It has been over 5 weeks since my last blog update. Last time I wrote I was sitting in a library in Broken Hill reflecting on my time at the Theldarpa Sheep Station. Now I cannot believe I have been back in Walgett already 5 weeks and I am about to leave Walgett behind for the last time. Time passes so fast.
Tiphaine picked me up from Hungry Jacks (Burger King) in Broken Hill 5 weeks ago. It was Thursday evening 14th May 2015. I was so happy to see her. We wouldn't arrive at home in Walgett before Monday evening. Friday we visited Broken Hill, a nice city in the NSW outback. What struck me most were the panels all over the town with information and pictures about the towns' history. Really fascinating. Saturday our destination was Cobar (+/- 500 km). In Cobar we charged our electrical stuff at the Tourist Information Visitor Centre before heading off to a lake where we would spend the night in our Subaru. The lake, however, was almost fully dry, but it was still a nice spot. There is also where trouble began. We noticed the right rear tyre of the car was getting flat really quickly so we replaced it. Not a problem you would think if we hadn't had one really bad left front tyre that already started to show its wire and therefore started to deform. And we had Sunday 150 km of dust and gravel road ahead of us and, yes, shops are closed on Sunday. We had to go to Wanaaring to pick up the Holden Commodore I left there 3 weeks earlier after an accident. So we inflated the tyre we replaced just so in case of an emergency we could use that one to replace the left front tyre. Like this we drove Sunday towards Bourke and Wanaaring (after making a brief stop in a national park to walk a bit). It would take us 400 km to get there from Cobar of which 150 km dust/gravel road. We hoped for the best and tried to keep the stress of the left front tyre. We got to Wanaaring without incident and to my relief we found the Holden Commodore just how I left it behind the police station. I started doing the necessary (temporarily) repairs to get it back home. I sealed off the sump and let it dry out overnight. Monday morning I inspected my repairs, decided everything looked all right and put oil in the sump. But, stupid as I am, I put too much oil so we had to drain a bit of it. Easier said than done. It turned out we had to have a knot welded on the relief knot to be able to drain the sump. The sump only leaked a bit and the Holden was ready to go. Now we still had the tyre problem of the Subaru. The night before we tried the spare tyre of the Holden which turned out to be too big. The following morning we tried to find a tyre somewhere in town but apparently our Subaru's tyres were not that common and had a lot smaller profile than most. So the only option remaining was getting the broken tyre fixed. But because, as all tyres, this tyre was very worn down and repairs wouldn't hold very long. We hoped for the best and started driving back: 150 km dust and gravel and then 300 km to Walgett. We arrived way into the dark Monday night in Walgett without incident. We decided to have all 4 tyres changed. I was really happy the Holden was back 'home'. Now I would have to try to sell it which would turn out not to be easy at all as the car was only registered for another 3 weeks.
But at least we were home again. Normal life took its turn. I started working more for Jim Collins as he needed someone to mainly help him with raking sticks on a paddock which he was clearing with the purpose to plant a crop there the following year. It was an easy job. Driving a tractor with 2 big sets of rakes behind it. He paid me about $100 a day. I did this work on average 3 days a week. Besides this I had a shift at the bar of the Walgett sporting club and I cleaned Jungle's house. The rest of my time I put in finding a new car for travelling and trying to sell the Holden Commodore and the roof rack seperately. I had been told I could expect around $500 for the Holden with the hole in the sump. If that was the only problem. However, the car had a hole in the sump, a dented gear box (still worked), a big crack in the windscreen, a broken bonnet and some other small issues. So I didn't have high hopes. I advertised it on Gumtree twice. The first time I got an offer of $500, but the guy backed out quite quickly and another offer of $200 which was just too low. The second time I advertised the car as a whole but also for parts. A week later I got an offer of $1000 for the car so I played it cool and I said I could live with that. When I met James (the guy who wanted to buy the car) he said: "Hey... would you take $800 for it?" I was singing inside but replied very nutral: "Hmmmm... I guess I can do $800." Holden Commodore gone and we with much more money in our pockets than anticipated. I was so happy.
We already got in contact with a french backbacker Martin who was selling a 2002 Ford Falcon Station Wagon. We had very high requirements and this car was (and is) the only car that answered to our requirements. We needed a car with a low amount of ks (km), not more than $2000, NSW rego (registration) until at least November so it would be easy to sell for us at the end of August, low fuel consumtion, it had to be able to sleep 2 people, common brand for Australia (Holden, Ford, Toyota, ...) so it would be easy to fix and, most of all, it had to be reliable. Martins' car was a 2002 Ford Falcon Station Wagon, +/- 150.000 ks, NSW rego until the end of January 2016, average consumption of 9l/100km, very common and very reliable. The only problem was the price. When we came into contact with Martin he had already lowered his price from $3500 to $2900. At the moment he sold his car there were a lot more sellers than buyers which worked out pretty well for us. We offered him $2000. At first he said "no". A few days later he contacted us again and said $2000 was fine. However we had to come to Sydney, what would be at least a 2-day journey that would cost us quite some money, so we suggested to meet him halfway in Dubbo. He declined. A few days later he came around and agreed to meet us in Dubbo. We sold the Holden on 3th June (4 days before the rego expired) and bought the Ford on 5th June.
The roof rack I managed to sell a few days ago for $80, a fair price.
Besides all this life went its way. Tiphaine worked on Monday and Tuesday for the Collins, for the Ricardos on Wednesday and Sunday, for Melany on Friday and she went to the art group on Thursday. I worked for the Collins on Monday and Tuesday and various other days in the week. Other than working we would go for a walk, visit something, have someone over, etc. We keep busy. Life in a cottage on a farm is quiet and relaxing. I like the fact we have to drive 20 ks on a dust road before we reach sealed roads. You can leave you house unlocked, leave your keys in the car, etc. They won't get stolen. And where on earth could you still do that?!
I love the sunsets over the farm and the stars at night. But all of this comes to an end tomorrow because we will leave Walgett. We will drive south towards Mildura where we plan on working about 2 weeks as fruit pickers before heading to Sydney to pick up 2 friends (Margaux and Astrid) and start travelling the East Coast! Exciting! :)
Currently it's 14 May 2015 and I am in the library in Broken Hill, Central-West New South Wales. I have spent the last 2,5 weeks on the Theldarpa Sheep Station located between the historic town of Milparinka and Cameron Corner where 3 states meet (South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales). Unfortunately I have not been able to go there, but you cannot have everything. Sometimes you are not just that lucky like I have discovered in these last weeks. I went to the Theldarpa Sheep Station to help out with the mustering of the sheep during shearing. I also would help with drafting, back lining, etc. Everything from mustering the sheep, getting them into the sheep yards and the wool shed and getting them back to their paddock where they could live in peace for at least a few months. For me when I read the ad in Travellers At Work it sounded so good (and it really was minus a few 'things gone wrong') because it was 'mustering'. It is what you thing about when you hear the word 'Australia'. The outback with its red soil, golden grass and sheep and cattle running 'freely'. I say 'freely' because of the enormous size of the sheep and cattle stations in the outback. There are cattle stations in the Northern Territory and West Australia which are the size of Belgium and, apparently, even a few times the size of Belgium. Of course Belgium is only a fraction of the size of Australia (it is more than 250 times smaller but only has twice the population of Belgium). The Theldarpa Sheep Station is relatively 'small'. Its 125,000 acres, 50,000 hectares or 500 km2. To give you a more clear image: it is more than 3 times the size of the city of Antwerp or 60 times smaller than Belgium. In comparison: Brindley Park (the sheep farm where I worked in Merriwa) was only 7,500 acres so about 17 times smaller than Theldarpa. When I was there I thought it was quite big. If you think about it... It is awesome.
