Now this is Australia!

They made it!!!!! Danielle and I met the "oldies" (as they've been deemed) Saturday (12/13/08) afternoon and we've hit the ground running! Although it was raining we decided to head into Melbourne anyway and get some food and see what we could find. We ended up eating and seeing the movie Australia as it was raining and cold so we wanted to chose and inside event. The movie was beautiful! I don't care what the critics say it was so good and I recommend going out and watching it!

The oldies heading to Cairns! We have SO much luggage! Danielle and I are packed for a year guys... what's your excuse! hahahaha back aches and pulled muscles later we all made it relatively in one piece.

Dad and I standing on the balcony of our apartment in Cairns! Check out that view! Cairns was so awesome! We spent three days there and although it was hot and sticky due to the 85% humidity 3 days was NOT near enough time!

Our first day out we walked to the marina which was a stone throw away from our apartment and we found this amazing wooden ship so we expored closer... we ended up getting a tour and found out it's the Duyfken which was a Dutch merchant ship and helped aid in the success of the beginning of Australias settlement. It was so cool inside! We got to explore the whole ship! Just amazing! And we could touch anything we wanted! Just look below!

Watch out you scallywags!

The next day we took off for the Great Barrier Reef! Beautiful just doesn't cut it but it's all I have! We took the Quicksilver out to the reef and once we got there our adventures began!

Lycra suits to protect us from jellyfish stings... we look like smurfs I know! Hahahaha Oh Dear! This is us suiting up for snorkling but first!

The oldies went on a helicopter tour of the reef! Lucky! I'm happy they got to though!

Dad looks so happy!

While they were braving the air we were braving the ocean!!!! Snorkeling was SO AWESOME!!!! I didn't think I would do it as I'm SO scared of big water and SHARKS but I just put on my sexy smurf suit and said why not! I jumped in that water like it was a kiddy pool and the next thing I knew I was looking at the amazing coral and ocean life below me! Just breath taking! We took pictures with a waterproof camera but those aren't developed yet. I just can't believe how amazing it was!

Then!!!!! Then we went on an ocean walk! Oh my goodness that was amazing! we put on wet suits and this huge helmet as you can see in the picture above of my Auntie Cata and we walked under the ocean! That's right WALKED! Poor dad couldn't go because of his heart surgery a year ago so he went on a semi submarine tour of the coral reef around the docking station. He got to see a sea turtle!!!! As we walked under the ocean we got to hold a sea cucumber, coral, sea anenimi... sp? and a conch shell! The guide fed the fish while we were down there too and they just came in droves! They were so awesome! They crowded around all of us just swimming like we weren't even there! It was amazing!

The gang! We all had so much fun at the reef! The observatory was amazing the food was delicious and the reef was just breath taking!

The next day we went on a train tour of the rainforest which ended at Kurranda where we caught a sky rail over the canopy down to the bottom. The rainforest is beautiful and although we didn't get to see the Barron Falls at their fullest we enjoyed in nonetheless.

Us on the train... and after we got off the train!

That's right we got to hold Koalas!!!!! This is Princess and we each got a chance to hold her and cuddle her and take pictures! So amazing!

It gets better!!!!!!

Feeding Kangaroos!!!!! We each got a turn and there were so many to feed we were all speechless!

Ranger Dave where were you?!?!?! We waited and waited and you never showed up! :(

We took the SkyRail from Kurranda down to the bottom of the mountains of Rainforest to the Tjapukai Aboriginal Culture Park where we had lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the grounds.

The afternoon started with an Aboriginal Dance. They showed us traditional dances and fire dances as well as other fun dances which Danielle and I were picked to participate in. Hahaha it was fun as you can see from the picture up top. We did our best but I don't think they will be recruiting us any time soon! After that we got to try our hand at throwing spears and boomerangs! It was hard but so fun and after that we got a lesson on their food and the history of the didgeridoo. It was all very facinating. We watched a special on their creation story how they percieve the world to have begun and then the history of their people which was really sad because all they suffered and still suffer at the hands of those that don't understand them.

Dad got recruited!

That night we cooked at the apartment and enjoyed each others company and headed to Sydney the next day... bye Cairns we will miss you!

This is Danielle and I at Manly Beach. We had an all day bus tour of the city sites. The beaches are beautiful and this one in particular has pine trees surrounding the sand. Sorry I didn't get them in this shot.

We took a cruise of the harbor at lunch where we got to eat and take pictures of the harbor bridge and opera house! You can see them in the background! Although the day was full of interesting things to see and do we were spent from our time in Cairns...

"All toured out"

You don't even have to ask if the water is cold! hahahaha

Bondi Beach

The next day we drove up to the Blue Mountains where we saw the three sisters!!! We actually got to walk out to see them up close and personal. Danielle and I went down the back of the sisters on the Giant Stair Way which was 900 steps one way! We didn't realize how steep it really was until we had to climb back up! Ugh! It was amazing though!

We left Sydney on saturday and headed south towards Canberra. We stopped in Wollongong and saw the Nan Tien Temple. It's the largest Buddhist temple in the southern hemisphere. It was so inspiring and just down right breath taking. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the shrine but got to go inside and have a guided tour by this amazing 63 year old man who loves his job! After our tour we got to hike up a hill behind the temple and ring the gratitude bell... you are to thank God for the things you are blessed with then ring the bell 3 times and make a "wish" offering up your prayer to God.

The bell is huge!

Beautiful!

We stayed in Wollongong and got another apartment... I like traveling with the oldies! It had a washer and dryer so we did our laundry....

and some how my clean panties got flung into the toilet!!!! There is never a dull moment around here folks!!!!

We got back on the road today and headed to Canberra but not before stopping at Pebbly Beach where we saw Kangaroos on the beach just lapping up the sun! These are not like the roos we fed at the park as they are wild animals and below is the roo that almost killed Uncle John!

Isn't he huge!?!?!?!? He walked straight up to Uncle John and scared us all we thought he was a gonner! Uncle John just stood still and when he thought it was safe he started walking away slowly... I don't know how we did it but we managed to get out of there both excited and scared!

Well that's it for now tomorrow we discover Canberra! When I can I will update! Love ya!

Dip 'n Dots

Well surprisingly the last week of work sailed by like a blink of the eye! I'm shocked as it's 1 bad to have workers working for you when you are getting prepared to go on holiday and 2 it sucks to be the worker as it always seems the week drags on and you have no desire to work or deal with the task handed to you. But lo and behold it did not turn out to be that bad! Probably because we got to throw out fertilizer onto the young vines which included sitting on the back of a tractor scooping up hand fulls of these blue dip 'n dot sized pebbles. It was like being in a parade and throwing out candy to all the little kids! It was so fun! And our hands turned blue like a smurf. But mainly we were hungry for Dip 'n Dots as they looked like the bowl pictured above but all blue! It was very tempting to indulge especially in the intense heat but I don't quite think it would have been near as refreshing as we would have hoped! hahahaha
After that our 5 weeks of being out at the vineyard came full circle as we had to return to the block we trained at the start of our stay at Willra. So... you know what that means! Spiders ONCE again! The number of run ins were minimal to our first encounter with these young vines but needless to say still discouraging and yucky for lack of a better word! I would share with you the story of the face off I had with one mother spider but as I've been pointed out by my environmentally friendly friends I'm a heathen and an environmental vandal so I won't expose my crimes on a public forum such as this so I don't receive more scrutiny for my unkindly deeds.
On a much happier note I get to see my Daddy tomorrow and I'm oh so excited! Danielle has given the run down of our planned adventures so just click on her name to the right of the screen but I will of course keep you updated on our adventures as they happen or sometime after as I don't know my computer access abilities at the present moment. I'm excited my dad gets to come visit for Christmas this is our first overseas adventure together and I'm so excited he gets to experience Australia with us! My Auntie Cata and Uncle John are joining us as well and for all of you who know all of these individuals you can see we have some fun times ahead of us! Laughter all around!

