Mulberry child! (we have plenty of mulberries growing and Zoe quite likes them!)
Red the cat who follows us doing everything!
Me holding Gonk the baby Emu who Heather escued at the side of the road.
I saw "Wolf Creek" finally yesterday after everyone talking about it! OMG!!! I was so terrified... it was so realistic and horrible and based on true stories!! I am going to be a wuss trvaelling from now on!! so that clip about the tourist season is particularly relevent after having watched Wolf Creek... definately recommend you all see it.. loads of scenery of Australia, English backpackers, and damn scary!!

Be Happy and Bug Shot, its Be happy the white one who I ride and went swimming withg the other day, however the other night we heard screaming and it seems Be Happy has jumped the fence and gone off with the brumby's (wild horses) unlike the film the man from snowy river, Heather reckons Be happy should come back in the next few days hopefully, were just hoping she didnt get too hurt jumping the fence as she obviously hit a post.
Swimming in the pool on Xmas eve, Midges place in Cobar.. thats Zoe riding a cow!!

More of the deharing of the pig, decorating the Christmas cake and Christmas dinner!

Me riding Be Happy and the family going for a walk during the xmas season!
Filling a hot bath (145 degrees), and putting a dead pig in it for a 5 minutes and then scraping the hairs off.. (the best way to dehair a pig!)

Those last 4 photos are:
a family photo of Terry, Heather and Zoe at Fords Bridge Bush Pub on New years Eve
a bearded dragon lizard lounging around on the farm
the boys getting the organs out of the pig
and a big bag of yabbies!
Once again sorry they are all in mad order, Heather wanted some of my photos so she downloaded some onto her comeputer (she has a different one for the wwoofers) so the ones I'm putting on are those I have asked her to email back to me... so there are lots missing that I still need to put up once I get to a city!
After saying in a recent entry how dry it had been the last few weeks it is now flooded! this is great for everyone though. In the outback and the tropics (up North) of Australia the summer is the monsoon season as well, which is one of the reasons i am not going up North until the winter when it will be dryer and cooler.. however the outback hadnt had any rain during the monsoon season for 7 years before I came along (not that I am saying I have had anything to do with it!)
It has now rained solid for 2 days and it is the best biggest floods anyone can ever remember - they would never use the terminology worst floods as all rain is good! Literally you have to wade out the front door.. yesterday we were on the bike sheep mustering for a while in the rain getting them to safe places but we didnt get round them all, today the weather was much wetter so Heather and I went off in the quabike.. the rain lashing down on us... driving throught hcik mud and floods..and practically all of those sheep we sheared the last few days were deciding to die, they just sat down and died, so we had to stand them all up again and force them up on the road.. 10 just wouldnt move to we had to lift them up a few at time put them on the quadbike with us and dump them onto the road while we went to sort out the goats, we mustered them all into athe shearing paddock where they could all hide under the sheds.. then we decided to get the backhoe so we could put all the sick sheep in the bucket and take them back to the barn... but we got it bogged and had to walk home to get the quadbike. But since at the pub everyones been talking about getting their heavy machinary bogged I was feeling rather left out since I had no stories to tell so now I dont have to be jealous.. I have my own backhoe bogging story to tell! so once we had the quadbike again I was really concerned as we hadnt seen Snow with the other goats... every single day since I arrived we have gone off to check if snow is okay and if her babies have arrived... now here we were driving round a huge paddock searching round every tree calling for her in the terential rain... eventually we found her, once tiny kid was standing my her, another in a heap with the sac still round it... she was ignoring the second one and we were convinced it was dead... I scoopped them up, rubbed the down with my tea shirt and shoved thewm under by coat (what the locals call a dry as a bone which is basically an oilskin coat, Heather hoiked Snow up on her lap and off we drove on the quadbike back to the house barn, so there we all are slipping and sliding around in the mud hanging on all holding various animals, the after birth sliding out of poor Milky, me covered in the birth from the babies... the babies arent named yet but I have temporarily called them Snowdrop and Teeny Weeny, Teeny Weeney has rickets really badly and can barely stand and Snow pays no attention to her obviously just wanting/ assuming she'll die as nature works, so we have hairdryered them off, and I am holding Teeny weeny up to Snow prising her mouth open and putting the teat in her mouth... I do this every hour, shes in a little box beside me as I speak as if we leave her with Snow, she just kicks her into the cold and wet. I dont know if she'll live the poor adorable little thing, but I'm prepared to get up throughout the night to put her on Snow for a drink.. we have a her sister with her too in the box as they are both in bad way and so cold and Snow is having a rest after her ordeal.
After all this we had to go down to the road again the rescue the sheep, we could fit 4 at a time on the quadbike leaving barely enough room for me, so there I am hanging on the back while holding a couple of sheep on too... we have them in the house barn, Baa seemed pretty worried at what on earth they are since he thinks he is a goat.. but hes not scared anymore now he realises he can just run over them and they wont budge, the poor things are so sick. Just so you know sheep are heavy, hoicking them on and off motorbikes is heavy work!! who needs a gym!!?? Heather mixed up a concoction of sugar, water and bourban and we have fed it up to them... lets just hope they live...
This has to be the harshest environment ever, the farmers spend years desperately trying to stop their animals joining all the piles on bones everywhere from the drought and now their trying to stop them drowning... the life here is not for the farmer after an easy life..
Needless to say after hours in the rain a hot shower, dry clothes and soup were in order..!!!