When I left Walgett I had two options: Taking a short cut to Theldarpa which would be Walgett-Bourke-Wanaaring-Tibooburra-Milparinka-Theldarpa. The 400 km between Bourke and Tibooburra would consist of mainly unsealed, quite rough, 4WD roads (so gravel and sand) where there was no cell reception and because of that quite unpopular. In other words: a recipe for disaster. The second option would be a detour of 400 km: Walgett-Bourke-Cobar-Wilcannia-Broken Hill-Milparinka-Theldarpa which was the safer route with lots of cell coverage and mainly sealed roads. I, of course, was sure I would be able to drive on the gravel roads and I was sure my car (a Holden Commodore VT Executive Station Wagon from 1997) would like it as well. It was a bad call as I would find out. Everything went relatively well. I passed Wanaaring which was half way the gravel roads. The road between Wanaaring and Tibouburra, however, was closed (actually it was open but somebody hadn't done his or her job and changed the sign) so I had to take a detour via White Cliffs which meant more gravel and dust roads. And then disaster struck about 50 km out of Wanaaring. I came over a hill and because of the sun and the white gravel I noticed a big rock in the middle of the road too late (it blended in really nicely with the rest of the road) and I run straight over it which resulted in a horrible sound. I stopped immediately and sure enough oil started pouring out from underneath. I got a hole in the sump and a big dent in the gear box which meant 'stranded'. After a lot of swearing, shouting and hating myself I thought by myself: Relax you will be able to laugh with it in a few years. Imagine: you buy a car and a bit over 2 weeks later you kill it. Makes you think: why didn't I get a full comprehensive insurance on this car? But anyway, what's done is done. Life goes on. Deal with it. So after 2-3 hours finally a car passed which towed me back into Wanaaring. As there was no cell reception there I had to use a payphone to call Theldarpa and Tiphaine that I was stranded and was trying to figure out what to do. I first wanted to replace the sump with a part from another commodore but this would mean takig out the enigine which was not really possible. Then I wanted to fix the hole with a kind of plasticine which you mold into position and after a few hours it becomes as steel. There is, however, no guarantee that it will work if the surface isn't 'factory' clean. The shop was closed so I had to wait until the morning. In the morning I called Ruth Sandow from the Theldarpa Sheep Station who arranged that the police officer of Tibooburra would come to Wanaaring to pick me up (and preferably the car as well). So, while waiting, I fixed the hole with the plasticine. However, when Glenn (the police officer) arrived it hadn't fully set yet so I couldn't test it which meant I had to abbandon the car at the police station where it still is today. When I got to Tibooburra it was too late to proceed to Theldarpa so I spent the night there in a hostel and in the morning Glenn drove me to Milparinka where I got picked up by Ruth. Finally, after more than 2 days travelling, I arrived at the Theldarpa Sheep Station which would be my home for the next few weeks.
I arrived during shearing season which meant that all of the Marino Sheep on the station would lose their wool which would be sold. We had to get 8,000 sheep through the wool shed. These sheep, however, were scattered over a few different, huge paddocks. When we had to muster such a paddock, John would take his plane to fly over the paddock that had to be mustered and tell over the radio to the people on quads (myself included) and cars where the sheep were. In total the team consisted of 4 quads (David, Ashley, Sarah and me) and 1 car (Ruth and the kids). You needed a very good sense of direction because John would say things like "There are some sheep north of you, Thomas, on the east side of the Three Sisters". As the sun is in the north at noon, for me as a European at was sometimes quite hard to figure out where he wanted me to go. But overall I managed. Mustering often took 2 days as you cannot expect sheep (which in some cases had lambs that were only 1-2 days old) to walk 20-30 km in one day. Mustering was awesome but sometimes a bit stressful as well. When the sheep got into the yards they had to be drafted (separte males, ewes, etc.) and shorn before they would be backlined and guided back into their paddocks. This we did for a full week. The second week all the sheep were back into their paddocks and I mainly did some fencing with David which is work I don't really mind doing, but I don't really like it that much either because it's very repetitive. I decided I would leave Theldarpa a bit earlier than the end of June. I spent a great time there with some really nice people.
What I will remember most is the landscape. It is everything I wanted it to be: Red soil, golden grass (outback-style), amazing sunsets, the most beautiful night skies I have ever seen (black filled with stars, lots of shooting stars (so many after a while I ran out of wishes) and the Galaxy was always visible) and lots of kangaroos and Emos (you have lots of kangaroos elsewhere but in this scenery it adds something special. Yeah, it really was the trip of a lifetime in every way (good and bad).
To get to Broken Hill I got a ride from Bill, a guy who picked up the 223!!! bales of wool (+/- 200 kg each). He drove a very big road train with a big bonnet and a sleeping cabin behind the front seat. A really cool experience. During the trip we hit a kamikaze kangaroo that crossed the road. The only thing you heared was a very soft 'tok'. If you would hit that same kanagroo with my Holden (RIP) it would almost certainly be 'per total'.
So now I'm here in the library waiting for my Tiphaine who will pick me up tonight. We plan on being back in Walgett Monday (now it's Thursday) and while driving back we'll do some sightseeing and we will go (very carefully) to Wanaaring to try to get the Holden working again and get it back to Walgett so we can deal with it there.
So that's all for now. I know reading this story will be a comfort for the people who haven't heard from me in the last few weeks because I was, most of the time, out of cell range in the Australian Outback living the REAL Aussie life!
It is 25 April 2015. I have been living for over 3 weeks in Walgett in the house of my girlfriend Tiphaine. The house is part of 'payment' she receives for working as a housekeeper for the Ricardo family.
My last few days in Merriwa were... 'weird'. The closer my departure date came the more I started to become nostalgic about the place. Every time I did something I realized I could be doing it for the last time. When I was driving my Ferguson (Fergy) tractor next to the tractor pulling the chopper I started to feel sad because it was something I really enjoyed doing; just sitting in 'my Fergy' and driving around the chaser bin and feeding the lambs on the feedlot. I started to realize what I would miss most. It weren't the people, although they were all very nice. I would miss the Ferguson, feeding the lambs in the trughs, walking through the pens to check for dead lambs and unusual things and just being on the feedlot with the lambs. I especially liked to clean out the deep water trughs of pen E, because after having it cleaned and having it drained it needed some time to fill up again. You 'had to' stay next to it because otherwise some small lambs could fall into the water while trying to drink. I will remember sitting on the edge of the trugh surrounded by 'scared', careful but very curious lambs. And the longer you stayed the more used to you they became and the closer they got to the point they would start to snif your hand. Ocasionally they would even let you touch them. Magical and awesome! The job itself was awesome.
On my second but last day something 'exciting' happened. All the rubbish of the farm got collected in a hole, the 'tip'. On that Monday the tip was full and needed to be lit. However a small accident happened. Lets say a lot more got burnt than the intention was. I refer to pics on my facebook page. Sensation at Brindley Park.
Eventually Wednesday 1 April had arrived and I was super excited because I was on the way to move in with my awesome girlfriend, Tiphaine! I was also nervous. I am naturally a big believer in Murphy's law so I always assume the worst and hope for the best. But I arrived at 6 pm (on time!) in Walgett where I got picked up 10 minutes later.
I started living with my Tiphaine who had several jobs: 2 days a week housekeeper for the Ricardos, 2 days a week working as a nanny for the Collins, (normally) once a week cleaning Jungle's house, once every fortnight cleaning a store in town and every Thursday voluntary teaching in the women art group in town. Plenty of things to do while I was looking for a job which turned out to be pretty much mission impossible. Walgett was in a drought which meant farms were not operating which affected the businesses in town so almost nobody was hiring. Because of Tiphaine and her contacts I had half of Walgett looking for a job for me. Still finding a job would prove difficult.
I didn't sit still though. I made up different CVs, went to practically every shop, job center, motel, sport club, etc. in Walgett but I still found nothing solid. Along the way I got a few 'maybes'. I searched the internet (gumtree, travellers at work, etc.) for a job and still nothing. While looking for a job I joint Tiphaine in her activities such as: going to the art group, going to the sport club, going to the horse races in Lightning Ridge (which got cancelled), etc. On Easter we got invited for a lunch at the Collins residence which was a lot of fun. I loved playing with the kids, meeting the family, driving around in the motorized go-cart, etc. Jim Collins told me when we left that if I didn't find a job he would find something for me to do.
