VisitOz Farm Stay
Have you ever wanted to taste the real Aussie outback?
Sample the traditions that have made this great country what it is today ?
You can - and it's as easy as slipping your jeans on, bumping up the enthusiasm and jumping on for the ride.
This cattle muster is a bit different to your regular roundup… because you won't hear too many Aussie accents!
Most of my fellow riders are American, English, Irish or European.
They've all come to Springbrook - a cattle property inland from Hervey Bay… to try true blue life on the farm.
Springbrook is part of the Visitoz scheme… set up by Brit Dan Burnet and his wife Joanna, who saw the need to give young travellers an authentic outback education.
"We've had some people driven the biggest tractors in Australia, others don't know which end of the cow the food goes. We aim to give them an introduction to Australian agricultural techniques."
Most of these folks are on working holiday visas… and what
they learn here will help them work their way around Oz.
Lloyd is definitely getting the rundown on how to use the tractor.
Dan has a database of 1000 employers keen to use these willing young farmhands… so he can guarantee Lloyd a job for the rest of his Aussie visit.
But not everyone comes from across the globe. Stef's a Melbourne girl who wants to work in the country… but first - she has to learn how to handle an ag bike.
Most of the visitors spend four days here learning all the basics - from driving off-road motorbikes and tractors, to fencing and cattle mustering. But I've gotta say it's not all hard work - this is a real hoot!
And what outback education would be complete without some good homecooked tucker.
Well there is no doubt Visitoz is marvellous expce for anyone from any walk of life. Dan - does Springbrook have motto?
"Tell me and I'll forget, show me and I'll remember, let me do it and I'll understand."
To find out more about the Visitoz program, phone Dan or Joanna or log onto their website.
A four day agricultural course costs $550, with a guaranteed job at the end of it.
And for more
information on any areas we've featured this week around Hervey
Bay, contact the Fraser Coast South Burnett Tourism Board.
