A couple of Pastoral images!

On the morning of 12 December I went for a prowl around the Southern extension of my local bird watching area to see if the Whiskered Terns were extending their range to anywhere down that way.  They haven't so far.

However I did score a couple of interesting images of pastoral matters.  The first was activity around a woolshed along Captains Flat Road.
 The design of the shed itself is pretty much an archetypal Australian Shearing shed.  A clump of huge trees provide shade for the shed.  Most of the sheep are out in the yard on the left hand end of the shed but the workers trucks are all parked well into the shade.  Parking in the sun is very un-Australian!

As the temperature was around 28oC I reckon the workers in the shed would be fairly dripping.  My memory is that working with sheep on a hot day was rather like wearing a heavy woolen coat oneself.  Plus the scent of lanolin, which the sheep pump out in a confined space, makes my nose run!

Getting off the Captains Flat Road on to Hoskinstown Road I came across a flock of sheep seeking shade in a patch of Brittle Gum (Eucalyptus mannifera).
The overall effect of the light reminded me greatly of Hans Heysen's paintings for the Adelaide Hills, and the warmth and brown grass were also redolent of that locale.  This area has been the only local site where I have found Brown Treecreepers, but there wasn't enough room for them among the mutton.

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