Goings Ons on the Property

At times, when working on a farm/property, things just don't make sense and you simply have to walk away and accept it. Today the chainsaw wouldn't start... no matter what. For forty minutes I tried getting it to roar to life, only to hear a muffled cry emit from the chainsaw engine, followed by an abrupt stop. Around 30 cattle were circling me, smelling the chainsaw, ute, and my own body odor. They are so curious. Unfortunately I just couldn't get it started and had to drive off. Very frustrating. 

On a positive note, after leaving the chainsaw behind, I was checking a muddy dam which should be dry in another week. A sheep had gotten stuck in the mud. Luckily I was able to pull it out. If I'd been cutting Mulga trees it probably would not have lived.

 It was a strong sheep that tried to swim away from me in the mud. They really are specimens. Always trying to do what is worst for themselves. Luckily the sheep got up as soon as it was out of the dam and ran away. A running sheep is always a good sign of health. 

Yesterday my brother discovered a cow that wouldn't stand up. Today my Dad and I checked her out. She was looking healthy and seemed to be doing well. But then she died.... Doesn't really add up. After that, we lit a fire and burned the carcass to make sure flies don't breed and spread disease among other livestock. The heat of the flames in this arid heat is incredible. 

Like I have mentioned in previous posts, the Sun in western QLD is intense. It bakes the ground, the wind roars along with heat. It just never lets up. Ironically, as soon as night comes, it cools down and you would never guess just how hot it can get during the day time. More of that same blinding Sun to follow tomorrow! 

Loose Stragglers: Hunting For A Golden Fleece

When it comes to shearing, which usually takes place in the colder months of the year, there is a lot of pressure and time restraints to get the sheep into the shearing shed. The sheep cannot stay in the shed for more than one day and getting the sheep into a small yard for general healthcare and handling can seem like a daunting challenge. Properties in western Queensland are huge (generally 50,000-75,000 acres). That means property owners need to schedule a muster and decide which paddock of sheep gets shorn first. After all, different paddocks, different sheep demographics (age, sex, breed). You don't want to mix them all up and have a incest frenzy on your hands or a lack of newborn lambs. 

Logistics are key. Decide which paddock gets mustered first, gets shorn first and then gets returned to the original paddock first. It's a matter of juggling a routine with an animal that is known for its disagreeing, cunning nature. You have got to be on alert when mustering and handling sheep. That's why time restraints and pressure mount as the big shear nears. 

Once inside the shearing shed, a shearer will shave the golden fleece off the sheep's back as efficiently as possible. Like property-owners, shearers also have schedules they need to follow and often travel long distances from property to property clipping wool. Shearers have to know the number of sheep to be shorn, how long it will take and how many employees they need to take along to the shed to get the job done. Classers, pen-uppers, wool balers sum up the shearing squadron. These wool professionals handle the fleece, keep the sheep up to the shearer, and bale the wool for export to Italy or China. It's a huge logistical task for shearers too. 

Then there are the sheep you miss. 

Since it's such a busy time of the year, and properties are so big, it's no surprise that you are often left with stragglers roaming very large paddocks alone, or in small groups. A straggler is a lone sheep that is cunning - or wild enough - to evade the musterer and his motorbike. Often you don't realize just how many stragglers there are until the heat and blinding sun of Summer arrive. These specimens stick close to the water to keep cool and refreshed. That's when you pounce, chasing them down on motorbike and with dog, cornering them, tying them up, pushing and pulling them into the trailer. Once inside the trailer these woolly sheep - or double-fleeces as they are commonly known - are taken to a smaller paddock, often near the house. When the shearing contractor next comes around these sheep will then definitely have their fine, fatty fleece clipped off and sold - probably to China. 

Drought Affects: Cuttin Scrub for Cattle To Eat

Since arriving back home in Western Queensland for Christmas/Summer break, it's been a hard slog feeding animals. Here in this part of Australia, seasons are extreme - either extremely hot or cold, wet - or in this case - dry. My father has been pushing Mulga trees (as seen in the pictures) for livestock to eat for the past year. Thanks to a new and open-minded State and Federal Government, feeding livestock natural, green trees has become a lot easier. Laws and restrictions set by past Labor Government's have been restricted/minimalized in an effort to keep these animals healthful for all Australians to eat.