Yabby's and putting the goats to bed

Remember me saying how I had to rescue Milky and Baa from the dogs trying to rip them up? well these are the photos and thats me kicking Mack down who is still tryingto bite the lamb in my arms..
Then thats me transporting Milkys sisters baby on the quadbike... time for him to be weaned and to join the big boys..

How we make pork chops (if only we all had a butchery in our back yard?!) mind you I think dad does have a bansaw in the garage.. think thats for making picture frames though... but just in case you ever need to chop up a pig dad it has plenty of other uses!!

The Final process of pig killing...

This is our New years Day roast pork meal... very yummy. Hadnt had crunchy crackling in years and years and boy it was good!! How did I be vegetarian for all those years?!

How we get Roast duck

More sunset photos in outback NSW!

I've probably taken 50 or 60 sunset photos while I've been at Lower Lila!! I just cant help it, especially with the flooded river in front!!

The adventures of Milky, Baa and Melissa

Remember me saying about us having to muster Milky and Baa in the backhoe and me having to hold them in there?! well this is the photos to prove our adventures!!

Zoe and Terry sitting in the sun while Heather and I check out the cattle, and mutering goats, this is the view of them running fast in front of the quadbike.. we spent 4 hours on the quadbike yesterday mustering goats... since I am hanging on the back on the metal bars hanging onto Sally the dog with one hand, the bike with the other and various odds and ends such as a camera and Zoes milk bottle wedged between my knees and we are going real fast, the trrain is bumby and full of logs and we are flying up and down I could barely walk afterwards - and was convinced my arse would be purple it was so bruised! But all in a good days work and plenty of fresh air and fun!!

A beautiful sunset from Lower Lila in Bourke (ie the farm I'm working on)

17 month old Zoe looking rather cute!

Terry reluctantly sheep shearing

Cosmic Nutty Backpackers!

Had a really good night down the Fords Bridge bush pub the other night! It was really good because it was so quiet! At one point it was just Andrea the bar owner, Heather, me and Zoe so we had a proper girls night until the bous Swino and Robbo turned up. We chatted and drank a good few.. it was the most H had had since before she was pregnant with Zoe and since I had taken painkillers for my earache I was feeling pretty happy myself (and after 4 vodkas I had no earache!!) But was surprised me most is the nutty backpackers and hitch hikers they have all met, they have enough stories to keep you entertained for a week!
They seem to have all picked up a hitch hiker they couldnt get rid of... one put up with one sleeping on the sofa for 6 months before they put their stuff out the front door.. and this girl called Cosmo camped outside the pub for months driving everyone insane and being a complete mung bean star gazing freak who shouted at everyone for being capatilists! Swino picked up a couple who started trying to kill each other in the car and went mental at him...! It was at this point they all said hitch hikers were a nightmare and I told them yes I was a hitch hiker...! ( and a backpacker - what a combination!)

The days are disapearing so fast I cant believe it! When I arrived I said I would stay a maximimum of a month because after all this is a big country and I have to keep moving if I want to see it all! So a month has been and gone... luckily they have no intention of chucking me out, Heather says I'm the best babysitter shes ever had so they are very happy for me to stay on.. but I'm definately leaving at the end of the month! (or i'll never get to see it all!)
As usual loads of different fruit are ripe at the moment, we have been making raisins with the grapes as Heather has a drying machine, the mangos are just ripeneing and I am munching my way through a bucket of fresh figs... no chance of starving here!!
I have been babysitting Zoe alot to allow Heather to do jobs.. she doesnt like her out of her site though so i have to entertain her in the shearing sheds etc so I have been teaching her plenty of songs which she really loves and is always asking me to sing (by asking since she is only 17 months she screams if she wants Row Row the boat because the you have to scream when the croc comes and she stamps her feet when she wants When your happy and you know it! Shes really cute and copies everything I say and do and as soon as I come into the room she wraps herself round my legs and sits on my lap at the table..!

I have started to get a tan. not intentionally, no sun bathing or anything... so am I looking anything like those girls I saw in surfers when I first arrived?!
Yeah right! well theres no chance of me wearing hot pants, I'm not a size 6, my hairs not been brushed in 3 days, I'm covered in bruises, scratches, mozzie bites at varying degrees from the fresh white lumps to the mangy scabby ones, I cant be arsed to wax my legs, I have ripped dirty clothes on, and am usually covered in red dirt and animal shit.. mmmmn how attractive! But actualy I dont give a shit, this is the first year I have not made a New Years Resolution.. how refreshing! I've spent so many years making them and being disapointed with myself for not sticking to them. But actually I'm fine as I am, thank god I dont have to stress about applying makeup or breaking a nail...

My bank card has finally arrived and it is also a visa card which is great!! i love the aussie bank system! So now I just need to put some money in the account and I can do online booking and stuff! Yay!! I've desperately needed this for booking planes and buses and stuff!