That was some kind of a comfort. The week after that we spent looking for a job for me, but we also looked for a car. The 'maybes' that I got would only turn into something concrete if I had a car which would enable me to be very flexible. Tiphaine arranged that I could clean Jungles house once every week. It wasn't a lot but it was something. During our days together, apart from looking for jobs and cars, we did some sightseeing. We went hiking in the Warrumbungle National Park between Coonamble and Coonabarabran which was super beautiful. I really loved it.
After that weekend I went with Tiphaine to the Collins where is cleaned walls for a small payment.
The search for the perfect car had been proven difficult. We had special requirements: It had to be big enough (it had to fit a matress), it had to be economic, it had to be in good overall condition, it had to be registered for at least a few more months, etc. Peter Ricardo had an old Nissan Patrol in one of his sheds. It was not registered as it had been standing still for over 2 years, 3 of 4 tyres needed to be replaced and it felt auite rusty (which is normal after 2 years but it also doesn't give a lot of comfort). Our budget was 5000 dollars at most and we estimated that the Nissan would cost us more so we kept on looking. Finally I found a car which I liked. It was a Holden Commodore VT V6 Executive Wagon. It looked good for its age (1997), it had not that many ks (+/- 255.000), it came with second hand camping equipment, it had a roof rack, it was an automatic (don't have as many problems as manuals), etc. The only satback was that the car was in Newcastle which meant for me a car ride of 2 hours to Narrabri and then 5 hours on the train to Newcastle. Because the price was reasonable (3200 dollars) I went for it. The car turned out to have a few negative points: the battery was on its way out, the windscreen would probably have to be replaced due to a large crack and a few small ones and some rubber was missing here and there. Because of that I bargained a bit and got the car in the end for 2900 dollars. I hope to sell it, after repairs, for 4000 dollars. But we'll see about that later.
On my way back to Walgett I spent the night in Merriwa and catched up a bit with Wendy which was nice.
Around that time Terry from the Walgett Sporting Club let me know that if I got my RSA (Responsible Service of Alcohol), which is mandatory for everyone who wants to work in a venue which sells alcohol, I would get some shift as a bartender. So on Saturday 18 April I went to Dubbo to get my RSA through an RSA course. However I realized that 2-3 shifts a week would not be enough to be able to save up enough money to be able to travel in July and August so I kept on looking for something else.
In the meantime I went again on Monday with Tiphaine to the Collins house where I helped Jim with collecting fire wood and I played with the kids. Tuesday we were supposed to work there as well but it started to rain and as they live on a dust road we had to get out of there before we would get bogged.
In an effort to find a job I broadened my horizons and I applied for a few jobs far away from Walgett (Victoria, Queensland, far west NSW). An hour after I applied for a job on a sheep station in Theldarpa near Cameron Corner in NSW I got the job. FINALLY! It would mean I wouldn't see Tiphaine for a few weeks but it sounded like my dream job: mustering sheep on a quad bike! It would be a long drive (+/- 800 ks) on mainly dust roads which could be risky but I AM ready for it. The REAL Aussie experience! I'm leaving tomorrow and I hope it will be everything I hope it to be. If everything goes well I will stay there 2 upto 4 weeks. I will let you know how it was when I'm back here in Walgett in the beginning of June!
It is 25 April 2015. I have been living for over 3 weeks in Walgett in the house of my girlfriend Tiphaine. The house is part of 'payment' she receives for working as a housekeeper for the Ricardo family.
My last few days in Merriwa were... 'weird'. The closer my departure date came the more I started to become nostalgic about the place. Every time I did something I realized I could be doing it for the last time. When I was driving my Ferguson (Fergy) tractor next to the tractor pulling the chopper I started to feel sad because it was something I really enjoyed doing; just sitting in 'my Fergy' and driving around the chaser bin and feeding the lambs on the feedlot. I started to realize what I would miss most. It weren't the people, although they were all very nice. I would miss the Ferguson, feeding the lambs in the trughs, walking through the pens to check for dead lambs and unusual things and just being on the feedlot with the lambs. I especially liked to clean out the deep water trughs of pen E, because after having it cleaned and having it drained it needed some time to fill up again. You 'had to' stay next to it because otherwise some small lambs could fall into the water while trying to drink. I will remember sitting on the edge of the trugh surrounded by 'scared', careful but very curious lambs. And the longer you stayed the more used to you they became and the closer they got to the point they would start to snif your hand. Ocasionally they would even let you touch them. Magical and awesome! The job itself was awesome.
On my second but last day something 'exciting' happened. All the rubbish of the farm got collected in a hole, the 'tip'. On that Monday the tip was full and needed to be lit. However a small accident happened. Lets say a lot more got burnt than the intention was. I refer to pics on my facebook page. Sensation at Brindley Park.
Eventually Wednesday 1 April had arrived and I was super excited because I was on the way to move in with my awesome girlfriend, Tiphaine! I was also nervous. I am naturally a big believer in Murphy's law so I always assume the worst and hope for the best. But I arrived at 6 pm (on time!) in Walgett where I got picked up 10 minutes later.
I started living with my Tiphaine who had several jobs: 2 days a week housekeeper for the Ricardos, 2 days a week working as a nanny for the Collins, (normally) once a week cleaning Jungle's house, once every fortnight cleaning a store in town and every Thursday voluntary teaching in the women art group in town. Plenty of things to do while I was looking for a job which turned out to be pretty much mission impossible. Walgett was in a drought which meant farms were not operating which affected the businesses in town so almost nobody was hiring. Because of Tiphaine and her contacts I had half of Walgett looking for a job for me. Still finding a job would prove difficult.
I didn't sit still though. I made up different CVs, went to practically every shop, job center, motel, sport club, etc. in Walgett but I still found nothing solid. Along the way I got a few 'maybes'. I searched the internet (gumtree, travellers at work, etc.) for a job and still nothing. While looking for a job I joint Tiphaine in her activities such as: going to the art group, going to the sport club, going to the horse races in Lightning Ridge (which got cancelled), etc. On Easter we got invited for a lunch at the Collins residence which was a lot of fun. I loved playing with the kids, meeting the family, driving around in the motorized go-cart, etc. Jim Collins told me when we left that if I didn't find a job he would find something for me to do.
That was some kind of a comfort. The week after that we spent looking for a job for me, but we also looked for a car. The 'maybes' that I got would only turn into something concrete if I had a car which would enable me to be very flexible. Tiphaine arranged that I could clean Jungles house once every week. It wasn't a lot but it was something. During our days together, apart from looking for jobs and cars, we did some sightseeing. We went hiking in the Warrumbungle National Park between Coonamble and Coonabarabran which was super beautiful. I really loved it.
After that weekend I went with Tiphaine to the Collins where is cleaned walls for a small payment.
The search for the perfect car had been proven difficult. We had special requirements: It had to be big enough (it had to fit a matress), it had to be economic, it had to be in good overall condition, it had to be registered for at least a few more months, etc. Peter Ricardo had an old Nissan Patrol in one of his sheds. It was not registered as it had been standing still for over 2 years, 3 of 4 tyres needed to be replaced and it felt auite rusty (which is normal after 2 years but it also doesn't give a lot of comfort). Our budget was 5000 dollars at most and we estimated that the Nissan would cost us more so we kept on looking. Finally I found a car which I liked. It was a Holden Commodore VT V6 Executive Wagon. It looked good for its age (1997), it had not that many ks (+/- 255.000), it came with second hand camping equipment, it had a roof rack, it was an automatic (don't have as many problems as manuals), etc. The only satback was that the car was in Newcastle which meant for me a car ride of 2 hours to Narrabri and then 5 hours on the train to Newcastle. Because the price was reasonable (3200 dollars) I went for it. The car turned out to have a few negative points: the battery was on its way out, the windscreen would probably have to be replaced due to a large crack and a few small ones and some rubber was missing here and there. Because of that I bargained a bit and got the car in the end for 2900 dollars. I hope to sell it, after repairs, for 4000 dollars. But we'll see about that later.
On my way back to Walgett I spent the night in Merriwa and catched up a bit with Wendy which was nice.