No rain - no grass. No grass - no food for the cattle and sheep. Alternative? Mulga trees. It's a high source of protein. The catch: the protein cannot be fully processed by the livestock, and to make the most of the Mulga protein, the sheep and cattle are supplemented a Kelp/Algae liquid mix in their water. This liquid supplement, which smells of aniseed is vital for the livestock's physical condition. It increases digestive activity (among many other health benefits including electrolysis, phosphorus, and selenium) and boosts the appetites of the livestock. Result? Cattle and sheep devour the mulga and by looking at their physique, you would not know just how dry and desperate Western Queensland country is right now. Particularly in the dry Summer heat. Humidity hovers between 15-30% and the sun beats down on the Outback. When you wake up at 6AM, judging by the brightness of the sunlight, you wouldn't know if it's early morning or midday.

I've just started cutting Mulga for the cattle and find it a rewarding hands-on job. Not only do you use your own judgement and strength (it's not a walk in the park) to cut the trees, you also watch the cattle follow the line of fallen trees to eat breakfast. A satisfying start to the day!

Lighthouse with Hair of Ice

This lighthouse has been licking up the water from the lake. Cool ice formations. It's not China, but I'd like to see it here nonetheless.

Tree covered in Ice.

It may not be Shanghai, or China, but it's still cool to look at. This tree has a hose attached to it at its crown, leaking water that made this very interesting ice-berg-like shape at a park in Detroit, Michigan, USA. If you look closely you can see Windsor, Canada in the distance.

Captain Suzuki and his motorbike

Captain Suzuki and his motorbike. Pretty cool stuff, a little overdone on the purple right?

Shanghai Feelin'

Shanghai streets are a cacophony of activity that just doesn’t stop. It’s a relentless, even aggressive energy. In each section of the city, a distinct atmosphere emerges. Traditional, modern, concrete jungle, dirty, unhealthy, fashionable, drab, commercial – all of these words mesh together with each street, district, plaza or lane. Each block of this Super City slaps you in the face as you walk thought it. Those walks range from leisurely, stressful, overcrowded, claustrophobic, beautiful or creative. The two negative variables that can turn your experience of a walking adventure in Shanghai upside down are Smell and Noise. 

There is one part of this city that straddles all of these thoughts and variables. The southern-most section of HongKou and a selection of streets behind The Bund, buffed up with enormous German Art Deco buildings. These imposing buildings stretch down narrow lanes that are packed and ready to pop with ceaseless motorized bikes, people, small businesses, and every now and then, a tree. It doesn’t sound relaxing, leisurely, beautiful or creative, but this part of the City emits history, money, fashion, old Shanghai and modern Shanghai. It is a melting pot often undetected by passer-by’s, whose touristic radars send them straight for the famed Bund or shopper’s paradise, Nanjing Road. That’s the best bit. Walking down these streets, you get a real feel for life here. History stands permanently in the Art Deco buildings. That mesh of European culture and Chinese energy give you a new picture of this part of the world, and City. 

As the buzz of Shanghai streets engulfs any pedestrian, so does the city’s nature. There are not many trees, the streets are nearly always dark - buildings block that out and the businesses are not stylish. They are businesses of necessity. Plumbing stores, housing appliance stores, little bits and pieces stores spill out onto the narrow sidewalks. On these roads you don’t walk straight, there’s always a metal pipe, puddle from a leaking AC, bike, Shanghai Grandma (they are the aggressive one’s) or truck pulling off crates. It’s all about business but the atmosphere is unbeatable. You get original Chinese enterprise with an injection of European culture. After all, Shanghai was originally a small fishing port built up over the past 150 years because of foreign trade.