To say there are bugs here would be an understatement. After the rain we had a couple of weeks where the mozzies were everywhere, all the locals said they had never experienced anything like it, thankfully its calmed down to a normal level again now but for a while there you had a coat of them on you at all times... flies are still a pain int eh arse, especially before rian or when you are wet, when i got out from swimming Be happy the horse yesterday they just swarmed round and glued themselves to me! nice!! I swallowed a fly today and was just choking todeath and aboutt o throw up and managed to spit it out,, then gulping for air when another one flew in and the whole process started again... I came inside for a juice to help my raw throat and it started again,,, theres always ants in everything, they climb in juice bottles, they run over you and bite you when your sleeping...
I've never been afraid of spiders or snakes or anything, I used to rescue my sister from spiders and ctach snakes out the river when I was small so I have to be reminded to be careful here... not to walk through webs, and I was ready to put the animals to bed in the drak the other night on foot when Heather said no we had to do it on the motorbikes as we couldnt see the snakes in the dark... kinda scary!

I have taken a ridicuolous amount of photos!! About 800 to be precise!! I just cant help snapping away... I think my camera is on its way out though... its battered and scratched and looks like its years old rather than the 7 months it actually is.. when I switch it on sometimes it says lens error and then other times is really blurry and will only take blurry photos... dont know what i should do.. I guess it might have a 1 year warrenty? But I will hate being without a camera while that is sorted out.. Its okay at this moment though... but it'll be a pain if its not when something important happens like seeing ayers rock or Snows babies being born (am patiently waiting for little snowdrops - snows a goat!)

I find the water in the taps mad here.. you'll switch a cold tap on and the waters hot...! that is cold water here... you can have a hot bath from the cold tap! you need ice cubes to make your drink vagulely cool! switch on the hose in the garden and you could burn yourself from the water in it...! I guess its just so hot that the water heats up so much!!!

I dont have a job sorted for the Blue Mountians now, but thats okay, am sure I will find a job somewhere, and it will be good to have a few days off inbetween.. I plan to book the bus ticket there around the 27th Jan, I have to stay the 26th as its Australia day which will be a big basj at the bush pub!

Those nasty billy goats

When Heather said the Billy goats were raping the nany goats again I thought that was a bit of a strong use of terminology - I'd never thought of animals raping one another, I just thought it was a human condition.
However, now I have well and truly seen it for myself. As soon as a nanny goat comes onto season the billy goats go mental, they hang out as a group anyway so then they just attack her as a team, one after the other. I mean thats fairly normal for animals I guess, I mean I saw a female dolphin have sex with 3 different male dolphins in the space of 2 minutes once... except dolphins are meant to be the only animal species that does it for fun. But the billy goats chase the poor nanny goats into corners and just surround them like a gang, they try and ram them into fences so they get their heads stuck and cant move and she'll be desperately trying to get away. If theres too many billys to the females or the paddock is too small they will rape the nany goats to death.. as it is in this hot weather if the nanys cant get their heads out the fences again their a gonna, I've been round rescueing them, twisting their heads round to get them out of the fences.. but all too often your not fast enough.. I've never seen so many dead animals or animals get killed since I came to the outback... and my god they smell bad in this heat, if a sheeps died the day before if its not been eaten by eagles and foxes them it stinks so so so bad.
Some wild horses came through the land the other day which was pretty amazing, especially as I'd seen this Aussie film "The Snowy River" the day before about wild horses.. Heather let a horse go a few years ago that was a pain in the arse so it was nice to see that one in the pack..
I had an amazing horseride today... we were bareback which is weird to get used to, I never realised how much balance a saddle gives you, I felt like I was going to slip off.. but not as much as I did once we'd jumped into the river...! Being on a horse that is swimming is the weirdest sensation, their legs not being on ground and paddling along, just their heads poking up... you being deep in the water with them... but Bugshot went completely under so Heather had to push herself off as he was taking ages coming up again.. I didnt notice myself as Be Happy was leaning to one side and she was so slippy and at such an angle I was just hanging on for dear life!! if I thought it was slippy before we got in the water it was like sitting on an oil slick on a bull trying to buck you after...! I have to admit i was a tad scared but it was also amazing and I'm eager to go out again!! and at leats it was a sweltering day so being soaking wet felt great...!
