Leaving Drover's Run

Many of you don't know that I have been spending a lot of time visiting Drover's Run lately.  Drover's Run is a working sheep and cattle station in Australia, near Adelaide.  No I haven't really been to Australia, but I stumbled upon this great Australian TV show on Hulu called McLeod's Daughters.  Basically Claire, the eldest daughter grew up at Drover's and is running it after the death of her father.  Her half sister Tess who has been away from Drover's since she was a small child returns to collect her inheritance, thinking Claire will buy her half of the property. But Drover's is not running at a profit, and Tess ends up staying on with Claire to help run the station business.

There is so much that appeals to me about the show.  The station, being run by all women with just occasional assistance from the very handsome  Ryan brothers at the stations down the road -  and of course the assistance is reciprocal. The horses and real riding by the characters.  The fairly realistic portrayal of the difficulties of farming - vet's bills, weather ills, and the all to familiar to me fences down and needing repair.  The characters are fallible yet loyal, hardworking and fun.  The show is not afraid to veer off into the silly, the romantic or the dramatic so there is a wide variety among the episodes but it is all one cohesive story.  Until now.

I've been pondering "leaving" Drover's Run because it is about to change drastically.  2 of my favorite characters have left the show at the end of the third season, and I just can't imagine how it could have the same heart without them.  Plus I cheated and looked ahead and saw that there are more major cast changes coming.  Reviews on Amazon claim that the show is still good but not the same and not quite as good after the first 3 seasons.  I have been in a dilemma - keep watching and give it a try?  Stop while it is still good?  Or maybe even go back and start over and decide next time I get to this point?

I can totally imagine myself in there alongside Tess and Claire as they "drench" the sheep, "muster" the cattle, and tangle with the barbed wire fences, and agonize over the vet bills.  ( I actually do have real life experience with fences and vet bills from my horsey days).  I want to flirt with Alex and Nick, and attend the barbecues and tennis parties with all of the them.  I want to move into the bunkhouse in the room next to Becky and help Meg in the garden.

You may be thinking I take TV shows too seriously, and I have, from time to time.  But there really is something special about this one, and I am dreading the major changes coming to it.  I think I will just take a little break from life at Drover's Run, and then maybe start all over again in a few months.  It's not real life after all.  Maybe I will just continue on the adventures in my own mind for now!  I can always decide to return later.