2 Weeks Trundle By... (Jan 28th- Feb 10th)

So as the title kinda states... a rundown on my first 2 weeks working at Wallendbeen, NSW.

Well to go right back to the start... it took 4hour on the train to get here!! Since then that really doesnt feel like all that much, but at the time it felt like a long time! 4hours and still in the same state, just didn't seem right. You could get from one side of the UK to the other in that time and in the grand scheme of New South Wales even, I hadn't travelled very far!

Upon getting here, nothing was quite as I expected. For a start there are no calves to bottle feed (as my job description stated). There's sheep, a lot of sheep... On a little farm of 1500acres (considered very small). The garden is about 5acres!

The countryside around here is rolling hills and paddocks (not fields), not altoghether disimilar to home except it seems to stretch forever and it is nowhere near as green. The grass is a kind of burnt yellow and actually it's a lot more rolling than being back in Wales. There's no steep valleeys like at home, maybe Cambridgeshire countryside is more comparable but it's still so much more vast!
The paddocks (hundreds of acres each) are littered with rocks; huge ones, worn smooth; looking like they've been dropped at random.
I guess people out here don't realise how incredible their 'boring' countryside is to someone whose fields are square, muddy and completely grassy green.

The family I'm working for are David and Gen, with twins Charlie and Henry, Gus (in Ireland) and Rosie. My first day here David took me around some of their land. I couldn't remember where I'd been directly after going. And I was no better later in the week!

Evenings are currently occupied watching cricket and tennis. I have never been interested in cricket at all before but I'm actually quite enjoying it, as long as they don't wear the cricket whites! Think I'll support Australia!

My actual job here aparently consists of odd jobs, nothing very definate at all, just anything that needs doing. In the first two weeks I've; built chairs, cleaned sheds, cleaned vehicles, fixed machinery, built fences... It's very much 'if it needs doing, I'll do it!' But it's varied and not boring!
In just the 2 weeks the gloves I was given for fencing are full of holes; they were freebies with dog food so I can't expect much... and I've seen some wildlife. We spotted a couple of kangaroos out in the paddock... no camera of course! and I've seen one of the most poisonous snakes out here just slithering through the garden!

I've got a general daily routine established: I get up, turn off the water pump and back in for breakfast at 7.30 (guarenteed to be first up). I then feed the horses; an ex-racehorse (Crown) and a pony very similar too Harry but a bit bigger (Buddy). Then the day progresses in the fore mentioned jobs. On completion I feed the 10 dogs and the horses and turn the pump on... simple!

Possibly the scariest bit of my first 2 weeks was being left on my own for the weekend. Not scary in itself but considering the weather was boiling hot, at least 40' and had been for weeks, there was a high risk of bushfires and I'm on my own with what felt like a thunderstorm brewing! If lightning were to hit before the rain... FIRE!!! Don't think I've ever been so glad to see just a few drops of rain... no storm though =(

Australia Day! (26th Jan)

First off I must apologise for my inability to regularly post.... I can't even keep a diary, why I thought I would be any better at keeping a blog updated I do not know! But onwards to...

Australia Day

Somehow, pure coincidence really, I've ended up in Sydney on what is probably the biggest day in the Australian calander. It's loud, it's bright and so alive and no doubt will be all night. I may also be a bit lost but never mind. Yes it's Australia Day and I've ended up in Sydney, doing my normal wanderings!
I'm on my own, with only a map I picked up at the hostel for a guide. I have walked MILES! From Central Station to Darling Harbour, all the way around nearly to the Opera House... an back again, just about!

Landed early afternoon and managed to find the hostel... achievment! It's hard to find things to do without knowing the city at all or what it has to offer but I managed to find a host of attractions on Darling Harbour, which isn't actually hard when you've managed to find the harbour... So I went to the zoo!
Not a big, availabe anywhere zoo, but a little, Australian animals zoo... right in the middle of Sydney!

 Wallaby!

 Roo and Roo

 Kukaburra don't think that's how it's spelt though!

Crocodile was a bit shy!

One of the best moments of the day would have been sitting in the cafe of the zoo, on the first floor balcony type thing, enclosed in the dome that made up the entire zoo with the habitats all open below

and a koala in a tree next to me.

Can't get better than that in the middle of a city. It's as close and I've come to finding the peace of the city like I found in Brisbane.

Later this evening I found myself in another brilliant situation, having walked all the way round to Sydney Harbour, sat on a grass enbankment, watching a band play with an Opera House backdrop.

Really felt like part of the city there!

Disappointing though that all the fireworks were back at Darling Harbour and having walked all the way back, not I'm sure by the shortest route, they were surprisingly brief!

And now as I write the first version of this, I'm sat in the middle of a park as Darling Harbour parties and really no clue how to get back to the hostel...

Goomeri- Training! (21st-25th Jan)

So first things first.... Goomeri is the first non-touristy/ highly populated place I've been. The shops have awesome western style awning out front and wide streets. It's all spread out and not densely packed!

