00:00As sunrise breaks, ringers are saddling up for another long day.
00:10With 1.2 million hectares and 65,000 cattle, this property on the Northern Territory-Queensland
00:18border is a long way from just about anywhere.
00:21I remember driving out here for the first time and it's just flat for as far as the
00:26eye can see.
00:27Felt like you're looking at the end of the world a little bit.
00:32This is Lake Nash, one of the country's largest cattle stations.
00:37And for this group of adventurous school leavers, it's a transformative experience.
00:42Everyone who comes up here leaves a different person.
00:46I'm unrecognisable from the person I turned up, as in the person I am today.
00:51And you see each other every second of the day.
00:53You wake up, you shower with them, eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and you're working with them
00:59too.
01:00It's just crazy.
01:03On today's list of chores, mustering thousands of cattle for transport.
01:09It's not just by land.
01:11In this vast expanse, a bird's eye view gives some perspective.
01:17Eighteen months ago, this station looked completely different.
01:20A wall of water just coming straight for us and we spent a lot of effort getting everything
01:26onto higher ground, making sure all our crew were safe.
01:31Heavy rain caused the once dry Georgina River to flow and then peak.
01:36Flood waters swept through the station and surrounding landscape.
01:41It was surreal.
01:42It just came up so slowly, every hour, just a bit higher and a bit higher.
01:48Staff were evacuated to higher ground, but the station and nearby Aboriginal community
01:53were cut off by road for nearly four months.
01:56Another flood this year left the station and community isolated once again.
02:01I definitely felt like it was a little bit isolating.
02:05First couple of months of being here and just like not having that access to a big town
02:11even though it's a few hours away.
02:15The flood waters have now receded, leaving a transformed terrain teeming with life.
02:21It's almost become normal to see it so green and to have the river still where you water
02:26ski on it and some years you can't put the boat in at all and this year we've been skiing
02:30on it for months.
02:31After two strong wet seasons, this dusty landscape has completely transformed.
02:37The cattle are fat, there's good feed in the paddocks, the staff have a spring in their
02:43But as anyone who lives on the land knows, the next big dry could be right around the corner.
02:50As the sun sets, ringers are winding down, ready to face whatever tomorrow throws at them.
02:57There's a bit of light at the end of the tunnel starting to come through.
03:00I think we're going to be ok.
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