A Very Australian Day
Yesterday we had an authentic Aussie experience. First, Aunt Cece and Uncle Harry took us just out of town to the Showgrounds to watch some of the Australian National Sheep Dog Trials. There are sheep all over this giant island (at least the parts we've been to) and behind any good sheep farmer is a whole pack of smart, hard working sheep dogs. Their job is to keep the sheep in line and not let any of them get too far away from the herd.
At the National Trials the dogs have to execute a series of tasks within a time limit to score points. We watched about three or four dogs give it a go. First, three sheep are let out of a pen at the far end of the grounds (a large circle about 100 meters or so in diameter). The dog has to circle around behind them and get them to move all the way to a semi-circle of space at the near end of the grounds. Then he has to push them all the way back down to the other end and get them to walk, move, shuffle around two poles. After that he has to herd them through a little chute about 3 meters wide and 5 meters long. Next, he has to get them to go through another chute. This time there is a "bridge" in the chute and it is about 8-10 meters long. This part caused a lot of trouble for the dogs because the sheep just didn't want to walk over that bridge. Finally, the dog had to get the sheep to walk across the grounds and get them into a pen where his handler would shut the gate.
Like I said, we watched only a handful of dogs as these tasks could be very time consuming. If you didn't know before watching these activities that sheep aren't the brightest animals on earth, you would certainly know afterwards. They just kind of stumble around following each other. It was a mix between the Keystone Cops and the Three Stooges. You could sense the frustration as the dogs were doing everything they could possibly do and the darn sheep just wouldn't go where they were supposed to go. But we enjoyed ourselves and go to see two dogs complete all the tasks. Our favorite was a little fella named Buddy. We also "met" a dog that was featured in the Sydney Olympics Opening Ceremony. Apparently she jumped out of box and did a polka dance or something. Actually I made that up because I can't remember what she really did.
After the sheep dog trials, we went and partook in one of Uncle Harry's favorite pastimes - lawn bowling. It is a game played on a flat area of grass, cut close like a green on a golf course. Each player has four weighted bowling balls that are rolled down the lawn in an attempt to get closest to a marker, the jack. You can play teams or singles. Each player takes turns bowling and you are allowed to knock any of the balls that have already been bowled from their resting spot. The winner of each "end" is the person who has a ball closest to the jack. It was a pretty good way to spend an hour or so in the sun. Both Cece and I got the hang of it pretty quickly and we had a fun little match.
So that was our little Oz experience on our last day in Canberra. This morning we are packing up the car and heading to Sydney for a couple of days before we drive up the coast to Queensland. Hopefully we'll get a chance to pick up a board and learn how to surf in the next few days. Wish us luck!
At the National Trials the dogs have to execute a series of tasks within a time limit to score points. We watched about three or four dogs give it a go. First, three sheep are let out of a pen at the far end of the grounds (a large circle about 100 meters or so in diameter). The dog has to circle around behind them and get them to move all the way to a semi-circle of space at the near end of the grounds. Then he has to push them all the way back down to the other end and get them to walk, move, shuffle around two poles. After that he has to herd them through a little chute about 3 meters wide and 5 meters long. Next, he has to get them to go through another chute. This time there is a "bridge" in the chute and it is about 8-10 meters long. This part caused a lot of trouble for the dogs because the sheep just didn't want to walk over that bridge. Finally, the dog had to get the sheep to walk across the grounds and get them into a pen where his handler would shut the gate.
Like I said, we watched only a handful of dogs as these tasks could be very time consuming. If you didn't know before watching these activities that sheep aren't the brightest animals on earth, you would certainly know afterwards. They just kind of stumble around following each other. It was a mix between the Keystone Cops and the Three Stooges. You could sense the frustration as the dogs were doing everything they could possibly do and the darn sheep just wouldn't go where they were supposed to go. But we enjoyed ourselves and go to see two dogs complete all the tasks. Our favorite was a little fella named Buddy. We also "met" a dog that was featured in the Sydney Olympics Opening Ceremony. Apparently she jumped out of box and did a polka dance or something. Actually I made that up because I can't remember what she really did.
After the sheep dog trials, we went and partook in one of Uncle Harry's favorite pastimes - lawn bowling. It is a game played on a flat area of grass, cut close like a green on a golf course. Each player has four weighted bowling balls that are rolled down the lawn in an attempt to get closest to a marker, the jack. You can play teams or singles. Each player takes turns bowling and you are allowed to knock any of the balls that have already been bowled from their resting spot. The winner of each "end" is the person who has a ball closest to the jack. It was a pretty good way to spend an hour or so in the sun. Both Cece and I got the hang of it pretty quickly and we had a fun little match.
So that was our little Oz experience on our last day in Canberra. This morning we are packing up the car and heading to Sydney for a couple of days before we drive up the coast to Queensland. Hopefully we'll get a chance to pick up a board and learn how to surf in the next few days. Wish us luck!
posted by Matt | 5:13 PM
1 Comments:
You are correct on the answers. A special little something will be making it's way across the Pacific soon, headed for 721 Watts!
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