If I'm reincarnated as an animal in the next life I reckon a horse would be a good choice, not that many nationalities eat you and your expensive so people look after you! However as for being a sheep I reckon that would be the worst... we have been doing a lot of sheep work this week. alot of farms either have gyrocopters (small helicopters) or rent them out for this but as over $100 an hour its bloody expensive so we did it by cars and motorbikes, dogs and running around on our own 2 feet, it was hot and bloody exhausting, and then to get them to the shearing sheds it was about a 50km drive so we had to squeeze them into trailers 25 at a time which took days... then once they were at the shearing sheds they had to be shorn, but they were dodgy wool blind (wool grown over eyes so they are literaly blind) wethers (male sheep with balls chopped off) that had lice and worms and some had big scary horns, and Terry hates shearing even though he used to do it for a living, lots of them got vbig cuts getting shorn, and then they had to have worming medicine and lice medicine before they could be let free again... all this process taking more than a week and still not all of them shorn yet.. poor things... the worst ones and the fly blown have been done, the rest are waiting in a paddock.. Being fly blown is disgusting.. the flies get in the matted fur and lay maggots which eat away at their flesh...
also fact for the day.. I dont know if you've ever wondered about the size of sheeps horns? why do some have them and some dont?
Well it depends on how early you chop their balls off of course!! if you do it when they are teeny they will hardly have any horns at all..
Australians happily you use the terminology "You Dag" regularly. its a term of endearment to someone they like... but when you think about it the literal translation of what a dag is, is the shitty bit on a sheeps arse.. so when someone calls me a dag I'm really not sure what to think!
Heather also has a kayak which one night recently I went out in on my own.. I admit I was a tad scared, going off down a river to go knows where all on my own!! It was a beautiful sunset but since my sense of direction is rubbish I was a bit worried about finding my way back.. and I did nearly get lost getting strnded in some trees in the shallow water and having to get out and drag myself out again... but I was proud of myself anywayhow for getting myself there and back safely, enjoying the amazing tranquilness, birds flying overhead (cockatiels and big green parrots are common here). I also went out another night with Zoe and Heather as its a 2 person kayak and we just bought Zoe a life jacket.. that was cool too and at least Heather knew where she was going!
we went into town the other day which was pretty exciting since I havent been in a shop in a month and I hadnt explored Bourke yet. I told you the reputation Bourke has and I have to say it lived up to it!
Many of the houses were flattned to the ground, glass everywhere, surrounded by burnt out cars, the houses with people in had holes in the walls, the windows smashed in and drunken aboriginals outside... i would have loved to gte soem photos of the locals but it was a tad scary so I had to make so with those of empty houses and graffitti, didnt really facny getting stoned to death.. the locals round here party and trash their houses until their uninhabitable and then the government gives them a new one. In the supermarket their were fights and arguements between drunken aboriginals. Heather says the best fight shes ever seen was in the Bourke supermarket, 2 aborigine women going at it, one pulling out the others breast, twisting it round and biting it.. all in the frozen food aisle!
If I thought this was bad I saw a documentary on Wilcannia wich is not that far from Bourke, basically between here and Broken Hill. This is basically a very dodgy aborgine town... nobody could sell their shop or house their because no-one would everwant to move there. statistic of child sexual abuse are so high that they can categorically say every single child has suffered sexual abuse. the children do not get fed Sunday through to Wednesday, benefits come out on Thursdays so by Sunday its run out.. (all been drunk away). 3 teachers tried to change the town, as only 8 children went.. by providing 3 meals a day, working hard and providing a fun atmosphere so that 180 children ended up attending school, until they did a 20-20 docemtary on TV and spoke of the statistic of child abuse, and the locals stopped sending their children to school and ran the teachers out of town.. this is a town where the average life expectency for a male is 33. (no that is not a typo that is 33). depressing and scary. Racism is huge in this area, but its unfortunate that it is this portion of the aboriginal society that the local white peopole have any experience of. I hear that up North the aboriginals are very different and I look forward to seeing that. As it was I got alot of stick for chatting to the one aborginal guy who came into the bush pub (who was drunk as skunk but fairly harmless) for me it was fascinating seing him march in with his digeridoo!
Thankfully my ear infection has (touch wood) cleared up... it has been so so painful.. and I've had to avoid swimming.. and even now I'm swimming very carefully without getting me ears wet!
It hasnt rained now in a couple of weeks (basically since the first week I arrived) so the dirt is drying up and whirlwinds come through these whirls of red dust come up... and in a dust storm its like this red wall coming towards you... insane!!