Around that time Terry from the Walgett Sporting Club let me know that if I got my RSA (Responsible Service of Alcohol), which is mandatory for everyone who wants to work in a venue which sells alcohol, I would get some shift as a bartender. So on Saturday 18 April I went to Dubbo to get my RSA through an RSA course. However I realized that 2-3 shifts a week would not be enough to be able to save up enough money to be able to travel in July and August so I kept on looking for something else.
In the meantime I went again on Monday with Tiphaine to the Collins house where I helped Jim with collecting fire wood and I played with the kids. Tuesday we were supposed to work there as well but it started to rain and as they live on a dust road we had to get out of there before we would get bogged.
In an effort to find a job I broadened my horizons and I applied for a few jobs far away from Walgett (Victoria, Queensland, far west NSW). An hour after I applied for a job on a sheep station in Theldarpa near Cameron Corner in NSW I got the job. FINALLY! It would mean I wouldn't see Tiphaine for a few weeks but it sounded like my dream job: mustering sheep on a quad bike! It would be a long drive (+/- 800 ks) on mainly dust roads which could be risky but I AM ready for it. The REAL Aussie experience! I'm leaving tomorrow and I hope it will be everything I hope it to be. If everything goes well I will stay there 2 upto 4 weeks. I will let you know how it was when I'm back here in Walgett in the beginning of June!
It has been a few months since my last update. This because I've spent all this time in the same place. I have been working on a sheep farm, Brindley Park, in Merriwa, NSW. I will be leaving in a few days (1 April). I have been living in Merriwa as well for all this time in a house with my belgian housemate, and co worker, Wendy. It has been quite the 'Aussie experience', meaning that I haved lived in an Australian community and worked together with Aussies. It has given me a great insight in 'Australia' as a society. Living in a town in rural Australia is quite different from living in a town in 'rural' Belgium. Here you have one town and the neighbouring town is 50 ks (km) down the road. This makes that communities are still tight and everybody knows eachother (maybe not personal, but they know the person through someone else or just by sight). I felt in the beginning that Merriwa was like a town 'stuck in the seventies'. Lots of people have been born here, raised here and stayed here. It's their world. For me that was quite fascinating as I come from a place where these situations occured 40-50 years ago. I also came to the realization that it's probably like this everywhere where the population density is low. Belgium is more globalized, (rural) Australia is not.
Living in Merriwa also made me realize that I could live in this kind of place IF I had a way to get a more populated area quick. I like, no... love nature, but I'm too globalized. I need to be able to go places. Three months in Merriwa without leaving town a lot was sometimes quite a challenge. But, overall, I liked living there.
And about working at Brindley Park... I think I have felt every human emotion while working there. I have learnt a lot about myself as well. First of all, Brindley Park is a 'boys' farm. Except for Wendy there are no girls working there. And not just boys but 'rural boys'. I got along with everybody which doesn't mean I've never felt like a volcano ready to explode when I had to work with someone. But I guess that happens to everyone and everywhere. The things I loved most about my work was actually 'taking care' of the lambs at the feedlot. I've been told more than once I felt too much sympathy for the animals. But in my philosophy a 'happy' lamb that doesn't get stressed a lot will give the best meat. I wanted to do my work to the best of my ability. If I spilled some food when feeding the lambs I wanted to pick it up and put it in their trughs, if the feedlot looked like my bedroom I wanted to clean it up, if there was a dead lamb I wanted to remove it as quickly as possible out of the pen, ... The worst things that could happen was that, while handling the lambs, a lamb dropped dead because of too high stress levels. However, I realize everything has to go fast because there is so much to do. I am quite a perfectionist and I take a lot of pride in the work I do. I experienced that sometimes I couldn't do a job like I would like to do it (the best of my ability) and in times this made me feel frustrated. But there is always another side. Life is not perfect. My happiest moments were when I was working all day by myself at the feedlot and I could complete my jobs like I wanted to do them. 'And he looked at the feedlot and he say it was good'. What will I never forget? I will remember the time when one of the lambs got under the wheels of the bin behind my tractor (chaser bin), I will remember driving around with the chaser bin in the Ferguson (Fergy) tractor (my favourite tractor), I will remember the 'self-study' approach when it comes to operating vehicles (which is a good thing) and so much more!
The last 3 months have been awesome thanks to living in Merriwa, working at Brindley Park and one other factor. In my previous updates I have mentioned a few time a girl named 'Tiphaine'. To refresh your memory: Tiphaine is a girl I met during my conservation volunteers project in October in Auckland, New Zealand. We got along really well, but we would only spend a week together. But then we met again with New Years' Eve in Sydney. In January she started working in a town named Walgett, which is located 5-6 hours from Merriwa. During my 3 months in Merriwa she visited me 3 times, each time for 2-3 days. I went once to Walgett. The first visit took place on the weekend of my birthday where we discovered there had been feelings from both sides for quite some time. Long story short: We are a couple and I couldn't be happier! I have found my special someone! If you would like to know more we'll discuss it in private.
My next chapter will start on 1 April when I leave Merriwa on a bus to Dubbo where I will catch a bus to Walgett. There I will move in with 'my Tiftif', in 4 days, 3 hours and 5 minutes. I'm not counting.
I am ready for 3 months living and working in Walgett and then start travelling in July with Tiphaine and (in July) with Margaux, one of my best friends who will come to visit me! You rock my world!
I realize I am extremely lucky. I have lived for a year in Paraguay (2010-2011), I have spent an amazing 5 month internship in the Melia Salinas Hotel in Lanzarote, I got my bachelor degree in Hotel Management, I'm halfway realizing a life-long dream and I met Tiphaine. I coudn't ask for more!
When I wrote my last blog message we were just one week in the farm course at the farm of Total Care Farming. Now the course has already ended and I'm currently working in Merriwa (New South Wales - an hour and a half from Total Care Farm) on a cattle-, sheep- and hay farm. I don't really know what I'm feeling now. Happiness? Sadness? I am excited for the things to come though I felt really sad leaving the farm course in Tuwinga (Bundella). I've had such amazing moments there and I miss it a lot (normally I don't to miss things easily). It seems like deciding to come to the total care farm is probably one of the best decisions I have made in my life (together with of course Paraguay, Lanzarote and New Zealand). People... step out of your comfort zone! If something sounds too good to be true it is not always like that! I really discovered that stepping out of your comfort zone pays off! Total Care Farming has definitely earned a place in the top 10 things I've undertaken in my life, even the top 5. I met some amazing people (some more amazing than others) and I had overall an awesome experience! People going to Australia and want to work on a farm: participate in a 4-week Total Care Farming course. I promise that you won't regret it. Now what have I done in my last 3 weeks at the course?! The 2nd week of the course we did fencing. This meant building a new fence of a few hundred metres. It started with digging 2 holes at either side of the fence and in the middle (change in direction) in which we would concrete in the end assemblies. After this we put the steel star posts in place in between these assemblies, reinforced the fence where necessary, put the wires on, straightened the wires and had a final inspection. This all was more than a week of work. Apart from fencing we also had a butchering class with All where we cut up some skinned sheep. This was really nice and informative. We also got further into mental manipulation of sheep. We tried to seperate some sheep from a mob just by walking very slowly and changing our positions in the sight of the sheep. Where you are in a sheep's vision will decide whether the animal will run, stand still or run back. Really facinating and not that difficult. In our second weekend on Saturday we first went into town to shop and get some wifi. After that All organized a Christmas party for us and some of the previous groups in a pub. It was really nice. Sunday was a lazy day. The 3rd week was an awesome week. Monday and Tuesday we learnt about riding and grooming horses. Wednesday we learnt about driving motor bikes (dirt bikes) and quads. I really fell in love with the dirt bikes. Changing gear and all that - Fantastic. Meteorologists predicted a lot of rain for Thursday and Friday but they were wrong. Surprise surprise. There was, however, some rain which resulted in cancelled motor bike and quad lessons for Thursday. They would be continued in week 4. Thursday we did some water pipe maintenance. Friday we got to drive the big half a million dollars worth of tractor. A very big beast, however fragile. We learnt the difference between a 'driver' and an 'operator' and the importance of having respect for the vehicle you are driving. Saturday we embarked on a camping trip to the Coolah heights (Tops). It was awesome!!!! The guys slept in a cottage and the girls in a tent (or that was the intention). There was at least one guy in a tent and one girl in the cottage. We had a BBQ and at night a big camp fire. It was rather cold so everybody sat around the camp fire. It was really cozy. We talked, played games, listened to music, drunk some beers, ... It was very nice. And all of this under a sky lit with stars. This night I would see my first shooting star. It was a very special shooting star and so was the wish I did. I hope it will come true but I seriously doubt it. During the trip we did some sighting and some walks. Sunday we arrived back on the farm at approximately 3 pm. The 4th and last week we did a lot of things. We completed the fence, did some motor bike and quad driving, did some 4x4 driving and most of all: Enjoyed eachother's company very much the last few days. Friday we got graduation. I ended up 2nd in a class of 9. I was the only guy in the top 3. Number 1 was Ruth, an awesome british girl, and number 3 was Alex (short for Alexandra), a fantastic german girl. After graduation we left the farm and everybody got dropped off on different locations (depending on their plans). During the 4 weeks on the farm I met some nice people, some awesome people and also some incredible people. I've shared amazing moments and done things I would like to remember. Some of those moments were so great I can remember details of those moments which means I'll never forget them. I hope we'll keep in touch.