Until next time!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Well we had Thanksgiving in the land of Oz! It turned out to be a good event some mishaps but overall a wonderful evening. We planned out our meal yesterday, puchased our goodies this morning organized everything and when Smyth came home after work we all got to work cooking and cleaning and preparing for our Thanksgiving Feast.

Danielle couldn't have Thanksgiving Dinner without sweet potatoes and marshmallows... Well they only have one kind of marshmallows half being vanilla and half raspberry... yuck! So we hand picked out the vanilla ones and ripped them to small bits and spread them on top. It sadly didn't end up too well the mallows turned very sugary and lumpy... A very sad Dani. :(I of course couldn't go without my corn bake... we thought that would be an easy dish but it turned out to be a lot harder than we thought. They don't make cornbread here so they didn't have the cornbread mix. So we thought we would look up how to make it from scratch... easy enough... think again corn meal is apparently not heard of here so I called my friend Dail and asked his opinion on what to do to make it work to our advantage. Knowing it wouldn't be the same but we needed it to at least be some what tasty. Well it turned out after all day of searching for the mysterious corn meal they stinking had it... it's just called Polenta and do you know what is said in the ingredients say?! Point blank Corn Meal! My word! When I asked if they had any corn meal they looked at me like I made up this thing. Apparently the Italians eat it and love it and use it for lots of meals but they just call it Polenta so since there is a huge population of Italians here they just happend to have it. Thanks Smyth for saving the day! I made my corn bake from scratch and it was mmmmmm mmmmm good!

Our final product minus the yams we forgot to put them on the table before we took the pic... oops! We had Chicken made with homemade stuffing by Smyth. Very good! Corn bake, sweet potatoes, rolls, mashed pumpkin... yum! and Fruit Salad with custard. Yum Yum all the way around... we forgot the greens but we didn't do too bad for our first time on our own!

It's dig in time! Bon apetit (sp?) we are really stuffed and are now cleaning up so I should get off the computer but I had to share our fun day. Thank you Smyth for letting us use your house, car and kitchen for this fun adventure.

I am thankful for all my family and friends that have supported me in this grand crazy plan of adventure I miss you all terribly and I can't wait to share all my stories and memories with you. I am thankful to have this opportunity to live life to the fullest and on the edge of the world. It's been a most amazing chapter in my life and it's something that will both change me and stick with me for the rest of my life.

Mushy gooshy time is over!

Did you notice my new profile pic. Smyth has this amazing didgeridoo and it has turtles all over it! So love it! The aboriginal culture is just amazing! It's bad luck for a woman to play it so I didn't even try ~ knowing my luck it would actually come true. Not taking any chances.

Well folks have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Love you all!

Muah!

The Apricot Crew

In order: Me, Irene hiding behind the lunch box, Seamus, Garry, Mich O'Tool, Warren, Antwon, Ursela McGregger, Danielle and Bob the dog

(he looks like Fozzy Bear from the Muppet Babies he is the sweetest dog!)

You may not be able to tell but Antwon has a shaved eyebrow and a lock of hair missing on the left side of his face... he passed out and "someone" mysteriously took it upon themselves to give him a make over. Well he is so funny about it he doesn't care about how he looks he just is annoyed that when he is taking a shower more water drips in his eye and it stings. Oh my this lot needs help. Too funny!

Apricots and Irish Adventures...

Well this last week has been a long one! We spent 9 days straight picking and packing Apricots. It was fun and very interesting but anything after 9 days is a little much! We were so tired by the end of that time we all barely spoke words to communicate to one another... just those tired half hearted grunts and nods of the head and quick flick of the hand. Garry the owner of Willra (the Farnsworth station we have been working on for the last month) hired 5 more backpackers to help us out on this endeavour! They were all from Ireland! 4 Lads and 1 Lass. Too much fun listening to them talk and banter with each other. What happens is you stand on this trailer with three different levels and the tractor pulls you along the inside of the orchard so you can pick all the apricots at all levels at once. You dump the contents into a box in front of you and when it's full you turn around and exchange it for an empty box placing the full one on these huge frames that are on the other side of the trailer! It's insane but so cool and I'm sure dangerous on some levels but once you've survived a motorbike crash you think you can survive anything so it's all good. Haha just kidding all you fuddy duddies out there! It wasn't that bad! We picked for a day and a half and then headed off to this packing shed which is basically a factory for fruit! I've never worked in a factory before but now I have a whole new appreciation for my parents as they have worked in one ~ hmmm come to think about it that's where they met and fell in love... awww how sweet! Well it came full circle for me and man it can be crazy! First you dump the fruit onto this conveyor belt and it travels through the picking spot where the bad ones get hand picked and thrown out. Then they travel down the wash line and get sprayed with water and sucked under a brush to clean them off then they are spit out onto a ramp where they fall onto these scales all lined up in this huge line that continuously moves and they get dropped off at each station according to their weight. They fall into a box and that's where you pull the bag over all the apricots when it's reached max weight and you pass them to the lid guy and he stackes them on a crate to go off to sale. It's very interesting. We had to make the boxes and lids before we got started and line the bottoms with bags. A very hands on job. Although it's not something I would want to do forever it was very interesting to see how the process works and I was happy to be a part of it.

Our new Irish friends were so fun. As we picked apricots they started playing this question game to pass the time. I feel that I've played it before and it won't be anything new to you but with Irish accents and banter it made it oh so memerable and funny! The person that is "it" picks a topic like, Film, Sport, TV Program, Thing, Entertainment... whatever you wish and then everyone else asks yes or no questions to try and guess what you have selected from that topic. You can only ask yes or no questions and if someone doesn't then you can't answer there question... well that was hard for everyone as they started to explain things or answer in full sentences as apposed to one word... Yes or No! Then instead of saying yes or no they would say... It's debatable... They would lose it over that one! "You can't say that either stick to an answer yes or no or don't pick something that's too hard to get!" They got all worked up about every answer and question. Needless to say it sure did pass the time. In addition to these fun afternoons of endless questions most every morning they came to work hung over from the night before. So the boss would have fun picking on them for looking like crap. We would hear all the stories of the night before which usually drunk stories don't impress me but when said in an Irish accent apparently everything is funny to me. Needless to say we totally enjoyed their company and stories and high energy and it was fun to have new people to work with. We now get the rest of the week off ~ we are not complaining as it's Thanksgiving and you guys are off for holiday so we feel like we get to do the same. We are cooking for a friend tonight and sharing Thanksgiving with her at her home. So I should probably get off this computer and get to cooking! Yikes my first Thanksgiving meal to prepare! I'm so nervous! We will let you know how it turns out!

