Jimmy Wood oversees the country's largest operating sheep station, but this year decided it was six shearing seasons and out for his time at Rawlinna.
"Ironically, I took the last mob away on the final day of shearing, mostly for personal nostalgic value and it was a good way to finish," Mr Wood said.
"It is without a doubt, the most challenging job I have ever had and also the most rewarding by about 100-fold on both accounts.
"The past six years have been a fun ride, but now is the time for me to get off, so someone else can have a crack."
Mr Wood is due to finish up at the end of next month, and will move to Victoria, with plans of running six Merinos across eight hectares.
That is in stark contrast to more than 30,000-head and about one million hectares or - to put it into perspective - an area roughly the size of Sydney.
Working on sprawling red dirt and far flung corners of the Nullarbor Plain, 400 kilometres east of Kalgoorlie, is not for the faint-hearted.
The days are long and hot, with temperatures often tipping to more than 40 degrees Celsius, it is isolated and the job is both physically and mentally demanding.
"I did want to do it for a few more years, but I reckon I would have run out of steam," Mr Wood said.
"In my time here we have shorn just over 200,000 Merinos and have come a long way in the changes we have made.
"While I'll certainly miss it, I'm also pretty tired and looking forward to retirement.
"I want to give a great thankyou to my wife Tallaya for all her support over the years and my kids for immersing themselves in Rawlinna as much as I have."
Mr Wood took charge of Rawlinna station in 2018, however was no stranger to the land.
Having grown up on the Nullarbor at Madura Plains station (known as Moonera until 1987), he likened the move to returning home, after some time away.
"I spent my early childhood at Moonera and then when I was about 17 years old my father Ross moved to Rawlinna," Mr Wood said.
"My dad managed Rawlinna from 1998-2007 and I'd help out for a couple of months here and there during uni breaks.
"I spent a few years living in Perth as a young bloke, studied geophysics at uni and worked in the exploration industry as a consultant geophysicist for about 10 years.
"I travelled the world with my work and Tallaya and I raised a family in Melbourne before moving back to the bush.
"I was born to this country - the Nullarbor gets in your blood and you know how to deal with it."
Ross returned to Rawlinna for a short six-month stint early in 2018, before Mr Wood arrived and after then manager Michael Simons retired.
As can be expected, overseeing the largest operating sheep station in Australia has come with its fair share of challenges.
And it wasn't long before Mr Wood realised those challenges, particularly as Rawlinna was behind the eight ball in terms of infrastructure and control of the flock.
He found the biggest challenge was upgrading the aged 380km outback wild dog fence, which surrounded the station.
However it was also his single greatest achievement, with the most measurable result.
"I ran Rawlinna with 30 years experience on the Nullarbor," Mr Wood said.
"That was certainly a big advantage compared to anyone else and worked in my favour when overcoming problems.
"I found rabbits in my hat that I didn't even realise were there until I needed them."
In 2018, the fence was in a state of disrepair with about 60 holes in the netting.
The wild dog problem had proven catastrophic for the flock, with lambing percentages dropping to as low as three per cent with six or seven lambs coming out of some paddocks in 2019.
These figures were not helped by the drought.
During his time as manager, Mr Wood invested significant time and money into fixing the 60 year-old fence with a complete refurbishment of the northern netting along the transline.
This included walking every metre of netting, more than 50pc of it twice, to keep an eye out for any holes and weak spots and the spending of $1.5m on netting upgrades.
"The entire netting was in very poor condition when I arrived, now there's only about 30-40km out of 400km that are weak," Mr Wood said.
"We have done about 90km of complete upgrade and probably about another 120km of rejuvenation work - that has gone a long way into making the netting secure.
"Over the past four years, and for the first time in a long time, there have even been months where we've had no wild dogs at Rawlinna."
Mr Wood said it spoke volumes that the last three sheep stations left on the Nullarbor, including Madura Plains, Arrubbidy and Rawlinna, all had netting fences to exclude wild dogs.
