Winter Wonderland...Sort Of

Some mornings, after my alarm has gotten me out of bed at 5:30am and I’ve stuffed myself into my clothes, often still caked with sand, dirt and feed from the day before, the wind is so fast and fierce it whips through my clothes and sends shivers up my body.  I wish I could store some of this cold for a bit because by mid-morning I’m usually soaked with sweat and by the time the first ride heads out, the sun beats down so strongly that I can feel my skin burning beneath the first three layers of sun block I’ve already applied.  This weather right now means it is winter in Queensland. 

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I’ve chosen to spend part of the season working at a ranch on Magnetic Island, just off the coast of Townsville.  At the ranch we eat and sleep quite a bit between the long hours that we work feeding the horses, cleaning and saddling them, raking leaves just so the wind can blow the next minute and erase our work.  We have to teach people to ride and try to help people who speak little to no English and we have to keep the horses, who would all be excellent animals if it weren’t for the fact that they have people who don’t know what they’re doing riding them twice a day, from being ruined.  It’s funny, really, how horses respond to their riders, how when I, or another guide, ride them, they never try any tricks, but as soon as someone who has never ridden before is on them they try to run home or stick their heads in a bush and eat the whole time.  And really I think that’s one of the things that I love about horses, that and so many other things.  Because you can always count on them pulling some trick with some poor, unsuspecting rider who thought they were going to simply slap down some money and have a nice relaxing ride but actually they spend the whole time desperately clinging to the saddle while branches threaten to unseat them and give us guides a few laughs.  

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So even though it’s still hot as here, I can’t complain about getting to spend a few more weeks of Australia’s winter here.