Later Mates!

Talent in Australia

Check out this youtube link:

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=RR72wOt3oBU

Australian Idol is my new thing to watch while living in the land down under and I think you all should take a look at this clip! Just amazing and so fun!

They had a Micheal Jackson night and this Wes (pronounced Wez) kid is just amazing. I think he is going to win and rightfully so he has an amazing voice and can perform like no other! He did What a Wonderful World last week and it brought me to tears.

I must make a correction about a blog or so ago. The Rugby Anthem "Hero" is not from Bette Midler but Mariah Carey. Sorry fro the confusion. Regardless it doesn't fit and was poorly sung. Oh well can't be any worse than Rosanne Barr singing the National Anthem at the World Series.

Lord of the Flies

In addition to the Spiders we now have to deal with these horrible little black flies now that it's warming up. They drive me insane! They play cards on your nose, try to search for gold in your nostrils, try to get a drink from your eyeballs, go on searching expeditions on your forehead, cheeks or neck and duck for cover from the wind in your ear! It's repulsive! The more you chase them with your hands the more vigilant they get. Apparently you have to blow at them with your mouth because they hate wind and if that doesn't work you supposedly just get used to them and they don't bother you much. WHATEVER! I can't stand them. They camp out on your back in a huge colony and they take turn with their enemy attack! It's so yuck! I absolutley hate it when one gets trapped in between my sunglasses and my eyeball and they freak out buzzing back and forth between my eye and lens! Can you imagine! Well I don't have to it happens at least every hour! Yeesh! But I guess that's just one of the set backs. Everything else is good. It feels like Cali here to be honest. The Golden wheat fields and the bright green grape leaves not to mention all the snails and lady bugs and pincher bugs. I haven't seen so many since I moved from Cali. It's because of the Golden Fields and Green leaves that you see everywhere that Australias colors are Green and Gold it's kind of cool ~ they are the colors of the greatest Football team EVER! So I guess it's just as well! Go Pack Go!

I feel really comfortable here in Robinvale as one the town has my sisters name in it and the street names are from all of my favorite people... Ronald, Robin, George, Morris, and David! So needless to say I feel very safe and welcome here not that street signs are my only rule of thumb but it helps. :)

So we have a new president... we didn't get to vote but apparently it wouldn't have mattered anyway. And can you believe it our ballots came in the day after the election! Seriously! We are keeping them because they have historical significance so that's kind of cool. Would have really liked to vote though. I'm not a very political person but I guess we will see what happens with all of this now. It's interesting being here during all of this though. The election was a really big deal to the rest of the world. People here had rallies and everything it was very interesting and they can't even vote but it was important to them to see the outcome because as they all say here "America sneezes and the rest of the world catches Pnemonia." I hope that Obama lives up to the expectations that the rest of the world has placed on him because they are looking to all be saved by his acceptance into the White House. I would have prefered Palin but she wasn't running for President so I guess we will have to see what happens in 2012... Here's hoping!

Grapes of Wrath!!!

Wine grapes and spiders aren't a great combination! The wine grapes aren't the problem it's the spiders that creep me out!!!! If you don't know this already I am absolutely petrified of spiders. There is nothing cute or endering or fun about the creatures I can't STAND THEM!!! You can get a play by play of the whole thing if you go to Danielle's Blog www.livingthedreamintheoutback.blogspot.com ~ at any rate besides the spiders we are in a pretty cool set up. Living at a really cool house during the week of work, good food, good company and great experiences. Everywhere we go people want to show us amazing things and really educate us on what they do and all that goes into it. It's great! We even got shear a bit of a sheep it was so fun. One day we will have to upload some pics because we have some great shots. It's beautiful out here and there is just so much to see. Much different landscape than the outback and when I'm not sneezing from hay fever or peering through teared up eyes it really is just amazing and gorgeous! :) Australians are very trusting that or we look like trustworthy yanks because it seems everywhere we go we stay for one night and then the next night everyone has to leave for one reason or another. So we are either house sitting and come and go as we please or we have the place to ourselves for the night and just relax and veg like we are sitting at home. It's really nice because after a while chit chat to fill the silence gets a bit old. It's sweet but I hate it when people feel they need to entertain us all the time. I feel bad for them and sometimes I just like the peace and quiet. So house sitting is fine by me!!! :)

We are officially 17 hours into the future due to your fall back and our spring forward! Crazy stuff!

During all this house sitting and surfing the channels Danielle and I have grown to love a new sport. International Rules!!! It's a mix of Gailic Football and Australian Rules Football! They come together each year and change up the rules so that one team doesn't have the advantage and they play this amazing fast paces full on game. It's hard to explain but you can score 3 different ways with 4 goals and it combines soccer, rugby, volleyball and basketball in the most interesting way. You should look it up I know there are some youtube clips of it. If you like sports I think this will entertain you. Ireland beat Australia this year but not by a huge margine. Both tests were very close and intense. I wish I could watch more but it's sadly over. As most sproting events are coming to a close. We watch the Rugby League World Cup round against Australia and New Zealand the other night and it was very interesting as their Rugby Leauge Anthom is Hero... by Bette Midler... hahahahaha I know you are laughing now as Danielle and I just looked at eachother and busted a gut over the whole thing. It was the most interesting rendition not to mention it's RUGBY!!! Bette has no place in Rugby! I love the lady and her songs but come one give me some pump you up music and get this party started type stuff not HERO! hahahaha we had a good laugh! We did however get to see the Haka and that was brilliant. Too bad it didn't help them out a little more. They were slaughtered by Australia ~ not even a close match. You should youtube the Haka as well it's so amazing! I love the Moari people. They really are a beautiful and amazing race.

Well it's almost election day and we sadly cannot vote. We were silly (for lack of a better word) and didn't figure out all the stuff with the embasy before we left and when we were without internet in the outback we thought we had time but alas we ran out of every option and so we go uncounted in this election. We are sad and disappointed. It's most upsetting. So please feel free to email us and tell us what neglectful Americans we have become and make sure to let us know who wins.

Well I miut sign off now as I am now depressed and am going to go drown my sorrows in ice cream and a brownie.