Visit Oz have two training farms out near Goomeri, one that is specifically a Visit Oz training farm, and one that is a working horse stud and polo cross farm; Jaylyn Downs, which was where I was. Polo cross being a terrifyingly fast game played on horses. Like lacrosse on horseback...

First thing on arriving in Goomeri was a lot of paperwork to set up for living in Australia for a year; Medicare, activating bank accounts, setting up Australian phones (Telstra network is supposed to be the best in the outback), and buying work clothes... Boots, jeans, shirts and a hat... okay so I only had to buy boots, and we were given hats. I'm now living in a broadrimmed hat! Got to admit, one of my favourite bits about arriving in Goomeri was the catered meal. Made a change from smoothies and fruit!

Jaylyn Downs at sunset.

Best thing about Jaylyn Downs; it's a working farm not just a training farm. The people were great too. They employ 2 Visit Oz partisipants as well as 2 other girls. Being a working farm theres always some sort of job to do, particularly with the horses; mucking stalls, raking yards, feeding and constantly some animal to catch and move, which was sometimes quite an effort! Getting the stallions to service the mares is a very interesting job, and not as straight forward as it might sound. Training the foals... also quite interesting. It takes long enough to catch each one, then trying to get them to get used to lifting their hooves without getting kicked... well it definately requires patience!

The group of trainees here was an internatioonally mixed group... 2 German girls, 2 Danish guys, an American, a Liverpudlian couple and a Welsh girl (me). Half the group could ride on arrival, the other half had to be able to by Wednesday. We went out riding, theres a lot of acres! For me it was an incredible experience! The four of us who could ride were taken cantering on a trail through a hilly wooded area. I was riding a huge chestnut gelding whose styrups I couldn't actually reach from the ground. It was an utterly terrifying and exhilerating ride. I know I only stayed mounted through luck not skill!

Added to the infinate amounts of horsework was machinery work! Felling trees with chainsaws in the boiling hot sun. Hard work but great fun. Really enjoyed it. We were cutting down young gum trees because they're no good for fence posts!

It rained!

 The second half of the week it rained... and rained.... the coming of a cyclone!!! Was such an incredible change of weather compared to the boiling hot since I arrived! Unfortunately it meant we got up at 6.30 to muster cattle then couldn't go! It's amazing how much of a standstill things come to when it rains. There's still little everyday jobs to do, but generally we were just doing things for the sake of having things to do. However we did go out on the motorbikes... for practise. I want a motorbike!! We started on a tiny one, which was incredibly fun, just like anything miniature; then we progressed to full size! The Danish boys were great with the bikes, whilst the German girls were great with the horses. For my part I only skidded the big bike in the mud once!!
And as for tractors... front loading New Holland and a Massey Furgeson nearly identical to dads!

Then of course the main point of the training week; the job offers! I did honestly worry quite a bit about getting a job. I was the last to get an offer. There was a race horse place looking for grooms but it was=n't a specific offer to me. They were just looking for as many people as possible. I would have been perfectly happy to stay at Jaylyn Downs, if only they'd offer me a job! But on Thursday night I got the perfect offer; raising cvalves, babysitting and horses. And just a little place too!

So yeah, Goomeri: chainsaws, tractors, motorbikes, horses, a job and oh yeah, my first encounter with a poisonous animal; a kane toad, though aparently you'd have to practically kiss it to be poisoned!

Onto New South Wales by plane and train!!!

 A pet fawn!

Just quite pretty!

Sun, Sea, Sand and Surf (18th- 20th Jan)

......Sunsets, Sunburn and Smoothies.

Weekend at Rainbow Beach 

First off, 2 and a half days is nowhere near enough time at Rainbow Beach (spent 5hours Friday on a bus so it only counts as half a day). But it's designed for tourists. Beautiful and soooooooo much to do, if you have the money to spend.

The hostel here was great but for two things:- 

      + The appallingly bad water pressure in the showers

      + And the lack of air con.

Air con is a beautiful thing out here, having just missed one of the hottest weeks of the summer, it's still incredibly hot, even the bus had better air con than I've experienced at home. The water pressure generally wouldn't bother me at all but theres just so much sand and it's impossible to shift!

The hostel did however do nightly bush walks, which were free, consisting of an easy walk through the bush up onto the sand dunes above Rainbow Beach....

 Just acres and acres of sand and spectacular views....

  

And a beautiful sunset over the sand. Australian sunsets are so quick (just 4mins according to our guide) and generally quite spectacular...

Having said that, going on a 'sunset cruise' around Tin Can Bay on the second night was a bit disappointing. Much as I enjoyed just being out on the water, it really wasn't that much in the way of entertainment and the horizon had a layer of clouds so we didn't even get a good sunset.

First night (above) made up for it though as did the sand boarding; throwing yourself down a stupidly steep sand dune on a bodyboard.... incredibly fun and the start of a weekend covered in enough sand to fill a beach!

