Lochon Contracting (2013-2015)
Host: Tini O’Loughlin
Location: Northern Western Australia
Catching wild bulls, mustering cattle, building yards, putting up fences! … that is what we do. We are Tini and Locky from LOCHON Contracting.
Of course it is not just the two of us. We work in a team of four to ten people. To put up fences we normally are a team of four, when we go mustering or bull catching we can have a crew of up to ten. Working in a good team is essential to doing a good job. And doing a good job is what we always aim for.
Our work takes us all across the Kimberley region of Western Australia and occasionally into the Pilbara. As contractors, the change of scenery, a new job – a new challenge, meeting new people, is what keeps us going.
Moving from one job to another and even moving camp within one station, always seems to be a big endeavor. We have got trucks, a tractor, a camp trailer, buggies, motorbikes and all the other essential camp bits to move. Packing up, moving to another area and setting up camp under a few big gum trees is always quite exciting and sparks everyone up. We like to be close to the work site and camp under the stars. At night we sit around the campfire, cook a meal on the coals and plan the next day while drinking billy tea.
This is what we do for up to ten months a year, depending on the start and finish of the wet season. For the rest of the year we like to travel. I am originally from Germany, and Locky came over from Queensland as a young man. We like to travel to my home country every year and visit family over east on the way. We look at it as a reward for the continuous workflow we deal with during the dry season. In saying that, although we work seven days a week during that time, we always make sure to come in for a couple of Rodeos, do the occasional fishing or crabbing trip and catch up with our friends from within and outside the world of cattle.
We are looking forward to being part of the centralstation family and sharing our daily adventures with everyone.
Tini and Locky
Winter Wonderland
Host: Lochon Contracting Written by Tini O’Loughlin – Owner, Lochon Contracting. It was bitter cold, windy and it rained rained rained. Last year Lochon went mustering and bull catching in the desert behind Hall’s Creek. Winter had fully set in and the weather was not on our side. Winter jackets and big camp fires were […]
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As we start winding down . . .
Host: Lochon Contracting Written by Tini O’Loughlin – Owner, Lochon Contracting. When last year’s cattle season came to an end in the Kimberley, we had finished contract mustering and Locky and I were delighted to spend some quality time with our new baby girl. I had been in town since the arrival of our daughter […]
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Mustering the Kimberley
Host: Lochon Contracting Written by Sam – Ringer, Lochon Contracting. Today I will share with you Sam’s account of life in the mustering bush camp. Him and his partner Shai have come all the way from England to see and experience this amazing country and they have found their way into our team. Read for […]
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This is for the adrenaline junkies. This is for the bullet proof!
Host: Lochon Contracting Written by Tini O’Loughlin – Owner, Lochon Contracting. “This is for the adrenaline junkies. This is for the bullet proof!”- Sometimes this feels to be the subtitle to our lives. We’re out there catching bulls, we’re in the yards with mad cows, and we are four wheel driving on rugged roads and pushing […]
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Bush baby on board
Host: Lochon Contracting Written by Tini O’Loughlin – Owner, Lochon Contracting. This time last year I was pregnant. Locky and I were preparing ourselves for a new chapter in our lives, which we are in the middle of now. Locky runs a contract mustering business, which takes us all over this part of the country […]
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The simple pleasures in life
Host: Lochon Contracting Written by Tini – Owner, Lochon Contracting. When you live out bush you learn to recognise and appreciate the most simple and common amenities that you take for granted when you live in town. A hot shower, a cold drink, a room with four walls around it, and a door to shut etc, […]
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Into the hinterland and beyond . . .
Host: Lochon Contracting Written by Tini – Owner, Lochon Contracting. Off to the desert it is. After a well deserved break over the last weekend, with most of our crew going to the annual Fitzroy Crossing Rodeo, the Lochon mob is heading back to Bulka Station to finish building the yard and holding paddock in the […]
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Farewell, Lady
Host: Lochon Contracting Written by Tini – Owner, Lochon Contracting. If you have been following our blog last year, you might remember our beloved dog “Lady”. She had been with us for 14 years. Wherever we went, she went, too. While we were drafting cattle and a camel (!) at Wattle Springs yard on Bulka Station, […]
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Gotta get back there, real soon!
Host: Lochon Contracting Written by Tini – Owner, Lochon Contracting. There is something about this place that makes people want to come back. The Kimberley is undoubtedly a very popular destination for tourists, due to it’s vastness, the unique boab trees, magnificent gorges, and simply stunning landscape. But what makes someone want to come back for […]
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Back again – So, let’s get into it!
Host: Lochon Contracting Written by Tini – Owner, Lochon Contracting. The stillness of the bush surrounds us. Everybody is fast asleep. Suddenly the subtle noise of twigs cracking, wood breaking, and finally the sound of the camp fire breaks the silence of the dark hours of the early morning. It’s time to get up. It’s time […]
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The Kimberley Spirit
Host: Lochon Contracting Written by Tini O’Loughlin – Owner, Lochon Contracting. This will be our last blog for now. The Lochon Crew Lochy, Tini, Sean, Warrick & Gerwin. It has been a great week hosting Central Station and writing a little something every day. Although it’s just a little something to me, it may be […]
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Just an ordinary day
Host: Lochon Contracting Written by Tini O’Loughlin – Owner, Lochon Contracting. 4.30am – the alarm goes off. It is still pitch black outside when we get up and prepare ourselves for a yet another day on a Kimberley cattle property. We are on Margaret River Station, where we are currently contract mustering for Jane and […]
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Work Hard, Play Hard
Host: Lochon Contracting Written by Tini O’Loughlin – Owner, Lochon Contracting. It is 5.40pm. We just got back from a long day fixing floodgates and checking the paddocks in preparation for tomorrows muster here at Margaret River Station I apologise to everyone who has been checking in earlier to read today’s blog. I fell asleep […]
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Saddle Up!
Host: Lochon Contracting Written by Tini O’Loughlin – Owner, Lochon Contracting. There are various answers as to why we catch bulls. Kimberley cattle stations can be as big as one or two million acres (and bigger), with cattle spread all over the place. Creeks and rivers, thick bush and mountain ranges, sandy deserts and salt […]
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70 km/hr & 180 BPM
Host: Lochon Contracting Written by Tini O’Loughlin – Owner, Lochon Contracting. You catch wild bulls? How? Where? Why? I am sitting in the passenger seat of the ‘blue dog’, one of our bull buggies. The terrain is rough, the grass is high. Locky spots the ‘flat’ in a distance and while radioing the helicopter pilot to see how […]
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A camel, gumboots, and a yard full of cattle
Host: Lochon Contracting Written by Tini O’Loughlin – Owner, Lochon Contracting. Welcome to this week on Central Station. I am Tini from Lochon Contracting. Locky and I will be hosting this blog for the next seven days. We are currently contract mustering on Bulka Station and Margaret River Station. Haydn & Locky at Margaret River Station. The […]