The Chronicles of an Outback Misfit

Well it's time I give you all a real blog and I do apologize for the lack of blog I left you with last time. My world is definitely different. In the outback I got used to getting up at 5:40am each morning (with no problem I might add! It could be because I don't have to dress up and do my hair... sorry Dail that part just sucked. I now just thrown on my jeans and t-shirt and trusty hat and I'm out the door!) I put in a 12 to 14 hour day of physical labor. I might add that I'm getting quite strong I was very impressed with myself the other day when I hoisted a 12x4 sheet of tin on top of a shed we were building for a cattle yard. But enough of me bragging about myself hahaha! We then return to the pub for at least another 3 hours of serving drinks making dinners and listening to yammerings of drunk and impaired individuals. Then it's off to bed to wake up to do it all agian the next day! All this physical labor and time outside has contributed to the most amazing tan! Sadly it's just from under my sunglasses to the nape of my neck and from my elbows to my wrists as I wear gloves all the time because it gets SO hot that when you pick up tools they burn the snot out of you! But it's a tan nonetheless and it apparently brings out the native american features in me because I've been asked so many times what tribe I belong to. Oh my! Well it's either that or if I'm from Canadia... yep that's right Canadia! Yeesh these bush people are all over the place. First of all Canadian! I don't sound anything like they do - maybe if i was from North Dakota or Wisonsin "Don't ya know!" And second of all it's CANADA!!!! Well I guess it's no different than the guy who wants to learn to speak Mexican (oh how my family will appreciat that!) Then there are things like the "Worstest trip I've ever taken", Betterer, or More Betterer! Can you believe it!? And that's not just tied to one person they ALL say it! Along with Fitted and redicleeous! I'm not making this up people! Actually if you want to pronounce it in Assie Dialect all your er's should sound like A's and if you want to further your Aussie lingo take the word my out of your vocabulary entirely and replace it with me. Hahahaha it's been interesting by all means. Oh and the word thing is pronounced thinK ~ they do know that's already a word right? It all cracks me up and I might need some intervention when I get home... to think my English was already bad now it might end up getting much worse after the next 9 months of being out here. We shall see. The alphabet is a little different as well but only two letters. H and Z. When spelling out words they say Hey-t-ch for H and Zed for Z. But enough of that you want adventure stories don't you? Well I have them!

I ate Kangaroo for the first time the other day! There are professional roo shooters and they help maintain the over population of the kangaroo's. Sounds cruel I know but if they don't they start choking out the land and the cattle suffer therefor the station owner suffers financially. Roo shooters are regulated and can't just go crazy killing roo's they have to only get a certain breed and then only a certain number per month or they get docked. It's a really good system if you have to go to those extreams and even though I couldn't do it I understand the need. I've been out here long enough to see the effects and need for it so please believe me when I say it's not inhumane. Anyway some process their own meat and just as my Uncle George makes elk and buffalo sausage they make roo sausage and so I had a cook out at lunch out on the line with some blokes not thinking anything of it and in the middle of me eating my very good sausage by the way they asked how I liked it and I said it was actually quite delicious. The then informed me what I was eating and to be honest I wasn't grossed out of repulsed. So well done me for trying something new and liking it and well done them for doing such a good job! Would eat it again!

So I must say that we are now in Victoria and are enjoying a week of relaxation and comfort. But we did not get here without some near misses and some crazy adventures. You may think I'm about to tell you about a travel story or something but those two days of travel were quite nice and very smooth thanks to the well run air system and train and bus systems of Australia. I'm going to tell you about Danielle and I's near miss at death! I'm not exagerating here it was VERY scary!!!! It all started on a very dark and stormy day... no lie! It was so black with clouds outside and thunder and lightening was everywhere but surprisingly not over us directly. We were in the middle of a cirlce that was untouched by the bad weather but it was all around us. Very strange. It was nice outside because of all this and wasn't hot as it started getting boiling outside so Dani and I decided to go on a walk. We saw the goats that live in the dam paddock and thought we could maybe muster them in but as they saw us approaching they ran the other way. No worries we didn't really care we just thought we would help. We think we are cool in the middle of no where and just chit chat and walk well out of no where comes the camel. Dani already doesn't like him and so I place myself in betweent he two and start petting it's face and talking to him. He likes it for a minute and then decides he doesn't like us at all and starts kicking and stomping and freaking out. We don't know what to do and know we can't run so we play it cool and try to leave he rounds on us and does his fit all over again. Yikes! We try to leave again this happens 4 times until we see Jonesy and she tries to help us out. He ignores her and starts chasing me around the tennis courts. I know I have to find cover because he is much faster than I am and with stomp me if he can get close enough. I find a light pole and run around it keeping it between me and the camel. He gets bored with this and goes to find Dani who is taking shelter under a tree. Chases her and get the pack of her shirt at one point but then drops her and leaves for me again. He does this over and over and it gets worse and worse each time he starts frothing at the mouth and I'm feaking. Jonesy picks up a stick and starts hitting him and he retreats to the woods. Dani and I make a run for it and all is safe after that. But man get your heart pumping! Too much for me friends! The next day we leave and now we can laugh at it but I don't know if it was the thunder or if he doesn't like Americans but it was VERY not funny at the time!

Well that's all I have for now folks. I will let you know more when I know more.

Until next time. :)

Cabin Fever

Ok I'm sure most of you will think this blog is lame but my friend Danielle (click on her name to the right of the screen) has blogged it all for us which is fine because I have no words in my head. We have had no internet for 5 weeks and now that I have access to my email and such I am drawing a blank. I think the lack of internet has calmed me down hahahaha I've been stunted! J/K

Well the good news is that we are moving to Robinvale, Victoria! We are finally leaving the Outback after a huge case of cabin fever and homesickness the doctor has perscribed a move back to civilization. I will update once we get there and make a worth while entry but I wanted to let everyone know that we are alive and kicking.

Behind the Line...

Serving a very strange and extremely drunk woman who graced us with these fun pics.

The lady took pictures all night long and as you can tell it's day light in this picture... they started at 2pm and didn't leave until after 11pm when she finished her Rump Steak almost laying on the floor trying to finish it. As you can imagine it was a very interesting night for us. These are the clear shots... the rest as you can guess were quite blurry and distorted.

Rain Rain Go Away!

Well life at the Pub is an interesting way to pass the time when things are dry and busy with people! Add some 10 hours of rain and flooding and the boredom sets in and crankiness begins...
It’s really not that bad it’s just very interesting how things change when the big water comes. They call this the channel country out here because when it rains there is oh so much water that is channelled in all different directions causing flooded roads and trapped in station workers and NO MAIL!!! Sucks when you are waiting for a package and you are taunted by the pitter patter of rain drops on the tin roof. It’s very interesting to experience life way out here in the outback. It’s a different pace of life and makes you appreciate things a bit more and helps you to understand different people and cultures.
I really enjoy the behind the scenes work but the serving of beer and dealing with drunken people gets REALLY OLD! When the walls come down and they make fools of themselves it’s quite entertaining but when they become jerks and pervs it loses its entertaining quality and just becomes intolerable. Daxy is our saving grace and deals with the belligerent fools when we have had enough. We get to knock off any time after dinner is served and we retreat to our room for movies or book reading.
Last weekend we had a blast. (We were rained in and no one was coming or going for a good 48 hours) For a change of pace we had just a handful of caravan-ers and it was raining so we didn’t get our usual Sunday night crowed (as Sunday nights is a big roast and we are packed to the max) we decided to make a big meal anyway for the 6 tourists and they came over early so we entertained with a game of Phase 10. We had an absolute uproar of a good time! Giggles and jokes and revenge for Skips were all over the place for about 4 hours. It was so fun and after it all we made some great friends and contacts for places to stay in Victoria as the couples fell in love with us and us them.
Besides the Pub life of serving customers steak burgers and beer we have many animals that we look after as has been mentioned in Danielle’s Blog. There has been a little black lamb that has been added to the family as well as a puppy named Tex. Tex is mine and Danielle’s responsibility to look after and is just as cute as a button. She is a great sheep dog and has all the right instincts. With some good training she will be a great musterer! She hunts the dogs and chases the lambs and thinks she is big and bad. It’s very funny. The baby lamb is adorable and a full black lamb with a white triangle on the top of her head. We named her Snow White. J She was near starved and just hanging on so we give her bottles and try and make her eat as much as possible. She is getting stronger and loves Mary the other lamb that lives here. They are sisters now and can’t be separated. I have taken a liking to the both and love feeding them and looking after them. For those that know me I’m a freak about keeping my clothes clean and not getting full on dirty. Well I constantly have dirt on my jeans and spots on my shirts and muck on my hands. These animals have taught me to stop beings uptight about things that can be washed off. Not sure how long that’s going to last but I’m sure enjoying it and love playing with them and getting dirty with the lot. The Camel is oh so precious and likes to lick and eat my hand. Not sure what the appeal is but its cute and not an experience you can get everywhere. Hahahaha!
Toompine is a crazy place! We have our ups and downs but ultimately it’s enjoyable and has brought us many stories. It’s crazy how you can go to another country and do jobs you would have NEVER done in your own country. Every once in a while I think to myself “I HAVE A DEGREE WHAT AM I DOING?!” But then I remember I couldn’t come over here without my degree and you can’t get this sort of learning and experience in a classroom. I think life is funny and this chapter will bring lots of laughter and quality growth for the chapters yet to come. Thank you all for supporting me and pushing me along. I thank you for all the thoughts and prayers. You know who you are and it’s your strength and belief in me that keeps me honest and brave enough to take the next step.You are all angels