You can set off in many directions, just following a maze of alleyways. You’ll find your neck craning, taking in the detail of the building designs, and imagining what it’s like to live inside. What does the apartment look like? Probably stylish. An ironic twist. Mostly, the exterior of these old apartment buildings are in desperate need of a paint job or brick replacement. It adds to the fun of a walk through this part of the City. People have to get creative to make a comfy home here. And Chinese are very skilled at doing that. Chances are you won’t get invited in as a bystander on the street. Instead you get to take in the energy of this part of Shanghai, it’s people, business and gardens. It’s a mix anyone is sure to enjoy.

Off The Chinese Beaten Track

A TOWN with few sidewalks and drab, Soviet-style architecture greets the eyes upon disembarking at LuShan (Green Mountain) Train Station. A flurry of travelers’ race through security to the bus-booking office - a one-room building beside a derelict car park. You get on a bus and five minutes later a series of sights for sore eyes emerges: rice fields, green pastures and lush forest spurting out of pockets of untouched land. A mountain randomly juts out of the Jiangxi Province flat in the hazy blue distance, clouds encompassing its crown. Thankfully it's in the direction of the bus. Difficult to see anything for the moisture clinging to the windows. A green blur rolls by non-stop.
Forty minutes later, after a zig-zag race to the top of LuShan, the bus pulls up at TaiJi Hotel. You get off the bus and realize the hotel is surrounded by rainforest. Firs, pines and a whammy of other bold and bright green trees and plants paint a clean, pure picture of good things to come. 

The hotel clerk informs map-grappling guests that any trekking route will take a whole day to complete. I stick a little closer to the hotel on day one, tired after the train trip from Shanghai. I take a walk down a rocky, steep track with a series of backyard vegetable gardens to one side, and I follow the constant gush of water gurgling and racing down one of LuShan's many smaller slopes. The picturesque path leads to a busier road.  A constant and loud flock of Chinese tourists head uphill to the Hankou Pass and the tallest crest of all LuShan: Five Men Peaks. Buses beep obnoxiously, or cautiously, reminding hikers to keep clear - a Chinese norm.

The cable car entrance looms but I veer away, more curious about getting an eagle eye-view from a higher, nearby peak where boulders protrude like human vertebrae scaling toward a skull. Along the steep path I meet many young students enjoying the Labor Day holiday. A series of "novelty" pictures ensues with English chit-chat: "Hello, where do you come from? Can I have a picture with you?" This generally followed by jumps and squeals of joy. After some cardio climbing I, along with a few others, reach a boulder on top of a ridge, and cannot move ahead any further. The wind is strong and clouds move like ghosts over the ridge before diving like seabirds after fish. Gloomy and strong. I see how wind can help people defy gravity. Its strength is a reminder: we are humans and our boundaries are set by Mother Nature.  In this case she set two: boulders and wind. 

After trailing back down the ridge, biceps are pumping and the cable car looks inviting. It rattles side to side with the wind. A physical map presents itself, people trailing concrete paths like ants to pagodas, rocks and waterfalls. Too bad the water rushing downhill can't be heard for all the high volume traditional Chinese music. 

Streams gush all over LuShan, a 1474 metre-high peak covering 300 square kilometres. By naming rights, perhaps Spring Mountain is more appropriate. Water trickles between rock wedges, through mounds of moss, smashes into boulders and lakes suck in the juice of the tributaries. So pure and clean, you want to slurp it up and swim. Only thing, it's just a little cold. 

LuShan is, in some ways, a pilgrimage for Chinese to explore a deeply intertwined Buddhist history - temples and prayer caves dot the national park. Incense sticks, wishing wells, and Buddha's aren't hard to miss along the trails, no matter how isolated they may seem. In history, at one specific cliff, monks - in an effort to become Buddha - would jump to their deaths. Serene courtyards once inhabited by the devout stand with the grandeur of age. Now such buildings are mostly filled with local tea stores where men and women pick and dry that small branches of the popular relaxant. 

Besides its history LuShan also gives people scope. Cliffs protrude, boulders nestle with fragility on mountainous peaks and a select few gigantic trees spurt towards the sun, monstrous next the rest of the forest. Angles, shapes and height create new impressions for folks from the flats. An education in mountain multi-dimensionality. No matter the degree of slope, a boulder, cliff face, jagged edge or tree will defy you your sense of gravity and stability. And dare you to inch closer: vertigo! 