"We are the only ones left running sheep with any significant numbers and we are the only ones with netting, which is why we can do it," he said.
Unfortunately in more recent times, dogs have found their way onto the station by kangaroos punching holes and wombats digging under the fence.
It is a sad sight for Mr Wood, who would have liked to have seen the job completed before his time at the station ended.
"I'm sure the new owners will take it to the next level and finish what I started," he said.
"If they can, it is absolutely possible Rawlinna can be dog free forever.
"There is no reason why there should be any dogs inside and I think I have proven the concept - you just have to get the netting right."
Mr Wood said years of dog attacks had taken their toll on the flock, in particular in 2020 when numbers dropped from 50,000 to 26,500-head.
Two years later, and as work was done to the fencing, numbers rose to more than 35,000 and lambing improved - even in years of below average rainfall.
"I'm sure sheep numbers will come back," he said.
"It definitely isn't a hopeless situation - it will just take a little more work on the netting and the solution will be there."
Mr Wood added, "if you look at the annual rainfall at Rawlinna we are still below average and have been for six years.
"This year's start was the best I've seen in my time on the Nullarbor and the station is well set-up for a very good year if it can jag a March-April rainfall event.
"We have green feed popping up all over the place, even right now sheep heading home from shearing are going to green paddocks and are in a position to lamb very well this year.
"It is bittersweet given I am leaving, but I would much rather see it happen for the new owners."
Mr Wood has also embraced new technology, with Farmbot Monitoring Solutions' remote water monitoring systems proving a gamechanger and timesaver.
Given Rawlinna's sheer size, this has made management easier.
Deep bores are used as a source of water, ranging from about 60 metres up to the top end to more than 150m down in the south of the station.
Almost two-thirds of those sites are powered by windmills and a few solar sources have been installed.
"I am probably one of the few people who like windmills, they do a good job on the Nullarbor," Mr Wood said.
"I understand they are difficult to work on and not many people want to climb them these days.
"It will be sad to see them go, but I understand that everything has to change one day."
When Mr Wood started there were three Farmbot systems installed at Rawlinna, now there are about 13 and they are being used to the station's advantage, with staff learning to read trends and proving that many miles and time can be saved by watching the Farmbot for water levels, leaks and faults in near real-time.
"Even just a few days ago, we discovered a trough float jammed on a very important water point," Mr Wood said.
"At 7pm that night we were able to go and fix the problem, before the tank was empty.
"Had we not done that we would have been struggling for the next week or so to catch the tank back up.
"It means we don't have to recover all the time because we can see the problems and get on top of them before they get worse."
Mr Wood said staff had been able to buy themselves an extra day before checking key water points if the monitoring system was telling them everything was travelling OK.
He said it had proven particularly useful at one water point, where a Farmbot camera was being trialled.
"I can see that the trough is clean, there are no sheep stuck or hanging around wanting a drink, and I can see how full the tank is.
"It is a pretty useful piece of gear because it could take an hour driving over really rocky road to get to that area, which no one wants to do.
"That has been a big step forward."
For Mr Wood retaining key staff and developing young people has been another triumph in his time at Rawlinna, as had improving the quality of sheep and yards.
At the moment there is a solid team working at the station, who have made life easy.
"It takes a lot of time developing and retaining staff and getting them excited about the place," he said.
"But it has been rewarding every time I have pulled it off.
"I think the shearers have enjoyed shearing and have certainly noticed an improvement in the flock."
Mr Wood has also revamped infrastructure and facilities around the woolshed to make conditions better for workers.
Driving around the station he is proud of what has been achieved.
"We have gas hot water setups going and have fixed a lot of issues in the shed, with buggered gates and worn out floor boards," he said.
"I can drive around and see our work, it isn't necessarily glaring in your face, but if you have had anything to do with stations it is pretty obvious.