Pictures

Ok we have very slow compters and could not post pics but I have managed to post them to my WebPicasa. Sorry there are no captions but you can get an idea of what we have been up to.

Click on the link on the right hand side that says.

Say cheese! It says a thousand words...

I have posted both mine and Danielle's pictures ~ there are some 300 photos so have fun!

Later Mates!

Toompine

Well we are safe and hard at work in Toompine (the Pub without a town) It seriously is just a pub on the side of the road and there is nothing else around it but dried up land and dead trees but it is ALWAYS hopping with customers. It's everyones local watering hole and it cracks me up I still can't figure it out. I go fencing everyday while Danielle stays at the Pub and works all day serving customers and doing the Pub thing. At night we serve customers beer until we get tired or listening to drunks or just plain want to go to bed and then we get to retire to our room of which is provided for by the Pub and they even gave us our own little fridge and toaster, kettle and a TV and DVD player! Baller! Hahahaha its very sweet of them to try and make us feel at home here and they do a great job. Our first week went smoothly and over the weekend we learned to play Tennis with this couple that was staying here in their caravan. They used to play competative and they taught us the tricks of the trade it was so sweet and so fun. Later that day we played Ping Pong with Jonesy and Daxy (The owners) and cooked some Meat Pies for the upcoming week. So Meat Pies are very good. it's like a chicken pot pie type feel but with ground up beef and some great gravy SO GOOD! I love them.

So to update you since the last time I got to blog I'm all healed up and 100% my shoulder healed and so did all the bruises and scratches so no worries mates! Hahahaha

I'm no longer Crook! Another Aussie word it means many things. Not feeling well, bad mood, crooked person, yelling at someone. Hahahahaha So any different meanings.

Then of course the traditional Bugger! It's a Bugger of a day (it's a bad day) or bugger in frustation or this thing is a bugger... this thing is not working with me and things aren't working out. You can be called a Bugger or whatever the case may be.

Worstest is my favorite! Hahahaha Scotty told us about he Worstest trip he has ever been on! What is that?! I thought it was only him that used it but no others use it as well. My english graduate friend gets all bent out of shape when she hears it over and over again. Makes me laugh!

Flash is another good one... means you are rich or are trying to look bling-bling! Hahahah Scotty calls me Flash because I have a house back in the states. Oh if he only knew! :)

Footy is for Football which is really rugby. Sounds kind of funny when there are a whole bunch of blokes at the bar asking to turn on the footy. Makes me think of Footy pajamas.

Shifters are what they call wrenches. Imagine trying to figure that one out! I had no idea what I was going to the tool box for!

I gave my first haircut ever in my life and I did a good job if I say so myself. Scotty needed one in a bad way and handed me his clippers. I thought back in my many days of watching my Robin cut our dads hair and it paid off. She would be proud! Thanks sister! I would have hated to do a hack job on my bosses hair we hadn't even been paid yet so I was sweating it out! :)

We call Scotty Shrek and Gus Gus. He is one complex character. Shrek because he is set in his bachelor ways and LOVES onions! And Gus Gus because he gets all stuttery when he gets excited about telling us a story and laughs so hard at himself and just wants to please us and make sure we are taken care of. We are gunna miss being at his place but since we've been at Toompine he has been by two times to visit and Daxy reckins that's good for business. Hahahaha He was really cute after my fall on the motorbike. I was telling them about the dream I had that someone wanted to give me a hug because I was hurt and I told them to be careful because of my injuries... he said that's funny because I dreamt that I gave you a cuddle and it made you all better. So sweet and just melted my heart. P.S. Cuddle is hug in Aussie. Yet another word to put in your back pocket.

Instead of counties and city limits they have Shires out here. Makes me think of Lord of the Rings. Welcome to Quilpie Shire! Then in the town you have the Quilpie Shire Library and the Quilpie Shire Hall and don't forget the Shire workers! They wear bright yellow shirts and jackets so you can't miss them on the road ~ They are road construction workers and aparently are well paid and lazy as all get out but what country doens't have that lot!?

My favorite part of being out here is the huge night sky. I told you it's like 10x bigger than the Texas sky which I didn't think possible and at night you can just see every star as if it was just at your finger tips to touch. The Milkyway is magnificent and just spans over the whole sky looking to be out of a dream. I can't believe how bright it is out here at night and how small I feel when I look up into the huge sky.

Well I will update as often as I can. We don't have internet at Toompine so it's going to be few and far between but we will do our best to get to a computer. Miss you all and talk to you soon.

NO MORE WIRE HANGERS!!!

Well it was bound to happen...

