Hi mates,

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!

See you guys! :)

Thomas (called 'Thom' at the farm)