This is what a road looks like round here!!! I was so excited when I first arrived to see all the red dirt.. and now I see it all day long and at the end of each day in my bath there is a pile of red dirt I have washed off! The red dirt is just mindblowing.. I love it... I love watching the sunset over it, riding the horses on it.. The red dirt is what I was most looking forward to seeing in OZ and I am glad I am where I am.. completely surrounded by it...
These photos are not technically mine, the computer still wont let me download photos from my camera or use them off a CD, they are some a past helpxer here took and Heather emailed them to me..
I have hada good last few days depite being unwell. I have had a terrible ear ache. I can so understand why babies scream when they have earache! It bloody hurts!! But they have this fantastic scheme out here.. the flying doctor! No they didnt fly out just for my earache (as amazing as the photos would have been!) but if you join the flying doctors scheme for $170 a year you get a medical kit with all these medications in and it gets refilled for free. Some of it you can use without asking the doctor, other stuff you have to phone and ask the doctor if you can use it 9such as the morphine..!) so he prescribed me some strong pain kilers and ear drops and its slowly getting better, at least I can sleep at night now anyway and keep food down.. since its been about 40 degrees the last few days not being able to keep food and water down wasnt too great! Anyway it was kind of exciting to be seaking to a real flying doctor over the phone!!
I called my sister Amanda the other day since it was her birthday and it was really nice to have a chat to her! But its alwaus heard hearing about my little neices who dont know me! My littlest neice has taken her first steps and the eldest Elizabeth is a proper little person having friends over to play and stuff!
It is hard not seeing them grown up and not being part of their lives... my friends all seem to be pregnant too. Laura is duew in the next couple of months and Anna has just hit 20 weeks.
Its funny as I have always wanted children and imagined I'd have them by now but the responsibility terrifies me! I really hope that you can have a life and have kids at the same time?! I dont want my life to stop. I'm glad I havent had them already, I guess I wouldnt be having the carefree life I am having right now... I wouldnt be able to get the same working holiday visa for a start.. If I'd had kids when I wanted them 5 or so (maybe 8?) years ago or at times I've gone all broody it would have been for the wrong reasons, it would have been to fill a void in my life, I would have had them to give my life meaning. But now it would be different, when the time comes they will be a wonderful addition to my life... but at the moment I'd be scared of all those sleepless night, and worried of humdrum... I like being able to get up each day and go where I like and do what I want without having to think of someone else.. It reassures me that Heather didnt start having her family until she was 37.. it means I've still got plenty of time yet!... just as well because I sure as hell dont feel ready at 28!
Its lucky they have selcetion of farm clothes here for helpxers to wear! My clothes are always getting ripped to shreds here on the farm.. at the end of the day I look like I've been dragged through a hedge backwards.. (which I probably have!) of course ofn the one day I decided to wear one of my own tops it got shredded.. hmnnn theres minimal clothes to be trvaelling with and theres nothing... I really need to be buying a few essentials.. cant be running around naked..!
The meat on the farm is so amazing! I certainly wouldnt be anaemic anymore!!! Its lamb one day, beef the next, duck the next, pork the next... all farm fresh and absolutely srcumptious!! I have never eaten so much meat in my life!! and they certainly are free range... I didnt relaise how big the place really is... the house paddock in which the horses are in is 10,000 acres... imagine... wow those two horses have a hell of alot of space to play around in!!! the farm is 70,000 acres big... so when you want to muster sheep it can take days to find them... we were driving round the farm today and after 3 hours driving managed to find some sheep!! eventually managed to muster them into a holding feild so they can be shorn tomorrow... hot work in 40 degrees let me tell you!!
The other day I fould myself driving the backhoe homwe!! I was very pleased with myself. Usually I hang on the back andf jump off the open gates for Heather but when I came back from shutting the gate I fould Heather sitting in my spot and she just said off you go then... so I did!! (and I didnt crsh it or anything!!!)