So than Total Care Farming (TCF) had ended. Time for something else: Brindley Park! The farm job that pays! I got dropped off by Kate of TCF in Coolah, a Town between Bundella and Merriwa. There I got picked up by Tim, a Dutch guy whose job I would get because he would start traveling. During the 1-hour trip I learnt that the farm was an all guys' farm except for Wendy, my flemish housemate. This worried me slightly because I figured all boys would result in sex, girls tinted conversations. Not really what I feel comfortable talking about to guys. And I have to admit: the first days it really annoyed me quite a bit but after a while I started to adapt to the farm, its employees and the things they, we talked about. Now I feel more at ease. After my first day I had already driven 3 different SUVs ('Ute' - that's what rural Australia calls them), an old Chamberlain tractor with a trailer filled with hay and a big white truck. Awesome initiation. So far I've driven 4 different tractors, a quad, numerous utes, a truck, ... The philosophy is: I somebody askes you 'Can you drive that?' you just say 'Yes' and then figure it out. Not quite what learned at the TCF course but every farm is different and has its own ways of doing things. A normal day at the farm would start at 6:3O am. The day would start with harvesting (cutting) the food (feed - 'lucerne' or 'alfa alfa') from one of the immense paddocks covering the farm. Then a tractor would bring up the harvested lucerne. My job so far was driving the tractor which is pulling a chaser bin. While harvesting I had to drive as close as possible to the tractor that is in fact harvesting with the bin. Challening if you have to do it for the first time. After this I drive the chaser bin upto the feedlot, we (Wendy and me) clean out the food- and water thrughs, I feed the sheepand after this we normally have a break of half an hour ('Smoko'). After this the things we do are variable. Sometimes we help with weighing sheep, lamb marking, weaning, drafting, fencing, etc. In the afternoon around 2 pm the sheep have to be fed again. A normal day ends at 3:30 pm. But most of the time we have to go back at 7 pm to feed the sheep again. This takes an hour and a half which means we're home by 8:40 pm approxmately. It are long days but there is a lot of money to be made because the salary per hour is really good. So far in 23 days I've only had Christmas off. If I would ask for it I would get more days off but there is nothing to do in Merriwa so I might as well make some money I guess. With Christmas I went to have a Christmas dinner at a house of one of the farms' employees. On Christmas day I suggested to Charlie (friend of Wendy's of TCF) and Wendy to go for New Years Eve to Sydney which is located on a 4-hour drive from Merriwa. I had 2 main reasons to go to Sydney:
1) The French girl I met in New Zealand during the Conservation Project, Tiphaine, was at that moment in Sydney and I was very excited that we would be able to meet up again.
2) I wanted to watch the fireworks. In Belgium they always show the Sydney's fireworks on the news on New Years Eve and I figured it would be nice to be able to tell that I in fact had been there despite the fact that I am not a city person.
So the 31st we worked till noon, got home, showered and went to Sydney where we arrived at 8:45 pm (we parked the car at the edge of the city and took a train into the city). I got off at Central Station where the hostel 'Wake Up' (a hostel that everybody knows) is located. There I would meet Tiftif (Tiphaine). Wendy and Charlie went to the other side of the city. I would meet up with them the next morning at the car. Before midnight Tiphaine and I catched up a bit. We went to Circular Quay to watch the fireworks. We picked an 'ok' spot to watch. We couldn't see everything but the fireworks were impressive nontheless. What really struck me were the amount of people following the fireworks through there cameras, smartphones and tablets. Such a shame. After the fireworks we tried to get some food and started looking for a toilet. This was difficult in a city with 1.6 million people that just came to watch the fireworks. A lot of them had the same plans as we did. After a while we managed to get some food and a toilet in a McDonalds on George Street. After this around 2-3 am we went to Hyde Park and just laid there on a rescue blanket (really funny) till 4:30 am. After that I had to catch a train in order to catch up with Charlie and Wendy at the car at 6:30 am. Tiftif went with me which was awesome! Overall my New Years Eve was everything I wanted it to be. I've seen the fireworks and I was in great company so couldn't have been better. On New Years day we had to be in time in Merriwa because we had to work in the afternoon and the evening. After New Years till now I haven't really done anything else but working and being at the house in Merriwa. I've been two times to Muswellbrook, the nearest city, which is an hour driving from Merriwa. I bought myself a smartphone for Christmas (Samsung Galaxy Trend Plus). Back home I always said: 'A smartphone? Never!'. But here I've been in so many situations that I just wanted to take a picture and I couldn't because I didn't have anything with me. And in the country side it's a good communication tool because most of the time their coverage is better than standard phones.
So now you're all up to date again about my life here in Australia. Please also go and check out my Facebook profile if you would like to see some pictures! Talk to you later!