"There are very few tanks leaking, troughs aren't overflowing everywhere, plumbing is in good condition, yards have been stood up, fences resurrected and importantly the animals are able to easily and reliably get a drink.
"There also aren't as many fences on the ground anymore."
In true form, Mr Wood smashed out his final shearing, which was finished in just over two and a half weeks.
Back in the day Rawlinna shearings were known to drag out to 10-12 weeks, however Mr Wood has made a name for himself for being able to get through the operation quickly.
He said this was done by running a big number of shearers, with 14 of the 16 stands in action this year, and playing the long shots every time.
And it has been no easy feat, with temperatures peaking at more than 45 degrees on some days and staff working massive hours.
"You have to push yourself everyday and before you know it shearing is over and everyone can take a breath," Mr Wood said.
"Well done to all of those who helped me through my final shearing."
This shearing busy hands of both new and old gun shearers worked their way through 31,800 Merinos, including 7000 lambs.
Numbers were slightly higher than last year, when 30,900 and 5500 lambs were shorn, and the wool cut was down with 678 bales.
Mr Wood said the reduced wool clip was a direct result of the dry season, with just 86mm recorded for the whole of last year at the top end of Rawlinna.
"Some of the ewes from the northern end of Rawlinna were flat out cutting three kilograms of wool, whereas the ones down south were performing quite well and cutting six-and-a-half kilograms," he said.
"You can absolutely see the impact of those seasonal conditions."
As of last week, freshly shorn sheep from the station's north and most of those from the south west had returned home to their paddocks.
There was about a week or two left of sheep placement and a few sale sheep to deal with, before everything quietened down at the station.
Mr Wood is set to spend his last couple of months at Rawlinna catching up on maintenance work, keeping water infrastructure in check and giving windmills another oil ahead of lambing in June.
By then the new manager would have taken over and had a couple of months to get used to life on the Nullarbor's wide open spaces.
Last season's overall average lambing percentage was 50pc, however there were a few areas northwest of Rawlinna where they reached 110-112pc.
"That was from thunderstorms putting a bit of herbage on the ground and also very low stocking rates," Mr Wood said.
"I think there will only be about 15,000 lambing ewes this year, which is fewer than we normally would carry.
"Having a bit of an easy spell certainly won't hurt the country.
"We have been running some very low stocking rates up the top of Rawlinna where it was dry for a long time and I think it will pay dividends in very good lambing percentages.
"If you run your sheep light they will run very well."
After six consecutive dry years, the heavens finally opened for Rawlinna in January, soaking the bone dry country with almost 100mm rainfall in just 36 hours.
It was a sight Mr Wood had not seen before.
"I can't remember ever seeing so much rain at Rawlinna and certainly not in the six years I've been managing it," he said.
"We recorded 86mm for the whole of 2023 and now we are over 100mm for this year - and that was before the end of the first month.
"With all that summer rain the country is looking fresh and I think running low stocking rates will be a recipe for good lambing percentages.
"It does add a little more workload because the sheep are spread right out, but that's the nature of pastoral country - you spread them right out and they will do well for you."
Mr Wood said the top end of Rawlinna had responded very quickly to the downpour and was set up for a good season.
He said while summer rain didn't grow fields of grass, it did put green pick on the ground and helped with herbage - just in time for the new manager.
"There will be a difference in the stock, there's plenty for them to pick on and, without lambs at foot, the ewes are free to roam and graze.
"The end of April isn't a bad time for someone to take over.
"Hopefully it will be nice and cool, the sheep will be back home and it will be a pretty cruisy run.
"We are just waiting for the pastoral lease transfer, that is holding up the sale, but should happen in the next couple of months."
And the first thing Mr Wood has planned when he arrives at his property in Victoria?
Ironically, and similarly to when he arrived at Rawlinna, he has to fix the fences.
"Then I can get the six Merinos," he said.
"They will keep me occupied, and I am very much looking forward to spending some more time with my family."