What perfume is that your wearing?!

It was quite funny on new years (and at any time really) as there is no point wearing pretty perfumes.. instead the conversation should me more like:
"What perfume is that your wearing?"
"Rid"
I'm wearing "Aerogard myself"
"She smells a bit off to me..."
though we have all discovered now that Bushmen is bloody good!
In case you are wondering if I have lost the plot then yes I am talking insect repellents!
Although talking of perfumes... I often find myself reeking... its strange how all these different farm smeels attach themselves...
from cleaning out the wheat pens in the mprning so it get under my finger nails, mixed with a bit of pig poo which will be smeared down my clothes... then the stains of blood and guts from gutted a duck (or whatever it is that day!)
I've had an adventurous new year so far.. something different always happens everyday!
On New Years Knackers left to go back to his home in Dubbo, that felt weird as I'd got kinda used to having him around!
Heather, Zoe and I did some sheep mustering... with the motorbike and Jack the dog, taking the sheep out of the paddock and onto the road where there is more greenery since the rain... so they could get a feed for a few hours... Jack however is old a lazy so it took a long while.. in which we seemed to do most of the mustering on the motorbike... once we got them out a few hours later it was time to get them back in so we decided to take both Jack and Lucie, that was a bit easier as Jack showed off in front of Lucie, then without thinking to shut away Milkie and Baa we decided to get the rest of the dogs out for a run.. just as we were cmoing back in the gate Milkie and Baa appeared and I saw the visious side of the dogs for the first time... they went mental going for their throats and chasing them wildly like a pack of wolves... they were ignoring Heather screaming at them and they were biting the poor things so to stop them getting ripped to shreds I had to run harder than I ever have before and rescue them... so there I am among a pack of dogs charging about and eventually landing on Baa hoiking him up in the air, with mack still jumping up trying to bite poor Baa, me kicking Mack down, and then planting Milkie between my legs guarding the two of them while Heather dragged the dogs off. I dont know whose heart was beating fastest, mine, the baby lambs or the goat that thinks its the lambs mother... I had to sit on the back of the motorbike holding Baa to put him back in his pen.. Milkie followed Because if you take her baby she'll follow...
After that day you might think they behaved the next day... as if...!
The next day we decided to remove Milkies sisters legs plaster as she had broken it 6 weeks previously.. only Milies sister is wild so this wasnt as easy as it might sound and in the process of catching her Baa got left in the paddock with the horses, Heather thought it was about time Baa got weaned anyway so we thought we'd leave him there... so with great difficulty we mustered the Milkie, her sister and her baby into the pen.. while Sally the dog nearly ripped them to shreds poor things, she goes for their throats so they get bites..
Then to upset them further we decided it was time for Milkies sisters baby to be weaned so heather trussed him up like a chicken and I held him on the back of the Quadbike... and we took him to the paddock with all the other goats... he cried all the way there.. and I had to keep hold of those horns tight.. soon learnt they hurt...you would have thought he was be murdered... but once he got there and saw all the other cool goats there he was fine... and Milkies sister doesnt seem too bothered! Shes all skin and bone so she needs to get in condition again... her baby was getting bigger then her...
We had Sally with us when we took him over as we had planned to take to goats out on the road for a feed. but she went mental again and almost killed a baby goat, shes so blood thirsty. I dont like working with her at all as I panic about all the animals... apparently shes killed a few... alot of farmers would have shot her in a flash.
Then you might have thought adventure was over for the day but when we got back the horses Bug Shot and Be Happy were terrorising poor Baa charging after him and he was almost stomped on, he was running as fast as his little legs would take him but was getting run into the fence at full pelt which easily kills a little sheep, by the time Heather and I rescued him he had several cuts and the poor thing was wet with sweat... apparently sheep will just run till they die when scared.. but thankfully the poor little mite was okay..
So... the nest day.. (today) we were feeding the goats using the backhoe (big tractor with a huge big scoop thing at the front and back) as we had been weeding so much it was enough to fill the big scoop at the front.. when we observed Milkie and Baa had escaped and we heading down the road... so we had to muster them in the backhoe! Though terry happebed to be coming out at the same time in his ute... so they were getting mustered by a backhoe and a ute... Terry driving so fast tools were flying out of his tool box on the back left right and centre.. when they both came charging towards the backhoe big scoop thing (I'm sure its got a technical term!) so we scooped them up... only of course they were going to leap out... so the only answer was for me to get out the backhoe and into the scoop with them practically lying on top of them to hold them in (getting a few kicks and scratches but mananging fairly well! so there we are Heather driving the backhoe along the road and back to the farm... with the scoop in the air with me, a goat and a lamb in...! it was great fun... I grinned all the way home!!! Needless to say before i got out I made Heather take a photo! as I scooped them both out and heaved them in their pens for the night i also discovered Baa had left be a surprise...one of his balls had fallen off!!! Dont worry though their had been a rubber ring round them so they were due to drop of in the not to distant future anyway!!
But of course thats not all thats happened the last few days... in my last entry I said how the pig we had killed was roasting in the oven as I wrote.. well that was so yummy... the best pork roast I've ever had!! That was New Years Day dinner..
We also killed 4 ducks the last couple of days.. another thing I can add to my CV. Heather was very impressed as she said shes never known anyone to keep up with her plucking a duck before.. she killed them by chopping their heads off with an axe, let them flap around for a while to finish dying and for the blood to drain out a bit (the run around a bit like chickens when you chop their heads off), then we put them in boiling water for a couple of minutes to loosen the feathers then yank the feathers out. Then after watching Heather gut the first one I wanted to do mine which means reaching in and getting its heart, lungs and gizzards out and even its quack (its voice box!), then into the cool room they go for dinner another night. Heather and Terry always let animals hang in the cool room for a while before eating as it allows the meat to set... apparently you shouldnt eat a sheep till 7 days after it has been killed.
Heather and I went out doing fencing one afternoon which was a bloody hot job digging sand out and diging up weeds that had grown around the electric fences stopping it working.. mind you the weeding was pretty hot work today as well.. I must be getting fitter.. I've been increasing my lengths in the pool each day too even though i'm kanckered by the end of the day I've been doing laps before I fall into bed of a night... last night I did 50... so next its got to be 60 I guess! I havent done them today (slacker) because I have a sore ear and dont want to get an ear infection..
the other day Heather encouraged me to drive the quadbike with her and Zoe on the back... I regretted it immediately and if she offers again I'll be saying no.! I'm nervous enough about driving and Heathers one of those people that swears and shouts before she thinks... and it was too terrifying for me with a baby on the back too.. but I did well (I mean I know I can drive them anyway as I did in NZ - when I say drive I dont suppose I'd pass a test) although I dont think she'd agree after they almost went flying off the back! So I'll be saying yes if I can drive it on my own but a definate no with people on the back... especially a baby.. I'm just too nervous that the baby will fall off and it will be my fault.
I have been thinking more and more about my driivng test... I know it would be the best thing for me to get it over and done with. Though in Austrlaia now you have to do 120hours of driving first... which is a lot!! though maybe over 2 years i could do that after all if I met someone who wouldnt mind me driving them to Alice Springs that would be about 20 hours!! I would just need to meet patient people to let me practice!! and I admit people seem to have heart attacks when I am driving (cant possibly think why!) and I've never been the sort to react well to shouting and swearing.. thats why it was good in NZ with Aria and I teaching each other.. she was 12 she didnt notice if I drove badly!
I have applied to a 2 help x jobs in the Blue Moutians where I plan to go to next.. so I just have to wait and see what happens... one is a family with 2 young boys, she runs cookery classes and needs help with the prep for them, the other is in a backpackers... so either would be nice... and if I dont hear back from either I'll go to the Blue Mountains anyway and then go on to Sydney and see what work I find on the way down to Melbourne... I will stay where I am for a couple more weeks and then be off... need to keep moving if I'm going to see all this country!