The beach itself was also incredible. Miles of sand, and the amount of 4x4s driving up and down the beach to, well get to the other end was riddiculous, there were even speed limits along the beach. It was so hot though! Putting sunscreen on first thing was a morning ritual, didn't work though! Having spent just one full day on the beach was already a beautiful pink.

(Please note the 'rainbow' coloured sand that gives the beach its name)

Anyhoo, slightly sun pinked wont stop me and Sunday was watersports! Namely kayaking and surfing!
Kayaking was brilliant! Dolphins, sea turtles, sting rays and lots and lots of birds! And a beautiful warm lagoon on the beach to swim in after. Then surfing in the afternoon, well attempted surfing. Not my best sport I must say, but still a lot of fun!

And I can't tell yous about Rainbow Beach without mentioning the Juice Bar. Soooo much yummy fruit juices and smoothies! May have developed a slight addiction, and practically lived on them over the weekend! What can be better than lying next to a bright blue pool, in a hammock in the sun with a good book and a smoothie? Even went back for one on Monday morning before catching the bus on to Goomeri!

Gotta say, Rainbow Beach was AMAZING even if it did all cost money and I was nearly wishing for rain. There was much more I wanted to do there. If I get a chance to go back I'll make sure I find time to go to Fraser Island which has a beautiful lake, and some of the purest dingos in Australia (aparently) but you really need two full days there so I didn't have enough time. There's also a point not far away where you can go scuba diving with nurse sharks and sky diving over the beach. Maybe I'll go back at some point.

Piccies from Brisbane (17th Jan)

So I finally have a bit of time to update.

Firstly a few pics from Brisbane =)

Got to admit I didn't see much of the city in daylight so you'll have to endure a couple of beautiful night-time panoramas. But firstly:

 I believe this one was taken from the middle of the footbridge over the river =)

 Panorama from the hostel roof, beside the pool before going off on my wanders.

And a b-e-a-u-tiful one taken from the South Bank, looking back at the city. I love this pic!!!

Fly And Arrive (16&17th Jan)

So, flying Korean Airlines wasn't too bad, though I dont think I'm gonna develop a habit of Korean food. It was generally ok but there's only so much soggy airline rice I can put up with. However Rice Cakes are sooo yummy: like sweet uncooked dough with a squidgey chocolatey inside. Yum yums.

And seeing South East Asia from the air at night was beautiful! Like passages of orange between islands of light. Still not sure if they were real islands or not...
And then seeing Australia for the first time at about 5am.
Completely perfect sunrise; proper midnight sky with a perfect array of blue, yellow and orange, with silhouetted clouds. Very very pretty!

Then after a very brief getting through customs (stupidly quick) and not being able to find the right persons to meet me at the airport, out to Brisbane.
The day itself in Brisbane was quite sleepy and uneventful. I'd only had about 3hours sleep in 2days! But the evening was brilliant.
Could fall in love with that city at night.
So many pretty lights but can easily find peace and quiet to just enjoy.
Went for a walk down the South Bank of the river. Well worth the walk. Was tempted to hire a city bike and cycle down the river. Glad I didn't because I ended up having some brilliant encounters.
First with Australian wildlife. Namely bats and possums! The bats were so huge I couldn't work out at first if they were bats or birds. And the possums... so cute. Like the equivalent to squirrels!

And then the best part of my Brisbane wander, meeting a group of random lovely people. Casually walking along by the river and happened to here a reference to Doctor Who, which led me to an encounter to a group of brilliant people, one of whom was a brilliant street busker, and another who was such a lovely fangirl, in love with BBC programming.

Anyway, onwards to Rainbow Beach!

Leaving Tomorrow!

... Well actually leaving today, or already left!!! Finishing the rounds of goodbyes and staying with grandparents in Cambridgeshire tonight to be closer to the airport!
Flying away at 20:05 tomorrow!

So I have already packed.... one big case!!!

That's it. The next year in one big bag.

And in the bag...

Shorts! Plenty of pairs! (one of which has gone into hand luggage)

T-shirts, and a couple of long sleeveds so I don't get too sunburnt =)

Swimmy stuffs (and a spare)

A dress and a skirt for niceties.

Work clothes (that probably make up most of the weight)

And a couple of warm things, just in case I do get cold out there.

So that constitutes a years worth of clothes, supposedly. And theres a rain coat in there somewhere...

Few extra little bits... spare glasses, first aid kit, head torch, towel, sleeping bag liner, notepad, alarm clock, plug bits and of course a disposable camera because it's fun.

So that's it, give or take a couple of things. 23kg hold luggage allowance and I use about 14ish.

Shockingly carry on luggage is about 12kg allowance.... thats huge! I may have managed about 4kg...

Book

Journal

Spare Clothes

Kindle (with lots of free books)

Visa, Insurance and Flight details.

Camera (with spare batteries and SD Cards)

And possibly a couple of other things.

Anyhoop off I disappear. Internet connections maybe a bit sketchy while I'm away, outback isn't renowned for it's wifi, Kangaroos have yet to be adapted to carry wireless adapters in their pouches.

And before I go; and image and a song:

A very BIG country

Au revoir mes amis!