I was pretty fortunate last week to spend a few days in Mackay and the Whitsundays with my eldest sister and a few mates. It seemed I hadn't seen Sharyn since my Big Brother eviction or visited her in the years she has been living in North Queensland, which really made me stop and think, where has the time gone.

Putting guilt aside, we had a great catch up on all things, love, friends, work etc and she showed me an abridged version of life up there, which was awesome, as was meeting a few of her friends.

Soon Sharyn moves back south to the family farm and I am hoping she will take on not just the looking after of my sheep during my absences but also develop the White Dorper stud which I have been hoping to do for such a long time but have been unable due to the prolonged drought and my need to be everywhere at once. You see stud breeding takes a hell of a lot of care and attention, which for the past two years I have been spreading too thinly. By the way, if you don't know what the difference a stud is to what I do now. it's kinda like having a general population and having just supermodels breed with each other.

After being shot through to Shute Harbour, Sharyn dropped me off to the ferry to head across to Hamilton Island, where I was to meet up with mates Brian, Shannon and Paulini (for the record, yes it is the Idol famous one, and her name is pronounced "POWlini"), who were on the island as part of the Century 21 conference.

Brian organised an insane day where we jet-boated and paraglided around the Whitsundays. We had a ball, to say the least, and thanks to Brian?s work with the resort, it didn?t cost a cent?which always helps when you are just staying above water.

Paragliding is something I have always wanted to do, and it could not have been more better. Effortlessly gliding through the air is one of the best things I have ever experienced, as was the next day snorkeling and fish feeding at Whitehaven Beach which was on my 1000 things to do before I die list.

Stacking so much in only a day and a half, we just made our flight out, which although the airport is on an island smaller than my house paddock, we almost missed?which is in form for me? However, I have found that Paulini (that's POWlini) is actually as bad, if not worse, than me at missing flights and losing phones, which is so good to know that I am not alone in the "are you serious, how can you" group of people.

Arriving back in southern Queensland saw a few days of getting on top of the office work and attending the Brisbane Queer Film Festival opening which I must say did have a few good shorts but some very off-putting and horrendous ones. However, I have it on good authority that the actual films are brilliant?so am a little upset I won't get to see them.

So the last few days have seen me running between Brisbane and the Gold Coast tying up contracts and meeting customers as well as last minute packing up of my office, which is very sad. It has been an amazing six months setting up the offices and processing facility on the Gold Coast for Farmer Dave Free Range Lamb, but the business has reached a point where the team is well and truly on top of it.. with a fantastic head butcher in Stu, an operations manager who never seems not to be at work in Peter, our online genius in Tim, and a new accounts lady.. the lovely and super able Nicole, as well as the marketeers.

I was supposed to spend the week on the property, getting everything ready for my sister to be able to take it on, as well as add some finishing touches to the new sheep yards by installing new, state-of-the-art drafting and weighing apparatus. However, with the onset of so many issues, I have been held up in the Gold Coast officem, albeit a packed up office, trying to procure more breeding stock to ensure the growing demands on my supply, as well as lambs for the coming week.

Due to the re-emergence of drought, good lamb supply is getting very tight for the quality we deal in. So still here at 10pm, with the seven-hour drive home ahead of me, I am a little stressed, but as always some strange act of the universe will occur and as always I will have the best possible lamb available for our now seven Farmers Markets this weekend and our loyal online customers, as well as the restaurants we supply, whose orders just keep getting bigger. With me going away, I am trying to ensure our supplies match our growth in demand for the next months.

Amongst trying to pack up, ensure supply, redesign the farm to cope with another dry winter, and catch up with friends and family, I have found that I have been unable to keep my promises of catching up with everyone?so I hope over time I can make it up to those whom I have let down.

But for me there is no reason to whinge or complain, just get in a drive and hopefully on the way that breakthrough will occur on the matter of stock supply.

By the way, I won't be writing for a while now, as I will be out on the farm, busy as a blue-arsed fly tomorrow, and then drive south on a mission to grow what we have started? firstly to Newcastle, then to Sydney, then to Orange, then to Cowra, and finally Melbourne by Monday, where we start the new chapter of Farmer Dave in the Big Smoke!