At the moment I am almost a week at the farm course and it has been almost 2 weeks since my last blog update. So this it what has happened during that time. Wednesday 19 November I checked out at YHA Central Sydney with Lindsay, a Canadian girl with whom I would relacate a camper van from Sydney to Melbourne. It was an Apollo camper van with a maximum capacity of 2 adults and a child. Because of it being a relacation Apollo paid for all of the fuel (if we did not exceed the amount of kms it took to get from Sydney to Melbourne). On top of this we would get 100 dollars for the service. After picking up the van and paying for some insurance, etc. we would actually break even. This was really nice as we had to drive through an awesome scenery. We got 2 days for a +/- 1000 km trip which was off course more than enough in order to be able to do something on the road. Wednesday we decided to drive most of the trip so we would not have to drive a lot on Thursday which would give us the opportunity to do something. We decided to go canoeing in Albury, a city located 300 kms from Melbourne. The night from Wednesday upon Thursday we spent on a rest area next to the highway. It was a really nice spot. We drank a few beers, made dinner (beans), saw a movie (Tucker and Dale versus Evil) and went to sleep. The next morning we had to drive +/- 120 kms to Albury where we would meet up with a rep of the canoe company in a park with a very difficult name at 10:30 am. We took 4 beers per person and embarked on a 3-4 hour canoe trip. It only should have taken a little bit more than 2 hours but the weather was really good so we took our time. We chilled on the water, drank our beers and stopped a few times to swim a bit. It was a really nice canoe trip. After the canoeing we went to the supermarket and got 22 sausages (deal 22 for 7 dollars) and thought we would be able to finish them all which, of course, we didn't. After this we made dinner on one of the free BBQ spots in the park, which are actually really well organized in Australia. Hands down for that! We finished our 24 pack of beers, watched a movie (Little Fockers) and went to bed. The next day we just drove the last 300 kms to Melbourne and delivered the van. In the city we met up with George and Alex, two other Canadians we met in Sydney. I checked in in my hostel (United Backpackers) which was actually a really nice hostel located in the center. After this we went to Nandos restaurant for dinner and I had a Surpreme Burger which was beyond good. The next day (Saturday) we did some sightseeing in Melbourne. I dicovered that Melbourne is a lot quiter than Sydney, more easy going and just 'nicer'. There is a very different vibe in Melbourne which made that I liked it more than Sydney. At 7 pm I took the FlyExpress bus back to Sydney in order to be Monday in Sydney to get to the Farm Course. Sunday I arrived in Sydney at 6:20 am. I spent some time in the central station for its free wifi. I decided to rent a locker in the YHA Central for a few hours just to be able to get rid of all my luggage for a while (More than 30 kgs starts to get heavy after a while). Sunday I wanted to use to get some things for the farm course. I needed a very cheap pair of pants and a shirt. After a few hours of walking around I finally found a hideous shirt for 10 dollars and a pair of jeans for the same amount of money. I knew I would buy them for farm work so they didn't have to be fancy. At night I checked in at the Red Star Backpackers hostel. In the morning I found out my train got replaced by a bus due to mechanical failure. In the bus I met 3 other people who would go to the farm course: Carolin and Alex(andra), german girls (who would have guessed) and a dutch guy named Gys but during the course people would refer to him as Mike as Gys is very difficult to pronounce when you are not dutch. Sometimes he even got called Norman of Rosco, which was actually an act of teasing. Halfway 2 other germans got on the bus (Alex and Till). I knew these guys already from my first week in Australia during the Ultimate OZ week. The 3 remaining people I would meet in Quirindi. These people were: Ruth, a british girl (Manchester); Edward, a guy from Belgium (Brussels) and Jet, a girl from the Netherlands (Groningen). Eventhough there were 2 persons who spoke perfect dutch, so far we have not spoken Dutch to eachother (even if its would be a conversation between just the 2 of us). I didn't come here to speak Dutch and I have no intention to do so. This works really well for the Dutch guys and me. We try to encourage everybody to speak English all the time as it is kind of not sociable if you speak a language that others persons in the group do not understand. Other than this issue the group atmosphere is really good. The course itself is awesome! Real value for money. The 2000 dollars I spent for these 4 weeks have been really worth it so far. John, the CEO of Total Care Farming, is a really passionate man whos objective is very nobel. He wants to create a farming process which is sustainable and good for the well fare of the animal (sheep). His goal is to bring meat (e.g. lamb) on the market which is accessible to people who nowadays can't afford to buy this kind of meat. All of this with the well being of the animal in mind. To achieve this he tries to adapt his farming methods. For exemple: he tries to get the amount of stress sheep experience during being moved as low as possible by using Lifestock Mental Manipulation. These methods he teaches us (his students) because he believes this is the futur of farming. His second goal is to train people to a stage where they are able to run a farm. A lot of farmers struggle to be profitable. He wants to open a respite center for farmers who are in trouble. In this respite center he wants to reach out to them and teach them how to do things better without forcing anything. Where do we come in (students)? It is almost impossible for a farmer to leave his or her farm for a few weeks in a row. John wants to train people (us - but in a more elaborate course) to be able to care for these farms while their farmers are in the respite center. I think these are two very nobel goals and actually I would be able to see myself participating in such an intensive farm course. Making the world a better place is the nobelest thing you can do in my opinion. Respect for John, his wife Martine and everybody else involved (especially Al and Kate who are really involved in the schooling program). During the first week we already learned a lot of things. Tuesday we got explained the filosophy of the farm and some rules. We had a BBQ for lunch at a hill top overlooking the farm. I felt like being in the Lion King. Being high overlooking the farm and learning where the borders of the farm were located. It was very impressive. If you would walk across the borders of the farm it would take approximately 24 hours to get to the starting point again. After lunch we got a tour around the farm in a 4x4 drive which was necessary. John told us a lot about the farm and his vision for the farm. I learned a lot on my first day. Wednesday we got a Livestock Reproduction Training from Martine and after 'Smokey' (morning tea time) we got a course of Livestock Mental Manipulation from John which was very interesting. In the afternoon we guided as a group a mob of sheep from a yard to one of the paddocks. This was an awesome experience. I learned a lot. Thursday we got a first aid training from kate and afterwards we got a course of vehicle maintenance and basic driving. Friday we learned basic fencing and next week we will be fencing for most of the time as this is one of the most important skills you need to work on a farm. Yesterday we did 2 awesome walks in the middle of nowhere. The landscape was stunning. In the evening we went to a pub to have a few drinks and dinner. Now it is Sunday. Today I will be doing my laundry and relax a bit I guess. I am really loving being here and as I said before: It is really value for money + you live with wild kangaroos etc. + you develop a wide range of skills. I recommend this course to anyone!!! You won't regret it. Sign up for a Total Care Farming course! So this was my blog for now! See you in a few weeks! See yah mates ;)
This will be my first blog message written on Australian soil. I have been here now for over 2 weeks. Currently I'm staying in Sydney, or as I now mostly call it 'Shitney'. Not because I don't like the city, but because I'm not fond of cities in general. This is also why I'm looking to only working on farms or anywhere as long it is outside a city. Ideal would be close to a city as it is convenient having a city in the neighbourhood. But I wouldn't mind being somewhere on a farm in the outback surrounded by nothing but nature. Anyway, currently I'm still in Sydney. I'll start from the beginning. On arrival in Australia I was a little bit sad because I had to say goodbye to New Zealand and some awesome people. My shuttle was late and I stuggled locating him. My paper said I had to go to entrance D, which didn't exist anymore at that time. I decided to call the shuttle service and then after half an hour looking around I finally found the shuttle driver. On arrival at the hostel I was placed into a 6-bed dorm. And guess what... there were 3 other Flemish people staying there (a guy from Limburg and a couple from Leuven). It felt strange to me as I met only 2 Flemish people in my entire stay in New Zealand. At that moment there were apparently more than 10 Flemish people staying. Do you think I went to them to hook up? Of course not! I didn't travel to the other side of the world to meet Flemish people. Monday morning I met the group and the Ultimate OZ representatives, Heather and Dan. They took us to the office and after giving us a SIM card we headed out on a walk to Darling Harbour where I would see the georgous Botanic Gardens, the famous Opera House and Darling Bridge. Right at that moment I felt like Sydney wasn't really a city where I could stay too much time. It was just 'too busy'. It was impressive though. I met a lot of people who absolutely loved Sydney and people who had been on a Working Holiday visa and so far hadn't left Sydney,even if they had been there for months. But that just isn't me. During the day I talked with a lot of people: Candadians, Brits, an American, ... A lot of different nationalities. A got along with everybody, but there