Aart and Jos Dronkers visited their Rotary friends Karin and Jim Mitchell during their trip in Australia from October 26 – December 4, 2017. Jim Mitchell was attending the districts conference in May 2016 in Yakima when Jim, Aart & Jos met during dinner and they connected well. It seemed like an excellent opportunity to enjoy time with Jim and his wife Karin while traveling in Australia and at the same time experience a real Australian sheep farm in the famous Barossa Valley. The Mitchells live in a truly unique setting. Firstly the Barossa Valley is beautiful and one of the prime wine regions in Australia. Some exclusive wines from St. Hugo and Double Barrel Jacob’s Creek come from this valley.
Rotarians, Jim and Aart, Karin and Jos exchanging Rotary memorabilia and enjoying the Jacob’s Creek Double Barrell!
Some exclusive wines from St. Hugo and Double Barrel Jacob’s Creek come from this valley. Secondly it is prime sheep grazing territory. Jim and Karin Mitchell have a farm with no less than 4000 Merino sheep on 1730 acres of land.
They produce some 80-85 bales of wool every year, each bale weighing 200 kilos, so that is a total of about 15,00020,000 kilos. They sheer their sheep once a year with the help of professional sheep shearers, usually 8 people for 8 days. They also collect their own drinking water from rain with a big tank on the roof of their house. There are 2 cottages on the property, both some 100 years old. Jim and Karin live in the main cottage, their son Peter and his family live in the other cottage. The word cottage is somewhat deceiving, more like an old English word for “big home”, because theirs are big. Peter will eventually take over the farm because it is becoming simply too much work for Jim & Karin. Jim and Karin are very innovative and proud people. They do virtually everything themselves, including grading and maintaining the long gravel road leading from the main road to their home. They also own 14 Land Rovers, some fully operational some not (we have seen them all) that they use for work on their land and for spare parts to fix other vehicles.
Below are some photos to give an idea of the uniqueness of the area they live in:
Below are some photos to give an idea of the uniqueness of the area they live in:
Top - Life is good in the Barossa Valley.
Bottom Left - Son Peter with his favorite sheep
Bottom Centre and Right - The Main Cottage and the extensive and spacial beauty of the Mitchell Barossa Valley farm