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.

Goodbyes to Texas... :(

First I had to say goodbye to my girls... we have been together for 13 years and have had many fun adventures and misadventures and troubles, tears, bruises and you name it. I owe these girls a lot. They are my family and I couldn't have gotten to where I am today without them. Beaker and Beth you two mean so much to me and it was so hard to say goodbye to you but you both know it's not forever because you two are forever in my life and in my heart and we will be together again one day soon ~ it will happen faster than you think. You take care of each other in my absence and I will be thinking of you daily. I love you both so much and will miss you deeply. We went to the Japanese Water Gardens and discovered nature and played with fish and Beaker even tried to be brave and touch one but that didn't last long hahahaha. But our greatest discovery of the day was...

Beth is not so sure but is pondering the subject...

Beaker is quite disgusted and unsure of the matter...

And I found the answer!!!!! Yes in fact they do... google it people!

Never a dull moment with the three of us around! Ladies we are a pair/triplet and no one quite gets us the way we get each other when we are together. Thank you for letting me be me and being my go to girls. I love you so much!

Then it was time to say goodbye to my boys... now let me tell you that is NOT an easy task! Those Neely boys mean the world to me and just capture my heart and have always had me wrapped around their finger. Luke was the hardest I was a blubbering idiot and just held onto him so tight and loved him with everything I had. Aidan and I had an approrite 4 year old goodbye...

A: How much do you love me?

R: As much as the sun...

A: And the moon?

R: Yep that too and the sky and the earth...

A: And the stars?

R: And the stars... I love you more than everything put together!

(at this point Aidan puts his hands behind his back to show that in hand motion... like this he says)

R: Yep!

A: Even more than my brother....?

hahahaha to this I tell him I love his brother just as equally :) too funny and so knew it was coming too.

I kissed his sweet head goodnight and he just melted off to sleep. Precious boy.

I went to dinner with the Neely/Morris clan. They were celebrating Gary and Betty's 40th Anniversay and they invited me to join them. I was very honored and glad I could break bread with them one last time. That family means so much to me. We had a wonderful time together and then went home and played wii and tried to prolong the goodbyes. I cried my eyes out... not sure how I had anything left to cry but Debbie sure was the hardest one to say goodbye to. She is my sister given to me by God himself. She may never know how much she means to me but I think she may have an idea. I will miss our talks and our random texts and crisis modes of helping each other out. We have been through a lot and I will carry our friendship with me wherever I go! I love you Debbie Neely!

Dail I'm gunna miss our rides together... even though you push me to my limit and kill me ten times over it was always a fun ride. You take care of my family now and yourself. You are the big brother I never had and I will miss our desk side talks. :)

Alas I said goodbye to my sister Robin and her family. They made it easy on me becasue we are the type of family to crack jokes through serious things so it was very laid back and hugs were exchanged and punchlines were dropped. Garet you take care of yourself and listen to Sommer she is looking out for your best interest. Robin be good to Jess and Jess be better to Robin :) Sarah be a good mommy and cherish every moment with Ashten Nicole and never take Sommer for granted she loves you so much and Sommer you take care of my baby girl and watch out for that family of mine they mean so much to me. You do to!

I love you guys so much and goodbyes are hard but this goodbye is not forever! Post cards and updates from Australia are soon to come but first Colorado and California with my Dad and my Logan. Just one more adventure before I leave the states. :)