were a few people I would not talk with more than once as they just weren't interesting to me. Actually I didn't really connect with someone and haven't so far here in Australia to be honest. The people I hung out with the most were Georges (a French Canadian), Lindsay (a English speaking Canadian) and Andreas (a Deen). On Tuesday Ultimate OZ sceduled a harbour cruise for us, but the boat broke down so we went laser tagging and bowling instead which was pretty funny. They propmised to reschedule the harbour cruise, but they never did unfortunately. Wednesday we went to a hostel near Newcastle (north of Sydney) for 'base camp' which was awesome. We stayed there till Friday. On base camp we went sandboarding, we walked to the summit of Mount John to enjoy the panoramic views, I participated in a surf lesson and we went on a dolphin cruise. Besides the activities a lot of alcohol would be consumed, most of it 'goon' which is actually a very cheap version of white and red wine. It is the only alcohol in Australia that is cheap. It is famous for the hangovers and memory loss you get out of it. I drunk the cheapest beer as I didn't really like the goon. The two nights we spent at base camp were awesome. Saturday we did a 2km walk to Bondi Beach, one of Sydney's most famous beaches. It was a very beautiful walk. But because of the enormous amount of people doing the walk that day we hadn't any time to enjoy Bondi Beach as we had to be back in the Wake Up hostel in time for the goodbye dinner. After dinner we went to a few clubs. In the Home bar in Darling Harbour (the last club we did and the biggest of all) I lost my group and walked all the way back to the hostel by myself. It was an 'ok' night. Sunday would become my unluckiest day so far in New Zealand and Australia combined. A money transfer didn't come through which was a problem as I was unable to pay for a farm course I signed up for. Secondly a malfunction in my new charger destroyed my Nokia phone which held my Australian SIM card. My Samsung had to be unlocked to be able to accept the Australian SIM card which was quite expensive. I didn't want to pay that. Normally that would not drive me that crazy but I had a few phone calls to make Monday morning. But I left Monday morning on a Surf camp where I would not be able to make phonecalls. This combined with a few other things made Sunday a real 'hate' day. But then I thought: Tomorrow can only be better. And it was!!! From Monday to Friday I went to a Surf Camp which is the best and most painfull experience in Australia so far. The surf camp was located in a Holiday Park at Seven Mile Beach south of Sydney. There were around 90 people in surf camp, divided over 2 groups (which were each again devided into 3 groups). Every group got 2 sessions of surf lessons each day with a duration of 2 hours each. I would find out it would be the maximum you could do in 5 straight days. In total everyone could participate in 8 sessions. I learned very fast but as the week progressed I got some rashes on my right ankle and the backs of my knees. This was the result of putting on and taking off the 'wet' wetsuit twice a day. The rashes on my ankle become so severe that they became wounds. This was the work of the ankle leash which is attached to the surf board. The wound are still healing. But I thought during surf camp and I still do now: If a sport takes that amount of effort (putting on and taking off a wet wetsuit, collecting boards in trailer and walking a km to and from the beach twice a day) and pain (wounds because of rashes and painfull arms and legs because of the intensity of the sport and the lessons) and you still love every minute of it, it has to be awesome... And it really was!!! I am planning on buying a surf board when I will be travelling the East Coast in a few months after my farm work. It is just an amazing sport. I booked cheaper hostels for the rest of my time in Sydney. Friday after surf camp I checked in into Nomads Westend. I got a bed in a 32-bed dorm. Try to have a good night sleep after 5 exhausting days of surfing. Saturday I went to do some shopping with a few of my 'friends' or people I met. In the evening I checked in into a hostel called 'Red Star Backpackers' which was a really good hostel. It was smaller so the kind I like. It's more personal. You have more conversations in a smaller hostel than in a big hostel. I guess it is for a lot of people psychological. In a big hostel they know it is likely they will never see the same person twice. In a smaller hostel you bump in to eachother a few times a day so it would be weird if you didn't talk to eachother. During my times in hostels (16 so far in New Zealand and Australia combined) I learned that people are more sociable in smaller hostels. It is also better to travel by yourself. A very annoying thing about people travelling in group is that they don't 'want' interaction with other people. They feel like they don't 'have to'. It has happened a few times that I tried to talk to someone who belonged to a group (French, Belgians, ... I actually have the worst experience with a group of Flemish people - Why are we so cold???) and they answer in a way that says: 'Why are you talking to me? You just pulled me out of my comfort zone.' People... LIFE BEGINS WHERE YOUR COMFORT ZONE ENDS!!! Why are you doing this if you are scared of interaction with people you don't know? I do not understand it, even as I am not in every situation the most sociable person. Anyway, when I arrived at Red Star Backpackers I got invited to play some drinking games on the roof of the hostel. So we played a few games with an amazing view over Sydneys' skyline and I met some cool people. I talked a while with a girl from Chili, partially in English and partially in Spanish. My Spanish is still at 90 % of the level I had in Lanzarote which was quite surprising. It was nice. Sunday I went to Manly Beach with Andreas and Lindsay. We had to take a ferry to get there (only 2 dollars 50 which is really cheap for Sydney). Manly is a very nice and beautiful coastal town, though tourist infested. Yesterday (Monday) I checked out at Red Star Backpackers and made my way back into the city where I would stay for two days in the YHA Central Sydney, a hostel next to the central station. I'm staying there now (I'm even writing my blog now in the YHA) because tomorrow (Wednesday) I will be taking a train with Lindsay to the airport where we will pick up a camper van which we have to drive to Melbourne. The van has to be delivered there Friday afternoon which gives us some time to do some sightseeing on the road as Melbourne is only 900 kms from Sydney. It almost doesn't cost us anything and we have accommodation with us. Saturday night I will take a night bus back to Sydney from where I will depart on a 4-week farm course on Monday. Yesterday was a lazy day. Lindsay, Andreas and myself had a BBQ on the roof of the hostel at night which was nice. For today I haven't planned anything. This gave me the perfect opportunity to write my blog and charge all of my devices. Maybe I will do some laundry but I guess I'll wait a few days as I still have a few things to put on. So this is my story so far. It is possible that on the farm course I will not have that many opportunities to connect to the internet. In general, I'm having a great time and I'm excited about the future. Hear y'all later! ;)
Just to start: I had... an amazing time (wink Simon Cowell). So amazing thinking about it (+ lack of sleep) gets me emotional. What were the best moments? Depends what you are referring to. Talking about nature and the sightseeing that I did I would say that my top 4 would be (all shared first places actually): 1) Waiheke (Island east of Auckland - stunning landscape, sunsets, ... the complete package for a nature lover) 1) Tangoriro Alpine Crossing - Hiking through the land of Mordor for 8 hours, enjoying the most breathtaking landscapes, realizing you are standing on an active volcano that erupted just a few years earlier (2012), passing Mt Doom, ... Got no words for it! 1) Milford Sound - a fjord in the south of the South Island - you see it and your heart skips a beat. I guess I haven't said anaything during the entire trip just because there was so much beauty to take in. 1) Coastal routes from Blenheim to Kaikoura on the east coast of the South Island and from Westport to Greymouth on the west coast - both sides vary so much but are equally stunning.
If we are talking about staying in hostels, people, everything else than nature I would say: In (almost) every hostel I met some new people from all over the world. It was awesome to listen where everybody comes from and what their intentions are. With some people there would never be that 'click' but with others you would even go on a trip the day after you met them. So a very nice experience.
About people... I've met the most wonderful people, most of them on the conservation project. It are all people from all over (Germany, Switzerland, the british girl and the french girl (most of them from Germany -.-) but all people with different backgrounds and that is what makes it very interesting. Of course there are some people you feel more comfortable with than others, but I've got to say: it went really well from the start. After a while you tent to go more to certain people just because you feel a click, a connection. Sometimes that connection comes so fast and grows at the speed of sound that you think: hejla howla this seems like something more special and this is worth holding on to! Had this with a few individuals.
So am I happy to be in Australia at the moment? Yes, but I would have liked to have stayed in New Zealand just a little bit longer. I was not ready to go yet although everything comes to an end and for leaving 'new', 'fresh' friendships there will never be a good time I guess. I will keep in touch and we'll see eachother soon. The ones I'm referring to will know I'm talking to them.
Aight, New Zealand was an AWESOME (eeh wink ;) ) experience, but I'll face Australia head on. Wanna dance? Bring it on I'm ready for you!
I'm finding myself a the moment in a library in Christchurch (South Island - New Zealand). Tonight (Friday) I will be flying from here to Auckland where I will stay till Sunday afternoon. Sunday evening I will be arriving in Sydney and then my adventure in the country of the Kiwis will be over and my journey in the Aussies' country will begin.
