them but they were too quick for her. We were held up there for ages as more and more cows started to run out and we lost about 3/4 of the mob.
Poor Annabelle had a lot of work to do in the chopper to get the rat bags back, but we eventually had a win and were able to head off again. We got to a point at the road where we pulled up waiting for more cattle to come in (a few BIG Micky’s who made everyone wake up and pay attention). We were only half way home and it was getting above 40 degrees. All we had to do was go over the train tracks and around the hills (another 12 kms). We had a good trip back and lost no more cows.
By the time it was yard up I was absolutely knackered and just about fallen asleep on my horse. But we had to get them cows in; I had to muster every last ounce of energy out of my body and be as helpful as I could. So I upped the anti and was on high alert until we had yarded them up and shut the gates. PHEW!
Once we un-saddled and fed the horses I went back to our place and had a nice cold shower. Mum even brought me tea back because I was too tired to go get it!
Brea on a previous trip to Yarrie with a poddy calf.
For the rest of my holidays I helped do some cut outs with the horses and other bits and pieces. I also had some fun earning Yarrie Station’s billy cart 9th place in the billy cart races in Marble Bar. I spent some more time with my dad and had an absolutely amazing time.
The Yarrie Station billy cart.
I love going to Yarrie and being where I want to be. It is an absolute amazing place where I have grown up and it will always be my adopted home. I can’t wait to be there again next school holidays.
Brea is a keen horse rider, and has plenty of rides when at Yarrie.