BBQ breakfasts and full moon swims

We woke up early on Xmas day to Thane and Danika excitedly finding their stockings from Santa.. it was a perfect day, blue skies and not ridiculously hot.. just perfect!
We had a BBQ breakfast and then had the tree presents opening... it was very cute seeing Zoe open all her pressies! I got a couple of boxes of choccies and a phonecard from Terry and Heather which was lovely of them! I called Mum, dad, and Amanda later that night to wish them a Happy Christmas which was nice... I was just finishing my Christmas day and they were starting theirs! I had brought Zoe a presnts from NZ which she seems to like to that was good!
Christmas dinner was great, a turkey from Rogers farm, chickens from ours.. all BBQ roasted.. and of course plenty of ham off the bone.. the evening was warm and the sunset gorgeous over the red sand so we went for a walk along the river and a swim in the pool under the full moon!
I am extremly lucky to be somewhere so lovely over the festive season! Of course I also appreciate how nice it would be to see my family and friends over this period and see my cute little neices enjoy Christmas. Christmas really is a family time.. funny how I never realised that kind of thing before and appreciated it enough. It isnt about money and expensive presents - I dont need or want anything..
But this Christmas has also been amazing.. great to see how it is in the outback... although we sat aroudn eating and chattting lots.. the animals still needed to be milked and fed... and rather than wrapping up to go on a walk like in England, it was little shorts and insect repellent instead!
Boxing day was another lovely day, we had lots of visitors so got them to help with the animal chores and taught them how to milk goats and where to get the eggs.. the kids loved it!
I went on a boat ride down the river and got soaked but it was great! Its funny as I said the one thing I would miss being outback would be not being able to go out on water, fishing and boating but they are in the perfect spot here by a river... and at the moment its really flooded because of the rain they have had... its not rained here for a week or so but the river is still rising..
Life is so stress free now its fantastic... I cant even be bothered to think about where and when to go next.. I mean I have updated my help x and various families have emailed me.. but I have no intention of going anywhere for a good few weeks get!
Over the next few days i went on a nice long ride on Be Happy... I rode her down to the river while the rest of the family walk along behind so it was great to have the freedom to take her out ahead and them come back to check their still there... the little kids all had little rides too.. whic hof course they loved! Thane and Danika got this adorable little 4 weeks old bunny for Christmas too which I think I sat around cuddling even more than they did!!
We had plenty of afternoons and evenings sittign around chatting and drinking and hearing dirty stories and all of Tery's stories end in the times he always seems to end up putting the gun in someones belly... they get young hoons come up for hunting from the cities and causing trouble so have to get them off their land before they destroy the place... and call the cops.. they get stupid kids from Sydney etc doing cruel things like catching wild pigs, chopping their ears and noses off and then releasing them again while videoing it to show their mates.. so personally I think they deserve Terry's gun in their bellys terrifying them into never comeing to the outback again... Terry has pnety of gun stories and even a missing finger he accidently shot off one day...!
I was also feeding Skippy one morning and lent down to tickle her belly when I saw a snake slithering by my feet.. quite a surprise I have to say... I went in to tell people and they were like "Did you kill it?" Hmnn let me see... first time I ever see a snake in the wild and they've expected me to kills it... thankfully not with my bare hands since they might be poisonous... I fould it again and the boys did their manly stuff of chopping in up with a shovel..
We also went out Yabbying on the boat everyday... I'd never seen a yabby before.. they are basically freshwater crayfish crossed with prawns. Terry was really disapointed as he was clearly expecting me to pick them up wrong out the trabs, get bitten and squeel..since all my experience with crayfish I know how to handle things like that... so he was very disappointed! They battered them and they tasted great!!
Also over the Xmas period Kanckers and I went out Kangaroo hunting... which was great!!! I cant believe a few weeks ago I hadnt ever seen a kangaroo and now i'm happily hunting them... The first one he shot... he went back to get his knife and it started to try and run off again even though his guts were hanging off so I found myself automatically getting big stick and giving it a whack on the head to put it out of its misery... Knackers then chopped it up there and then and we only use the legs and tail and you leave the head and body where it is.. it all takes quite alot of technique of skinning it and chopping it in the right places and I said I wanted to learn how to to do it before I left... the next one he shot a baby joey fell out.. it was clearly too young to fend for itself (no fur or anything) so I whacked it on the head to put in out of its misery and then Knackers handing me the knife to chop up the next one... it was pretty hard going but I managed! (he had to help with the skinning...) then we carried the bits back to the ute (no-one NO-ONE is the outback has a car - only utes) and drove out to the river and the boats.. then while he was driving the boat I chopped up the kanfaroo into small bits and put them in the yabby traps... When I went back to the farm I think everyone was surprised (including myself).. I dont think anyone expected me to even touch a dead roo.. and expected me to be vomiting or something... I was quite pleased when heather said "wow we dont get mnay people come back froma first hunting trip haveing killed it themselves, chopped it up and then set it in the yabby traps...) so all in all a great trip out!! Now I just have to learn how to shoot...
While we were hunting though the mozzies were going nuts while we were chopping the roos up and we must have got hundreds of bites... because of the floods the mozzies are worse than anyone has ever known... so after my shower to wash the blood off I had to smother myself in methylated spirits... (local anthisan!))
Needless to say all the food had been amazing over this time... roast ducks and lamg and meat from the farm... I still hadnt seen any of the farm animals get killed though... (I do wonder if I am a little blood thirsty wanting to see it all? but if I'm not veggie anymore then I should see what I'm eating be killed and be able to kill it myself).
Trish and Roger Terry's parents came up for another couple of days... and Roger is a pig killing expert.. so those pigs we've been feeding everyday... time for one of them to go!
Tery shot it in the head, and it had a good kick around on the ground while Roger slit its throat and it died... then we ran scrubbled it clean, ran it a hot bath (around 150 degrees) to boil the hair off... then you scrape the hairs off with sharps knives... hang it up on meat hooks, clean it down again, chop the head off and gut the organs out... then hang it in the cool room overnight... in case your worried this isnt descriptive enough dont panic their is a photo for every stage of this.. you wont miss a thing!
The next day (today) new years day, we took it to the meat room and Terry and Heather used a bansaw to chop it up and make roast joint peices and lots and lots of chops! It was fast and easy... and as I write this a joint is roasting in the oven! Yum!
But last night was oof course New Years Eve!! it is now 2008 here!
We had popped to the pub in the middle of the day anyway to drop our scarecrow we had made off for the up and coming competition.. and had a brew... but later in the evening we all made our way back... it was great!! like nothing I have ever experince before.. teenagers partying on the back on their utes... kareoke in the back, local police paroling around, air guitar comps... this wouldnt nearly be as good had it not ben local bush men in their cowboy hats and all! was great!! when it was time to leave I had Robbo hanginng on to be trying to drag me back in... Heather jokes that the bushmen round here dont get to see women very often.. but she really means it.. still it was funny to be in with all the blokes discusing fishing and hunting stories!! Terry reckons I'm quite popular... shame the ones I'm popular with are all about 60 with big bushy beards.. ! so I'll have to keep looking for my bush man! tery did tease me this morning though saying Robbo's camped out the back waiting for me! (he wants me to go out fishing with him and the boys!)...
Anyway HAPPY NEW YEAR everybody.. gotta go my roast pigs coming out the oven!!