I crashed on the Motorbike! I know I know! I'm supposed to be safe and careful. I want you all to know that we were not doing anything we weren't supposed to and we were only going 15 to 20 km/h. It was just a freak accident and I'm ok and on the mend. Whathadhappenwas... Scotty and I went out mustering Goats and couldn't find any to bring back in see the money is with the Billy's so we were headed back after looking at the gorges and caves! Beautiful I must say and all on his land. So amazing all the different land scape's and such. We had visited them early that day to take pics and walk around then it was off to work... This was Saturday by the way so it was a pretty leisure day so anyway. I went with Scotty on the bike and I usually sit on back and the sheep dog sits behind me... picture that! Hahahaha it's quite cute and funny to me that he sits back there until it's time to "Push 'em up!" Well we saw this amazing Eagle Hawks nest and some Kangaroos and went down into the gorge to set a goat trap. Don't worry nothing that hurts them just traps them in a gated in area to must up later on. On our way home Scotty said I could drive and put me in front I controlled the clutch and handle bars and he controlled the gears which are controlled by the foot on the left side. It was really cute because I put my shoes on his boots like you dance with your dad at a wedding or something when you are a little girl. We were going along great on the open road and we turned along side a fence just going along and he said something and then motioned for me to go to the left so I started that way not wanting to jerk the bike afraid of crashing or something and sure enough it didn't matter next thing I knew we were skidding along the gravel and Scotty was smooshed on top of me! Yikes! Apparently what he yelled was wire and it had a hook on it. It grabbed hold of the speedometer cable and yanked the bike out from under us. OUCH! I shot up and made sure he was ok to find out that I was not so good myself. My whole left side screamed in pain and I instantly thought I was going to faint as I went into shock and decided it was a good idea to sit down for a bit until I could regain myself. I got it together and we rode home this time Scotty drove. He was so scared I hurt myself bad and convinced I was dying or something the poor guy he just felt so bad. It wasn't his fault it just happened. We got home and I laid down Scotty immediately got on the phone to call the ambulance. From my knee to my elbow on my left side was just stiff and hurt like crazy. I had a little gash above my left pelvic bone and that was the most sensitive place probably because that's where Scotty landed on me and he is pregnant with a baby elephant so you can only imagine the rock and a hard place I was between for two feet of skidding. So the funny thing was that we are way out in the outback as I've painted for you already and I'm thinking who is going to come get me and how will they know where to go?! Besides I HATE Doctors and I know I will be fine if I can just calm down the screaming muscles I haven't broken anything it's just a major shock to the body! Scotty says the ambulance can't come for a couple of hours because an accident just happened in Eulo (84 KM from here) and so he calls the Flying Doctor... hahahaha it's dark at this point and the poor bloke says he can't make it out because they don't fly at night due to the kangaroo's and cattle, too risky and dangerous! Believe me guys I'm fine just give me a day or two! Hahahaha so I stay the night here and that's what I want and Scotty decides the next morning we are going to Cunnamulla (2 hours away) to get me some xrays. My hand is swollen and hurts like heck and my pelvis is tooooooooooooo sensitive to touch and he just look petrified that he's internally killed me or something. Do you know that doctor looked at me for 5 mins poked me asked if it hurt and pushed on all my bruises and sent me away with 400mg of ibprophan... however you spell it. I was ok with that then because I hate doctors as I've said before but now that's it's Wednesday and although all my immediate pains are healed and as I suspected just bruises and shocked muscles my left shoulder decided to scream out in the most unbearable pain when I tried to put the Ute in first gear yesterday! So now I'm fighting that and I hope it's nothing serious but yikes it hurts and I'm afraid to use it because any time I put a little pressure on it it yells back at me to stop. So free health care is cool and all and only paying $7.30 for your meds is even cooler! BUT you get what you pay for and right now I'm pulling the I want my American doctors card because I want a second opinion. Hahaha I think I will be fine in a few days actually I just think it's weird that it took until Tuesday to realize that my shoulder was hurt... so strange and poor Scotty has developed a blue belly as he is now discovering his belly is bruised. He hopes his baby elephant is ok. :) I just hope I'm tip top for the new job starting Monday. Scotty has been really good taking care of me and he just worries so much I try to tell him I will be fine but he just shakes his head. So just send some extra prayers to my shoulder. The rest is almost completely healed so yay for all that! :) Oh the adventures of Motorbiking and Station Life! Scotty says he falls off at least once a week, it's just the break and like our saying for cycling... it's not a matter of IF you are gunna fall it's a matter of WHEN!

So now that I've got you all worried about me I'm going to give you two things to think about... Tivo and Costco!

Tivo is just now being talked about for Australia and they are all in aww of it's capabilities and wonders of the recording and rewinding world of Tivo. It's cute but so sad that they are just now discovering this wonder that we Americans have had for many years now.

And Finally Costco... they are talking about getting it here next year and you should see the looks of shock and amazement at the bulk quantity options. Even Scotty was amazed to see cereal come in such big boxes he's only seen 2 inch boxes before this will do wonders for us in the outback he says... too cute!

Life in Australia... Outback Style!

Fencing is hard! I'm not talking about the Olympic sport either but to be honest I can't follow that sport it's so difficult oh has anyone tried to play it on Wii?! Way hard! Hahahaha anyway I forgot to tell you that Danielle and I are now a part of Australian History... well Dundoo Australia anyway these fences last up to 60 to 70 years! Fun stuff! We finally finished the 7 k of fencing and I survived with a busted blister on my palm, two bruised feet from pulling wire up the gullies and gorges and back down again (stupid crappy boots) and some pulled muscles in my lower back... hahahha I'm a mess I know but I had fun, learned a lot and now we are signed up to do 45 k of fencing for the month of August. The bloke up the street at this Pub called Toompine (the pub without a town) just called and offered us a job with them... our job here is up in two weeks and so they need help in the Pub while one of their workers takes her son to the doctor and so we will be Publicans as they call them out here and fencing as well. I'm totally excited because I was not looking forward to looking for another job so quick after our last experience with all of that mumbojumbo! Anyway, after that his exwife has work for us possibly down in Victoria and he has offered to take us down there when he goes in the middle of September! Two jobs in one day! Things are finally working out! So keep your fingers crossed for Victoria it's really pretty down there and we wanted to make it that way we want to see as much of Australia as we can and working our way around is the best way and this totally works out so that we don't have to pay for another many hour bus ticket to somewhere in the middle of nowhere Australia! :)

So anyway as the title of this blog suggests I'd like to take some time and describe for you a little about the outback and it's peculiar ways... Lets start with the radio:

Here is the line up of songs I heard yesterday while I sat in the Ute while Scotty cleared out an old fence so we could put a new fence in it's place this week.

Some Pop song by Avril Lavine followed by When you Believe in Miracles by Whitney Houston and Mariah Carrie from the Prince of Egypt then a country song by Sarah Evens, With Me or with Me or whatever that song is by Chris Brown, Then on to Ghost Busters, A country song about heart ache.... ok lets be honest what country song isn't about heart ache, then the all famous We will We will Rock you, Working my way back to you babe... Last Waltz with you by Engalburt Humperdink... who is that!? Elvis' Don't be Cruel and an array of very old country songs with a lone guitar and a banjo accompanyment with the crackle of record recording in the background then You're the one that I want from Grease and then some Patsy Cline.... Can you say random! That's everyday... some oldies, some new pop music, random classics and just strange listenings all day long. The news is fun to listen to with many different reports of all the unjustices and crazies in the world and then a story for all those who missed that back in the 40's!

Anyway on to food! You already know about the steak and beef every day for every meal so I won't go there even though I fear getting the stomach that Scotty has but my dad has taught me well and I've seasoned the heck out of this meat to give it some flavor and Scotty was very impressed says he's spoiled now. :) But really they don't use seansonings here everything is bland I don't understand. steamed veggies and grey steak, at lunch steak and onion sandwiches and that's at the cafes too! but they do have Ketchup but it's called Tomato Sauce, No mustard and an attempt at Mayo... Yuck! But we did have some very delicious Yabbies one night... a Yabby is a crayfish and this guy Mitch that was staying out here at the quarters made us a cocktail... divine! And full of flavor! It was oh so good! I want some more but Mitch left to go back home and that makes me sad. Scotty makes fun of us for taking Chips and Cookies as "side dishes" with our PB&J sandwiches for lunch. Americans are strange he says! But lunch is about my favorite part of the day. We gather a bunch of sticks from the ground and make a fire, toast our sandwiches and eat in peace without the black flies buzzing at our ears and noses. They are insistent on trying to get into every nook and cranny of the head! What is that!? The smoke of the fire deters them and it's peace and warmth for a good 30 mins then back to the fence. Fun fun!

