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womensfitnessaustralia @womensfitnessmag @womensfitnessau womensfitnessmagazine.com.au womensfitnessaustralia @womensfitnessmag @womensfitnessau womensfitnessmagazine.com.au 145 144 PHOTOGRAPHY ERIN SMITH Trading the big smoke for country cattle, Erin Smith gets her guns firing by swinging sledgehammers in rural Oz Travel fit Muscle up I’ve never before laid eyes on the kind of open space that exists four hours west of Brisbane, near the Queensland and New South Wales border. Our farm sprawls over endless kilometres, while our cabin perches on a dirt track near the farmhouse. It isn’t hard finding a farmer in need of a helping hand. Companies such as Willing Workers on Organic Farms (wwoof.com. au) and Help Exchange (helpx.net) support a range of agricultural businesses across the country. You don’t always get paid for your efforts, but you usually receive food and board. We agree to work 7.30am till 5.30pm and earn $350 a month. With the deal done, it’s time to get down and dirty. until the final piece of skin flakes off like dry glue. One down, 5km of fence posts to go... Digging deep I’m not living on the farm for very long before I start admiring fences wherever I go. Such practical results of human exertion! It’s not just the stripping of bark to respect. You have to transport the logs, lift them into 3m holes – which you’ve dug yourself – then diligently pack mud back into the space with the blunt end of a heavy iron crowbar. If you get lazy and leave the mud too soft, rain, wind and time will pull over the fence. It’s also important to drag felled trees away from the line by hand or by tractor. And if you’ve never spent an arvo dragging unrolled barbwire in long grass, I’ve found a new way you can step up your workout. Then, of course, there are the cows. All 600 of them. They need to be drafted, mustered, counted, calved… It’s always manageable until lunchtime, at which point the beating sun strips us of the clothing layers we put on with icy hands that morning. Farm fuel By day, a farmhand can be a builder, welder, firefighter, electrician, plumber, mechanic and vet. By each evening, I long for our organic steak dinner at the farmhouse. I’m eating more than I ever have and our hosts notice. “Girl! You can eat,” becomes a nightly observation. After washing the dishes, we walk to our cabin as the sky presses a bright swirl of stars on our heads and the ground presses cow dung into our shoes. Kangaroos leap across our path. One time, we count 25. On Friday evenings, we travel 15km just to get to the local pub, where a fire crackles and the jukebox plays an album called Songs for My Ute. We swap our stories with men wearing eye patches ✻ Prepare to sweat: The floaty scarf you use for cold mornings will become your trusty sweat rag by lunchtime. So pack simply and bring items you can layer. ✻ Ask questions: Been told to move the tractor, but can’t remember how? Speak up! Experienced farmers can complete tasks quickly, but they’d rather stop to answer a question than fix broken bones or equipment. ✻ Protect your skin: Bring a hat and sunscreen for the day, bug spray for evenings and antiseptic creams for small cuts and bites. They will happen! Logging on Erin does the hard yakka turning trees into new fences I’ve wobbled my way through plenty of crow poses at yoga so my arms aren’t entirely useless. But nothing prepares me for the moment my boss fells a tree and hands me a sledgehammer. A leather- skinned farmer of 48, he makes the task look easy enough: hit the bark along a chainsaw-sliced groove until it splits like the shell of a nut. The log inside will become a strainer post for a paddock fence. I muster enough energy to take three gallant swings before putting my hands on my hips and looking around breathlessly for help. But this isn’t a gym; there’s no stopping when my arms turn to jelly. So I power on, slogging away and swapping turns with my friend and cowboy hats, report rainfall readings, then compare barbwire wounds. “Who knew you’d get so useful?” I’m asked one evening as I flex my new muscles to a local. Our arms are defined, our brown hands are strong and within a month our mindset has shifted to know we can now take on anything. By the end, I’m jumping in and out of the tractor and splitting bark in eight swift swings. On weekends, I’m riding the neighbour’s horse, flying in a two- seater plane and hiking to the haunted house with ‘Jack Jack’, the red kelpie. When we finally wave goodbye to our country life, I sling my backpack into the boot of my parents’ car, feeling tired, happy and proud. My mum boils the kettle while my dad attempts to shift my luggage. And what do you know, he can’t even lift it. WHEN I announce to my friends that I’m leaving the city to roll up my sleeves as a farmhand, their response is unanimous: side-clutching, eye-welling laughter. Annie Oakley I am not, and this is no quaint country getaway. It’s a smelly 32km 2 cattle farm. And I’m moving here for six whole weeks. Thankfully, I have a friend who shares my muddy ambitions. Together we vow to put our sedentary lives on hold and dig up the ‘real’ Australia. It’s time to ditch the desk and bend our bodies to the land! Heroic ambitions declared, my doubts soon take root. Am I strong enough? Will my body stand the heat? Can I outrun an angry bull? Release your inner cowgirl Farmhand-y TIPS An African adventure Ride beside elephants and buffalo before swimming your horse bareback into camp on a safari in Botswana’s Okavango Delta. globetrotting.com.au Outback tacks Ride from pub to pub among the locals, take part in a true country cattle draft or kick up some sand on unspoilt Australian beaches. hiddentrails.com Spanish steeds Riders of all levels can visit hilltop villages, vineyards and sunflower fields of Andalucia, Spain, before trotting the sandy beaches. equestrian-escapes.com In these parts, there’s a cow pat at the end of every rainbow farming champion The ultimate