After hiking around its slopes, rolling hills and extraneous peaks, evening sets in. Jiangxi Province lies just north of steamy Guangdong, and despite snowy winters, the Sun here sets like a tropical one: late and fast. 

With night quickly approaching LuShan blows out her lungs. Crisp, clean and nice-smelling moist air wafts through the forest and up your nostrils. The perfect offering for a set of Shanghai lungs! Trees darken and its time to have a refreshing LuShan Co. beer. Light and sweet like the air here. 

You get perspective on the air at LuShan by peering down at the city of Jiujiang, which is sandwiched between the mountain and the mighty Yangtze River. Sometimes the industrious city and its horizon is visible and next hour etched away by smog. You can see modernity sprouting about. Wind turbines rotate generating power and noise. These natural power generators may reduce air pollution but their noise is so strong that you can hear them from one of the highest peaks on LuShan. 

This may bother some travelers but, realistically, it gives you an opportunity to appreciate this mountain some more. Natural life continues on LuShan unchanged by industry below, a reprieve from the daily grind of the rat race - and pollution that goes with it. It's a mighty mountain whose name could not be more of an adjective. Here, you will see every shade of green under the Sun. It spirals high all on its own, from a base of flats. LuShan is second to none.

East-West Fusing: Beijing

AT first it was hard to believe how different Beijing’s atmosphere, landscape and style are compared to the Shanghai-Hangzhou-Nanjing triangle I had only ever known. No skyscrapers jutting to the moon or hyper-modern design, just three-story buildings, spacious roads, tree-lit sidewalks and plenty of quiet, peaceful hutongs. As the high-speed train sailed into Beijing South Railway Station there was no ongoing urban sprawl announcing we were entering the eternal capital, just mountains and farms. As we sped towards downtown in the subway, digital advertisements flickered on the tunnel walls like a movie, known as a zoetrope, and created a blurry idea of Beijing’s less-than-brash modernity. After refreshing at the hostel and stepping out into a famed hutong, fire crackers filled the night air signifying the Year of the Snake. It also presented me with the chance to explore a city so different to anywhere else I’d seen in China. Thinking back, there were five activities that shaped my Beijing experience and left me wanting more or this eclectic capital.

1. Da Dong Peking Duck Restaurant
When a group of friends from Wuxi took me to this restaurant for a traditional roast duck, I expected a crowded, loud, casual eatery, filled with smoke and bottles of Tsing Tao. How wrong I was. Da Dong is one of the most famous seafood restaurants in Beijing, particularly Chef Dong’s specialty: sea cucumber. Though I didn’t try the deep sea specimen my friends and I did opt for a whole barbequed duck and dish of shrimp. The duck, lean, fresh and roasted to perfection, is carved at your table and served with pancakes and condiments. Since it was the festive season, DaDong presented each table with a sweet pre-dinner appetizer: an intricately designed red toffee apple accompanied with cherry cheesecake balls. Alongside amazing food, DaDong’s restaurant radiates traditional China like I have never seen before. Ornaments and paintings cover this popular joint and give any visitor to Beijing a taste of class in the capital. Be sure to visit more than once. A half duck is more than enough for two people – if you get too greedy, the rich taste can cause sickness. Trust me, I know from experience. After dinner grab an acrobatics show at the nearby Chaoyang Theatre. Address: 3 Tuanjiehu Beikou, Dongsanhuan Lu, Chaoyang District. Ph: 010-6582-2892/4003.

2. Red Theatre
Kung Fu, China and movies are synonymously associated. To have the opportunity to see Red Theatre’s Kung Fu show was an introduction to a traditional China I have little knowledge about. Initially I expected this show to be a display of brute strength and routine but was surprised to find theatrical elements just as vivid as the action. Red Theatre mix gritty Kung Fu moves with the story of a man’s journey from student to Zen master. The show begins on a sombre note with the boy leaving his mother forever to become entrenched in the ways of a monk. A smart series of acts ensues including crowd-pleasing displays of iron strength. The show keeps the audience captivated by swinging from the boy’s story and growth into adulthood to amazing physical feats and some acrobatics. The mix of history, personal sentiment and physicality not only entertains but also educates the viewer about a monk’ sacrifices. Red Theatre’s architecture is also worth a look at with symbolic red metal architecture wrapped over the front of the centre. www.redtheatre.cn For discount tickets phone: 1355 252 7373.


