Have You Any Wool?

On August 17, the task of sheering began.  It took them a little less than six days to complete the herd.  I was unable to help due to my allergies but Dylan got right in there and gave them a hand.  His job was to sweep up the extra wool between sheep and to 'dip' the ones that had already been shorn.  To 'dip' means that he covered them with a chemical to kill the lice.  Here are some pictures that were taken, courtesy of Heather!

These are the stalls that the sheep would come out of.  There were three shearers going at all times.  They would take them from the white stall doors and once the sheep had been shorn, they would put them back through the blue doors.  They had to count how many each shearer had done so they were kept separate until the pen was full, counted and then put out.  

Bags of Wool

This is Tiger.  One of the sheep dogs.  

Here is Sylv and Ben.  Sylv would make lunch, pack it up and take it down to the shed.  Ben is not old enough for school so he would hang out in the shed the with guys.

This was also part of Dylan's job.  

He would have to get up on top and pack the wool down.  

This is the actual wool press.  Before you closed the bag, you would have to machine press it down as well.  

Dylan sweeping!!  If only this would happen at home! 

This is the table where they did the sorting and trimming.  

A full shed!

Wedding Dressing Parade

On August 21 there was a fundraiser held in town for Juvenile Diabetes.  Ladies from town and the surrounding area loaned their wedding dresses out for the occasion.  It was a Wedding Dress Parade!!  I was fortunate enough to be a model for the event.  It was a very successful evening and I had a lot of fun trying on all the different wedding dresses.  Here are just a few that I had on.  Altogether there were over 40 dresses being showed throughout the night.  

This dress was incredibly warm but definitely made me feel like a Snow Princess!  It was velvet with bell sleeves, and trimmed with fur.  It also came with a hood which in this picture had slipped off of my head already but is hanging around my neck!  

This is Heather in her own Wedding Gown.

This is Sarah wearing a dress that Heather once wore as a Junior Bridesmaid.

This was our group!  There were a few more models but were not available for the group photo.  Most of the ladies here are wearing their own wedding dresses.  I am fifth from the left and Heather is second from the right.  Sarah is sitting in front, first on the left. 

Whale Watching

While in Victor Harbor, we got to do some whale watching.  Between May and October, the southern right whales head here to mate and calve.  We checked for different sightings and there had been some spotted just down the road in Middleton Point.  We got to see three adults and their calves.  It was so spectacular to just stand and watch them.  They are such large animals.  It was incredible.  Due to the wind, it was tough to get a good picture of them in between the waves but here are a few that we did manage to snap.  There were also a few seals playing just off the shore but I have not included those pictures because you wouldn't be able to tell what they were! 

This is just to give a perspective as to how close they were to shore.  

That big blob in water is not a wave, it is a whale.

Victor Harbor

We always try to see as much as we can on the weekends so we have been taking short trips to near by Tourist Attractions.  This past weekend we went to Victor Harbor to see what it had to offer.  We only had a day and a half to see things, but we did get alot into that short amount of time.  Just a short way from Victor Harbor is an Island called Granite Island.  There is a causeway, or bridge if you prefer, that heads across to the Island.  We chose to walk but there was another way to cross.  Victor Harbor is home to a historic Horse Drawn Tram.  It goes between the mainland and the island everyday at scheduled times.  The current trams were built in 1986 but now have a few modifications.  Each tram weighs 4.8 tonnes and runs on roller bearings to make it easier for the horse to pull.  The tram is pulled by only one clydesdale at a time who apparently only needs to place 80 kg of weight to get the tram rolling.    We took a walk around Granite Island although it was extremely windy.  The island is home to, believe it or not, Penguins.  We never got to see any, you have to go on a guided tour for that.  There were supposed to be quite a few on the island but the population is depleting due to the amount of seals in the area.  Here are a few pictures.

 

This sign was along the foot path!!

The Tram as mentioned above.  

Sydney

The last stop on our holidays was in Sydney.  We were only there for one day so we didn't get to do or see a whole lot, but we did have a chance to see and tour the Sydney Opera House.  It is a very interesting building to say the least.  We had a private tour with a small group of about 20 people.  I would love to show you pictures of the inside of it and everything that we saw, but due to their strict rules, we were not allowed to take many pictures.  If there was a crew setting up a stage or if there was anyone else in the room,  we were not allowed to take pictures due to the confidentiality of the employees of the Opera House.  However, we did get to sneak a few from in there!!  Here are some pictures from Sydney!

There are many different explanations as to what this building was supposed to represent.  Some people say that it looks like sails, or fins of a whale, shark or dolphin.  But the architect, Jorn Utzon, designed it to represent waves.  In fact, the main focus around the building is the harbor.  On the far left side of the picture, the room on the end is all windows.  When you look in it, the reflection is of the harbor.  Then when you look up, the roof to is a reflective material that shows the harbor.  So basically wherever you are, it was built with the harbor in mind.   

This was the second biggest of all the performance halls.  If we remember correctly it holds about 4000 people.  On the back wall in the picture, is a pipe organ.  The smallest pipe was smaller than a pinkie finger, and the biggest was over three stories high.  It took longer to tune it, than it did to build it.  This was the the only hall that we could take pictures in.    

This was designed by Utzon himself.  It looks like a painting correct?  Well it is actually all woven wool.  It is pretty spectacular.  This was the only room that Utzon designed completely by himself.  Go figure that the room is actually named after him.  

The Sydney Harbor Bridge

Here is one of the Aboriginal People.  They would sit in the streets near the market and play the Didgeridoo.  These are VERY talented people.  We just stood in the street and watched them play for quite a while.  The Aborigines will play the instrument, and try to mimic the sounds of different animals and other sounds around them.  Here is a link to some examples of a Didgeridoo playing in case you are interested.