So some new words for ya:
Swag means Tent
Stop off... this has many meanings... Danielle stops off at my house in the states meaning she is my room mate, or it could be stay in between the lines of the road, Scotty uses it for everything so you have to figure out the context of the sentence... we say Huh a lot here! From both sides it's quite funny.
Getting Charged is getting drunk.
Pinch means to steal something or nick it means the same.
Overtaking Lane.... that would be our passing lane I think it's quite funny overtaking! haha
There are many more but for now I think that 'ill do... hahahaha I always feel like Babe the pig from the movie because Scotty says that to us all the time... That 'ill do. Righto is his other favorite phrase. So fun... he makes fun of us for saying cool and awesome!

I have learned a little about welding which was quite fun and very different than I expected and now I can drive a manual vehicle! Very proud of myself! We clean out lots of water troughs for the cattle and we have mustered up goats and drafted them... I'm here to tell you that's a lot easier than cattle! My word! They scream and cry though and it's sad because it really sounds like a toddler crying for it's mom but if you can get past that... which we can't, it's really fine.

Opal are a big deal here as they are a part of the natural surroundings and you can find them almost anywhere. So there was this big Opal festival in Yowah (just up the road) and we went this past saturday. We got Opal studded earrings some strange characters out there and they are serious about their Opals let me tell you. Too funny but it was fun to see what the locals get excited over and their one treasured event a year so I'm glad we went.

The locals here don't appreciate the Aboriginal Culture which is very sad. They talk down about them, call them the black man tools, or water holes or caves. They just don't give them the respect they deserve and I find it very interesting but we have the same back home with our Native Americans. We are more advanced in at least now appreciating them and understanding that we took their land and trying to rectify that but still the same situation but as far as Outback attitude they just don't get it and it makes us very sad. Scotty and his family have so many Aboriginal Tools and just fascinating artifacts and they just have them because they find them and put them in a box or a corner but they don't give them to museums or anything like that. Scotty took us to one of the water holes. So very interesting we could still see their tool sharpening marks but to them it's just an everyday find and no big deal. Sad.

Out here there is just a one lane road that everyone uses and when a car is coming at you, you pull off to the side of the road and let them pass going the other way and roll back onto the road to continue on your journey... very interesting. There are no dryers... you hang your clothes and there is a town out here called Texas!

Well I should go I think I have shared enough. I have to go clean the colonies of daddy long legs out of the cupboards. I'm telling you extended families and friends of the family and village officials of daddy long legs moved into his cabinets! We get so freaked out every time we open them to find a pot to cook in so we decided it's time to move them out! Well I miss you all and I will keep you all posted on more adventure to come.

Later

Dundoo Station

Well we made it! After 15 hours of travel West of Brisbane we found our new temporary home. Scott Haig is our boss and land lord and a funny guy he is. I would post pictures but unfortunately our friend Scottie has a slow and old computer. So old infact that I can't email anyone from this computer. So sad but that's the breaks right.

At any rate I must point out that this is not a farm. It is rightfully called a Station and he owns 130,000 acres of land and it's all red with green trees and rock and just amazing. He has cattle in the thousands and goats and sheep. We see wild emu's and kangaroos. There are many breeds by the way. Red, Blue, Wallaroos and Grey... within the Grey breed are many other subbreeds like Western Grey... anyway enough of that.

We are building an electric fence and let me tell you we are learning a lot. I get to drive the tractor while Scott pounds in the pegs (if I line it up right haha) and Danielle steps it out, runs for the car and helps Scott get the pegs to be lined up. It's quite an operation. So far we have put together 244 pegs, placed 3 straigners (to tighten up the wires every 700 km) all at 17 paces in between per peg... now I say 17 but those are my paces, Danielle's paces are 19 so if you feel up for an adventure go for a walk and either use 17, 18 (to split the difference) or 19 paces 247 times and see how long that is. :) Again as I said we aren't done but can you imagine our long cold days... OMG it's cold here. Apparently we are on a ridge and so the wind gets us and it's friggin cold! I don't know the temperatures but I reckon I like it that way so that I don't really know how cold I am. Hahaha oh the power the mind has over us.

Needless to say it's a lot better here than at the training farm. Scott is amazing and very sweet. He works in little shorts it cracks us up. Look up any picture you want of Australian Bus drivers, mail men, you name it they wear short shorts because it gets so hot here. Too freakin funny. Our first day out Danielle and I just looked at each other and tried our best to keep our laughter under our breath. Minus the short shorts he is a great guy and has really taken great care of us. We cleaned out his house though the first day after work. Hahaha he is a a bachelor and about 50 something and the house was a wreck so we took it upon ourselves to clean things up and make it livable so that Danielle and I wouldn't be grossed out at every corner. So now that we have it liveable there are just two things to get past... water that smells like rotten eggs and grey meat.

Rotten Egg Water: Let me explain. There is this layer of water 1,000 meters under the Australian soil in most of Queesnland called the Artesian Basin. It flows in from the Great Barrier Reef and if you are lucky enough to have land over it then you can drill for your own water and at least give water to your animals and have water in the house... now as it implies it comes at a smelly cost... although if you are like our new friend Scott you eventually become immune to it over time. The bloke (I can say this because he calls everyone a bloke) drinks it, cooks with it, cleans with it you name it and is not phased at all! Crazy! I only use it to shower because I have no choice and that is a nose plugged shower I tell you... so sad! But it's still not bad enough to go back to the training farm.

Grey Meat: Scott eats beef at every meal and by meal I mean tea. Hahahahaha he always asks whats on for tea and he means dinner. Makes me laugh everytime. Anyway beef is great and I love it I'm a carnavor (sp sorry) but holy cow! hahahaha I made a funny! He cooks it so that it's grey and rubbery and almost near tasteless and steemed veggies and that's all you have when you eat at Cafe a la Haig! We went grocery shopping today and I think Danielle and I have decided to take up cooking from now on! Wish us luck!

Ok so now on to serious matters! I so stand corrected! I thought there was nothing that could beat a Texas sunset but I'm here to tell you I've never seen one in Australia before and I've got to say Texas sunsets stand no chance against the sunsets of the biggest open sky I've ever seen! We stayed working late on Friday night and it was a bit over cast and cold all day and soon it started to get dark and the sun popped under the clouds on it's way down and I don't know that my words can give it justice but the most brilliant yellows, purples, pinks, oranges and blue set before us catching all three of us by surprise and we just stood and watched the beauty unfold before us for as long as we could. It was amazing and although we didn't have our cameras I will always take the sunset with me it was just breath taking.

