Sheep Shearing...

People often ask me what there is to do in the middle of the South Atlantic. You have no idea how busy it can get. There are many strange and varied activities - but mostly comes down to drinking, socialising and getting lucky..

This sheep shearing competition was just after christmas on a nearby farm. The shearers were judged by speed and accuracy (which is determined by how many nicks the poor sheep has at the end) - and yes - it actually got quite tense and exciting.

The fleece is really big (?2X4m) when it comes off. The girls that deal with it when it is removed are called rousers (sounds dodgy to me - probably refers to their after work activities..). They have to pick all the dinglebury's off. The wool gets in everywhere - these girls even have to pick fleece out of their nipples! Tweezers are good for this apparently.

Sheep farming is big in the Falklands - 600 000 of them poor buggers living outside - I have a whole new respect for their stupidity... If you include the soldier boys, it means sheep outnumber people 120 to 1! Apparently they don't have teeth on their upper jaw, that's probably why the Ozzies like shaggin them so much. I don't reckon there are many sheep-shaggers here - it's too cold outside and there a few bushes and no trees to hide behind!

The mechanical bull was also great entertainment.

This is one of Tim's buddy's - observe his intelligent expression.. I was too much of a wimp to give it a go. Tim improved his record from 2 seconds last year to a full 14 seconds this year! On the beginner's setting..

At the end of it all we all ended up drunk and smelly, dancing to old cheesy music and country music in the Narrows Bar.