3. Dongcheng District
Walking through Dongcheng District it seems like everyday life unfolds like it has done for centuries before. That is until you unexpectedly come across the Bell and Drum Towers. The monstrous buildings command respect as everyday life unfolds in the surrounding hutongs. A feeling of history waves over you as you soak in this sight. My group saw it at sunset. Although there are shows here through the day, including tours, take time to visit this ancient wonder as the sun fades. A feeling of eternity washes over you. How many others have stood transfixed on the Bell Tower as the sun goes down? Afterwards, check out local markets and enjoy the eclectic clash: history stands next to modernity; western stores pop up crammed between the traditional. Pay a visit to the thirsty-for-blood Vampire in Beijing souvenir store to get an idea of just how multi-faceted and tasteful this district is. From tradition to transition, you will be consumed by its individual charms and creativity. As night sets in, head to nearby Houhai for a drink at any of the several bars. Vampire in Beijing: No. 109-3 Gulou East Street, Dongcehng District, Telephone: 13693338067

4. Long Qing Gorge
My friend and I spent about as long researching and planning how to get to Longqing Gorge Ice Festival as we actually did there. The hostel staff was incredibly unhelpful- even after 3 hours of continuous questioning until they finally remembered you could take a train to Yanqing City. Trains depart half-hourly from Beijing North Railway Station and a one-way ticket costs RMB6. The train trip took 1.5 hours and was totally worth it. You see mountains, the Great Wall, snow, creeks and a lot of pine forest. It definitely set up the afternoon/evening for a magical experience. After arriving at the Yanqing City train station, a friendly couple from a nearby village escorted us to the gorge. There's a lot to see here in any season but perhaps most spectacular during January and February when event organizers chip ice block into a mass of temples, churches, igloos, and sculptures that stand proudly in the frigid winter temperatures beneath the gorge wall. During summer, hiking, boat tours and water sports – including bungee jumping – are up for anyone wanting adventure. If in winter, toboggan down the gorge and drive a bumper car on  ice. They’re cool extra's after you’re done sightseeing. The last train to Beijing from Yanqing City is at around 9:15PM but we got a taxi back to Beijing for RMB400. It’s definitely worth going to see the Ice Festival even if it's a time consuming effort to organize how to get there.
Travel: S train from Beijing North Railway Station to Yanqing City or ask hotel staff for bus route.

Wangfujing Snack Street
5. After visiting several cities on the China seaboard, traipsing Wangfujing Snack St in Beijing is the most vivid, traditional food market I have ever seen. Packed with people, there is a plethora of different foods to feast your eyes, and if you’re daring, taste buds on.

Want some crackle and pop, try scorpions, seahorse, sparrow or snake. One friend was up for the challenge and after devouring snake on skewer said it tasted like fried chicken. This snack street, set in the heart of Beijing’s busiest shopping district, is an exhibition in itself: a unique east-west fusion of Chinese traditional culture united with a nation’s modern vision for the future.

Icy Art At A Beijing Gorge

A sea of snow-covered mountains encompasses a train track north-west of Beijing where the Great Wall towers proudly and, in places, lays dormant through age and ruin. As the train weaves past rock protrusions, snow, creeks and pine forest, it’s easy to be mesmerized by the scenery of Badaling’s mountains and forget your destination: Long Qing Gorge - Beijing’s answer to the Harbin Ice Festival.