In this piece of my blog I will cover my 2 week trip through the North- and South Island of New Zealand. The journey started 18th October 2014. I just spent a night in the Newton Lodge Hostel in Auckland. In this hostel I will never stay again. It is a good hostel in essence. The atmosphere is just 'wrong'. People don't talk to eachother. If you say something like 'Good morning' you are lucky if the person just gives you a look. Saturday morning I went to the airport to pick up my Toyota Corolla Sedan. I was surprised to get a car this new and fancy. It was a good car. It only consumed too much fuel. With a full tank I good drive (with luck) about 600 kms. But ok during my trip I never experienced any difficulties with the car so I kept my mouth shut. I discovered today that having a car at your disposal is very easy as I now have been wandering around for 3 hours with all of my Luggage and I can tell you.... I am starting to feel my back. But it is just for a little while, so I don't complain. Anywho, my journey started on Saturday 18th. I drove 3 hours to Rotorua, a town east of Auckland. On arrival at the Base Hostel in Rotorua I was quite dissapointed at first as it looked a little bit old and dirty. The room, however, was very nice. I shared a room with 6 others: 3 German girls, 2 British guys and one Danish girl. 2 of the German girls and the Danish girl (don't remember the names) bought me that night a Dominos Pizza (feel like singing the slogan). I was very happy and of course refused to take the pizza for a full 6 seconds period. In the evening we all went (Germans, Danish girl, Britains) to a pub just next to the hostel where we had a few beers (I had just 2 because they were sooooo expensive). I had a little discussion with one of the British guys because he preferred Heineken instead of Stella and I was like: WHAT?! Ironically I would drink that night a Heineken because a drunk guy offered me one. Anyway a few of us got quite drunk and we had a really good time talking and dancing. Unfortunately the second DJ wasn't as good as the first DJ so after an hour in his turn I called it a night and went to bed. The next day we all went to see the Geysers and the hot pools near Rotorua. The things that I will Always remember is the rotten-egg-smell. It did NOT smell good there but it was very impressive. In the afternoon we went to a hot water creek and had a swim. This was really awesome because I never experienced anything like that before. The water got heated by the soil in the creek which was really hot. You could walk on it, but if you burried your foot it would become a little bit too hot after a while. Of course I tried this. Hey, what did you expect? :p After this we said our goodbyes and split up. I went to the Redwoods, which is a forest with enormous trees. I really wanted to hug one. I wanted to hike for 2-3 hours through the forest. Boy was that a bad idea. A half an hour after I started my walk it started to rain heavily. I had put on a rain jacket of course, thanks mom for convincing me to take 'the North Face', otherwise I would not have a camera anymore and my wallet would be soaked. These were the items I had with me and because everything else, except what was underneath the rain coat, was wet. It took my boots 2 days to dry. After my hike I drove to Taupo. On the road I saw some awesome cloud formations. The hostel in Taupo was a dream. Everything looked new and the atmosphere was awesome. I shared a room with a German couple. They were not so happy to see me at first (wonder why :p). They were very easy going but nice. At night I went to the TV room to browse a little bit on the internet. There was, however, a dvd that caught my eye called 'Monuments man' and I thaught: screw browsing, I'm watching this movie tonight. But after 15 minutes a German girl entered and started a conversation with me (grrrr). We talked for 20 minutes and after that I was tired and went to bed. The following day I went to the top of a hill near Taupo to enjoy a 360 degree view of the city. It was very cool. In the afternoon I went on a cruise (sail ship) on Lake Taupo. And guess who was there, the German girl. There was a lot of wind which made it a little bit cold. We saw some Maori (native inhabitants of New Zealand) art, got a cup of tea and after that we went into a bay and the skipper asked: would anyone like to go for a swim? I replied: 'f course! I went all by myself in the lake which was just a tiny bit colder than I expected. I didn't stay in for more than 5 minutes. It was just that cold. After the cruise I drove to Turangi on the other side of the lake where I would just spend the night. The hostel where I stayed was a hippie style hostel where you could get a late check-out if you paid either 10 dollars extra or 'painted' something. Really strange. I met a few French people there. The day after this I got up at 5 am because I wanted to do the Tangariro Alpine Crossing in the Tangariro National Park (hiking) and I would go there by shuttle which departed from the National Park Village but to get there I had to drive an hour. The shuttle would depart at 7 am. The hike was magnificent. I got to see mount Doom (Mt. Ngaurohoe) and the scenery was just stunning. It was the most beautiful walked I've ever done. After the hike I decided to drive all the way to Wellington in the far south of the North Island because the next day I would take a ferry from Wellington to Picton on the South Island. The drive took me 5 hours as I stopped a few times to eat or take pictures. This night I slept in the car which was not that comfortable. The next day I first did some sightseeing bacause my ferry departed in the afternoon. During the three hours on the ferry I took some very nice pictures. On arrival in Picton I went straight to the hostel I booked. When I walked in I immediately noticed the noice coming from the kitchen. When I entered the kitchen there was a group of over 30 Chinese people cooking and 5-6 others. It was overwhelming and a little bit too much for me. The next day (Thursday) I decided to just start to drive in the direction of my next hostel which was located in Hamner Springs, a small Spa oriented city. On the road I stopped in Blenheim to visit Sir Peter Jacksons' personal collection of First World War airplanes. It was very impressive. I also went to a classic car museum next doors, but was dissapointed to find out they didn't have one Ford Mustang. I could not believe it. Over 150 classic cars and no Mustang nor Camaro. About my next part of the trip I was very excited. The coastal road from Blenheim to Kaikoura is supposed to be one of the most beautiful of the world. And it really was. It was magnificent. On arrival in Kaikoura I did some sightseeing, saw some seals and went up a hill for a 360 degree view of the mountains on one side of Kaikoura and the Pacific Ocean on the other side. In between those two there were amazing Cliffs which provided these awesome views. That night I went to have some beere and play some pool with a Belgian guy called Jonas. It was a good night. The next day I had to drive 400 kms to the Fox Glacier. I first drove to Westport which is kind of a detour but I had read that the coastal drive from Westport to Greymouth was one of the top 10 coastal routes in the world by Lonely Planet so I just had to do it. The scenery was unimaginably beautiful. I also got to see the Pancake rocks. For photos - see Facebook. That night I got talking with a Spanish woman in the hostel. I heared her talking Spanish on the Phone and after her Phone call I started a conversation. I hadn't spoken Spanish for over two months, but surprisingly I still had most of my vocabular and fluency. The next day (Saturday) I first went to a lake in the neighbourhood of the Fox Glacier and afterwards I did three different walks (all to get the Glacier from a different angle and perspective). After this I went as fast as I could and was legally permitted to Queenstown. From 6 pm a part of the road to Queenstown would be closed till 7 am so I had to pass this part before 6 pm. Luckily I succeeded in doing so and I arrived that night in Queenstown where I would spend 3 nights in the Pinewood Lodge hostel. It was just that weekend Labour Day weekend (so everybody had Monday off). The hostel was full of people whose goal it was to get as drunk as possible. The first question they asked me was: Do you want to get drunk with us? I replied: Euuuuhh.... maybe later... I didn't. Sunday I did some sightseeing in and around Christchurch. Monday would be the top day in my two-week trip. I would go to Milford Sound which is a Fiord in the south of the South Island. It is an amazing place. We made a cruise and I took an enormous amount of pictures. There was also a whale around but I failed to spot him (or her). New Zealand is such an amazing place. The South Island is even more beautidful than the North Island. I spent one more night in Queenstown. Tuesday morning I headed for Mount Cook, the highest mountain of New Zealand. I got some awesome pictures of this beauty. I went to do a hike to the Hooker Glacier. During my walk the weather changed and when I just started to come back it started to rain. The way back to the car park should take an hour and a half. I did it in 45 minutes. It rained all afternoon so I stayed in the hostel as there was nothing else you could to there than walking. At night the weather cleared and I went for a short walk to the Tasman Glacier. Wednesday I left Mt Cook Village for Lake Tekapo. In Lake Tekapo I went up Mt John from where you have a 360 degree look over the area surrounding Lake Tekapo. During the nights the main activity in Lake Tekapo is stargazing. They told me that it is the best place in New Zealand to go to if you want to look at the stars. So I did it at night. They were right. The sky was lit with stars and shooting stars. Unfortunately there was also a moon which made the sky look slightly less impressive. On my last day on the South Island I went horseback riding in Rubicon Valley in Springfield. It was awesome. The scenery was amazing, the horse was nice and the guy, Chris, told me a would be able to learn very fast how to ride a horse as I apparently have rithm and balance. We did some walking and slow running. It was great. I could only recommend Rubicon Valley. Chris is a great teacher and a wonderful person. My last night I spent in a hostel in Christchurch which was all right. And Friday (today) I did some sightseeing, went to have some falafel and now I'm sitting in the library. To summarize: I've had an amazing time exploring New Zealand, both the North Island and the South Island. If you add my two weeks as a conservation voluteer to this you can say I had a fantastic time in New Zealand. I'm really sad that I have to leave so soon, but I'm also excited. One chapter ends and another one begins. Woohooow. And I'm sure I will return to New Zealand because there is so much I wish I could have done but so far haven't. I say this a lot but this time I mean it: I WILL RETURN! :D
