Well G’day! I’ve been pretty busy as everyone knows. Doing the hard yards in the Long paddock droving cattle requires patience, fortitude and determination. Did I mention patience? In truth I’ve decided that droving cows and calves is a bit boring after a while. Where are the renegade bolting steers, the knarly dry cows, the uncontrollable heifers? You get the picture. This is a slow, plodding occupation at times, which is why I decided to share a few pics of where I work. Welcome to my office, kelpie style.

The view from the back of the ute. That’s my mob in the distance. The ute’s set up with travelling cages for us dogs, although being more mature I’m mainly chained for safety purposes.

Pushing the mob towards water at the end of the day. You may remember Butch, he of the cross-eyed, coastal upbringing. Well Butch has returned home to his owners. It turns out he was going to be off work for a few weeks with the kick he sustained from the cow last week. Of course I was suitably sorry and wished him the best, but we all slept soundly that night. Butch who gave us a hard time and scared us, I mean all the other dogs to death with the Ghost Dog story wasn’t exactly a team player.

Me, on duty. With seniority comes extra responsibility. I’m the first out in the crisp mornings to help the Boss drover get the cattle out of their nightly yarding and I’m last on the chain at night after bedding the mob down.

Talking about bed. You should see my ceiling at the end of the day. I lay down, roll about in the dirt a little – to relieve the day’s stresses, and then I look up at the sky for a while or so. Pretty ruff view, eh!

By the way, did I mention that I’m going home this week…