After disembarking at Yanqing City station a driver takes you for a leisurely 20 minute ride to what seems to be nothing more than a series of parking lots. Leaving the warmth of the ultra-small jeep the cold is inviting, not too bitter. Flocks of Chinese tourists head towards a colored-pillar decorated with lights, similar to an amusement park entrance. The walk, perhaps 500 meters, provides time to appreciate the atmosphere and buzz of the crowd. What exactly will you experience? Will you walk on ice? Is the festival actually on top of the icy gorge? How much ice will there be? Why are there so many lights? Questions seem endless until you take a sweeping look around at the panoramic view. The sun is slowly setting and the mountains glow with the soft, relaxing texture of snow. Trees stand plentifully. A series of bright, yellow lights work their way up and down mountain sides depicting an artificial Great Wall.

You buy a RMB5 ticket and get whisked away on a fast buggy to the ice festival entrance. Riding into the gorge, mountain walls close in. You enter the festival gates and see a series of trees covered with lanterns and lights: blue, red, green, white. Is it Christmas? A small voice inside says: “I hope this isn’t a light show.” In the background water gushes. Is it the gorge? No, a small man-made water course with ice jagging up its sides straddles a pagoda. Surrounding the pagoda and stream, lights and sculptures stand still on fields of ice. Touching the sculptures it becomes clear they are foam and concrete, not ice. Where’s the ice? Be patient. It’s still stunning stuff. A festive Chinese New Year spirit reminds you the Year of the Snake has arrived. Beijing’s traditions seem so vivid and strong: Exuberant.

After 20 minutes of continuous Kodak moments an enormous, colorful dragon attracts a large crowd. More pictures. You touch the dragon. It’s not ice, again just foam. A fellow foreigner walks by and says to her companions confidently: “I’m ready to see the real sculptures now.” Relax, there is more to this expedition.

At the end of the ice field a ceaseless stream of visitors walk past a large hotel. Following them down the route, ice abounds all around. The path descends deeper into the gorge flanked by 10-foot walls of ice. It seems to be growing off the wall like a green fungus might in a rainforest. In fact it has been shaped by relentless wind hammering at water as it transforms into ice. The path opens up into a concrete yard and the first icy highlight - an igloo – comes into sight. You pull off a glove and feel the dry ice with your bare hand. The ice is clear and pure like the actual water of Long Qing Gorge. So clear and clean it could pass for glass. People fill the interior of the igloo shouting with excitement, children run and adults test the building’s strength by stomping. Nothing breaks or cracks - cannot be glass. Reassured you enjoy the feel of the ice on your hands and the insulating warmth it brings.

Ice structures the shape of building pillars pop up colored with neon- lights. A tent stretching the width of the narrow gorge blocks any visitor from seeing more. Inside the tent an abundance of life-like sculptures stand perfectly still. So intricate in detail, life-like creations of waves, fish, and Chinese temples are reminders of the festival’s location in northern China while Greek Gods Zeus and Hera stand ruthlessly and capture everybody’s attention. Visitors admire the talent it takes to chisel ice block into such versatile and fragile shapes. Where does the sculptor find the motivation and passion to chisel frozen water into an array of awe-inspiring figurines, like a metamorphosis, testament to mankind’s history? 
 
In the distance a fortified city of ice emerges, complete with a series of buildings including a church, temple, God and Great Wall-style entrance gate. An army of people enjoy the novelty of walk up ice stairs and through the entrance gate. Children run up the steps innocently, not fearful of the damage ice can inflict. Every sculpture stands firm in the frigid temperatures beneath Long Qing Gorge’s dam wall.

 Eventually you weave your way through the ice city to the end of the tent. The gigantic dam wall towers above you. Icicles plaster the wall creating yet another family portrait opportunity. The base of the wall consists of ice penguins and plum blossoms. A perfect setting and conclusion to a festival full of surprise. Finish off the night by taking escalators to the top of the dam wall and tobogganing down around the ice festival. If you want to soak the atmosphere in a little more, enjoy a bumper car ride on ice at the summit of the toboggan track- something you’ll only see in China.

If time is scarce to get to this year’s Ice Festival don’t worry. Touted a summer paradise where people can escape the concrete jungle of Beijing- and its smog- Long Qing Gorge is also home to a wide variety of activities including bungee jumping, water sports and hiking. There’s always something to do at Long Qing Gorge.