We watched Rugby League the other night too! That was fun... it's actually different than Rugby so we learned a lot I'm thinking it's the equivilant to our Arena Football but at any rate the Titans were fun to watch and they beat the Roosters hahahahahaha I've yet to watch an All Blacks game but Scott says next weeks so I'm holding my breath and ready for The Haka! Woo hoo!

Well I'm sure there are many other stories I could tell you but right now I'm done writing don't forget if you want the more eliquent (if I even spelled that right) version of my stories click on Danielle's name to the right of this story. That will take you straight to her blog and you can get the rest of the story.

Love you guys and for the time being remember I can't email or read your emails so continue to email me all you want it will be fun to catch up when I can.

Farm Training Hell!

For you Beth... and how I felt ALL week!

Where we stayed... at sunset! :)

My Nemesis

You can't really see it but those are the paddocks with the

cows we mustered and chased us all week.

Ok so this Farming business is HARD! Hahahaha I knew it wouldn't be easy but I don't think we were prepared for all of this. We were thinking more physical labor in regards to hauling things, fixing things, loading, and things of that nature... but animals aren't my thing. To start off cows are scary and our trainer was horrible at communicating what he wanted of us and then yelled at us for not doing something right... how am I supposed to learn like that?!

At any rate we survived and without a scratch so I guess it was all fine but there were some moments let me tell ya. Richard, our trainer, started off by telling us every way you could kill yourself on a farm then just expected us to figure out the rest on our own. Chain saws were fun, horseback riding not so much, I pissed off the brown horse pictured up top and Richard wanted me to just keep riding and get the hang of it! Hello! I am so intimidated by big animals I'm small and never grew up near big animals what do you expect! Motorbikes were amazing fun and great to get away from the horses, but mustering cattle! Now that's a different story. Sitting in the Ute (Utility Vehicle pictured on Danielle's Blog) was easy and fun watching the kids that knew how to ride horses work their magic but once we got them in the paddocks we had to all get out (6 of us total) and chase them from one paddock to the other to try and get them up to the branding, tag checking and injection area of torture! Needless to say things were all going great until I was chased over a fence after a steer squared off with me and decided I looked like something fun to play with. 5 broken fences and two days later Richard said it was the worst 2 days he's ever had on the farm and that he was embarrassed his cattle were acting that way... made me feel better I thought I was just bad and the job and they were performing to my weakness. At one point Richard got in the Ute and chased the steer that thought of me as a play toy around the farm trying to get him back to the paddock but was unssuccessful and we broke for lunch. Yeesh!



Learning to drive the tractor was fun and something I could handle and fixing fences was great and so up my ally! We finally got a job in Dundoo by way of Cunnamulla (hahhahahaha yes that's a real word it's Dr. Seuss world over here!!!) doing maintenance, fencing and a little bit of cattle but he says his cattle are quiet... ahhhhh we shall see. To say the least it's been stressfull and worrysome but we are on leg three and 3 is both of our lucky number so we are going to pick up our chins and hope for the best! Judy (Richard's mom) took really good care of us. She is so sweet and understands how crazy all of this is and feed us amazing meals! I ate 3 meals a day! I haven't done that in... well I can't remember when I last did that. Hahahaha

Wish us luck!

Sand Blow on Rainbow Beach

We had one last adventure before we left for training... unfortunatley the computers all crashed the day we tried to post this so it's a week late but at least I can do it now... we hiked for about 15 minutes into this forest and then seriously out of no where a sea of sand was before us. It's so hard to explain and the pictures don't do it justice but the top picture is of the whole thing and the second pic is from the edge of all the sand looking down at the ocean you can barely make out the people walking on the beach. I tried to give you guys some perspective of how high we were. I'm guessing at some point there was water that high because its just sand for days and when you walk to the back edge it looks like the sand is being propped up by tree tops. It was like being in the middle of the dessert but with ocean and trees surrounding it hahahahhaha. So not explaining any of this well enough but maybe you can google it or something. Sandblow at Rainbow Beach. So beautiful and so fun to walk in we took off our shoes and just explored it all. The sand was many different colors some dark some light some inbetween. We just happened upon it and it was totally worth the walk out there. We didn't end up going into the ocean it was so cold outside of the water we knew we would freeze if we went in and got wet. We are here for a year so eventually I will attempt to brave it... sorry to disappoint.

At any rate it was gorgeous and so fun and I'm glad I got to see it so random and like nothing I've ever seen before.

Later Mates! :)

Melvin Neely

I love you Melvin Neely! You will be greatly missed. I will take you with me wherever I go.

The Land of Oz

Well we made it to Oz!!!

After a very long flight and a layover in Fiji we made in to Sydney at last. Our packs weigh so much when you have to walk all over the city to find the right train and make sure you don't get lost on the way to your hostel but we survived the many ups and down of traveling so far across the world. We got to see the Opera House by ferry and then walk along the harbor ate some pasta and got some gelato to end the evening with a walk around the Opera House and some fun pics. Amazing! Traveling to Brisbane was not near as difficult as we were picked up and dropped off at our hostel... The Yellow Submarine!!!! Our room was YELLOW hahahahaha we had to get our VISA label so now we are officially legal! Woo Hoo! After a LONG night of hearing everyone in the place either talk, stomp, knock on doors and whatever else you can dream up we woke the next morning and had a nice breakfast at a cafe on the corner and headed off to the bus station to catch a 5 hour bus ride to Rainbow Beach where I am now writing to you all.

It's gorgeous here and the sunset on the beach was wonderful. We are two of 6 people to start this adventure together. Emma is from England, Micheal is from France and Kevin and Stephani are from Germany. The Germans had never been to the ocean before and were absolutely adorable as they quickly got unto their swiming suits and dispite the nip in the air they ran into the ocean and swam out to see. I of course was very nervous as I've been obsessed with the water and the many dangers that lerk in it but they returned safely to the beach right before dark and had the biggest grins on their faces. Tomorrow I think we will all venture out there when it's warm... I don't know how far I will venture as I'm chicken when it comes to BIG WATER and KILLER SHARKS but I think I will do my best.

As you can see from my pictures we got to stop at the entrance of Steve Irwins Zoo so I snapped a quick pic just incase that's my only encounter. Now I'm not one to like Zoo's but I think that zoo is one I'd like to visit. We shall see though.

We are here for the entire weekend and on my birthday no less! Yay! Danielle got me the coolest present EVER! It's a t-shirt that says Jesus is a Cheesehead and a picture of Jesus wearing a Green Bay Packers Cheese Head!!!!! I always knew! hahahahaha

It's been crazy to say the least and to top it off it's hard to be happy during all of this. My very dear friend Melvin Neely passed away the day we left on this year long adventure. Although I said goodbye to him it hurts that I could not be there for his family and the ones I love so deerly during this tough time. I am dedicating all my work here in Australia to Melvin as he so wanted to work for jsut a month on a station here and experience life in Australia. He told me he would watch over me and help guide me over the next year and I believe deep down that he is already with me on this new journey. I want to send out all my love to the Neely's during this time. I miss you, I love you and I wish more than anything that I could have been there as support for you. I love you Melvin thank you for teaching me what you could and opening your heart to me. I will carry you with me wherever I go.