Farm Life

Although no day is the same on the farm we do have a basic routine that happens everyday:
First I hand feed Skippy the kangaroo the left overs of the toast from breakfast and some grass.. she is getting friendlier and friendlier with me now and lets me tickle her tummy. She was rescued by Heather as a baby Joey and hand reared.
Then I milk "Milky" the goat (at first it was pretty hard but now I can milk all on my own no hassle), while I'm doing that baby Zoe bottle feeds "Baa" the lamb who was orphaned and whom Milky is being mother to. So Milky the goat provides all of Zoes milk and Baa's during the day (Baa is put in a pen during the night so he cant nick all of Milky's milk over night).
Then I go and clean the dog kennels (basically poopascoop them and then feed and water them. They have 6 working dogs who are kelpies which is an importannt breed in Oz. The dogs are called Lupie, Lucie, Mack, Jack, Sally and Buster and I am getting really attached to them!
While I'm doing that Heather either helps me or does other jobs around the farm like planting trees and watering things, then we generally meet up in the chook pen (which is also ducks, geese and Gonk the baby emu who was rescued off the side of the road by Heather. We collect the eggs and feed and water them all. I'm trying to handle Gonk to make him less afraid but he still panics..
Then we feed the pigs the scraps from the kitchen and boiled wheat and refill their water. They were being fattened for Christmas but we never got round to slaughtering them so I think they are going to get done this afternoon so they will be New Years Pigs!
Then its time to feed the horses Be happy and Bugshot before its too hot and time to go in (we might do a few more jobs, such as weeding and go for a horse ride) but generally we'll go inside for a few hours, have lunch and Zoe has a sleep and I might do odd jobs around the house, but generally that is my time of the computer or to read. I'll also look after Zoe for a few hours before we go out again and feed the sheep and goats, tkae the dogs for a walk (we dont walk, we go on the quadbikes and they run after), give the horses their dinner and then I'll put Milky and Baa to bed who can be little shits! Picture me chasing a lamb around and having to practically leap on it before chucking it in a pen for the night!
At some point everyday I'll also have a welcome swim in the pool!
We dont eat till 8pm and by the time that over Heather and Terry usually watch a little TV but generally I'm too tired by then!
Its been a busy couple of weeks with lots of visitors.. on my second day here Tery's parents Trish and Roger came to stay overnight (they usually only see them once or twice a year) but in fact they had such a good time the other week that they are back again! They are really nice, talkative and funny and you can see where Terry gets his sense of humour! They have a farm up past Cobar way.
There is always lots of amazing food, the meat from the farm or someone elses (Roger brought the turkey), we have BBQ's and roast meats which is great!! Quite often we'll have eggs and toast for brekky, the eggs ebing lovely ones I've collected myself but theres also all these lovely Jams that heather makes from all the exotic fruit that grows here.. Mango jam being my favourite. I'd never heard of Quondons before though! The mangos will be ripe in the next couple of weeks... there alwys some fruit you can pick and eat all year round.. at the moment its plums, mulberries and stacks and stacks of grapes (and almonds straight of the tree!) So it can be safely said I never go hungry! its good to see ham straigth off the bone rather than in a supermarket packet!!
The funniest thing in my first week in the outback is that it rained every afternoon and there are floods!! They havent had rain in over 7 years in this area and its been the worst drought in over 100 years.. they had been struggling to keep their animals alive and there and piles of bones around from either their animals that died or wild knagaroos etc that just pay down and died. Its been a terible time.. so you can understand how exciting it is for the locals having all this rain! Its amazing how this red ground just sprouts up with green after the rain..ts like magic!!
It has been cooler than normal since I arrived too.. more 30-35 degrees rather than the usual 40-50 degrees -althoughtoday it is a rather warm 40 degrees...
A couple od days after I arrived terry had to go away for work for a few days so Heather and I (and Zoe) had a quit few days at home on our own, its great as we find plenty to talk about, she's very friendly and easy to talk to... I think Terry's beginning to understand what I say a bit more too! at first he would just look at me in confusion.. it was clear he knew words were coming out of my mouth but had no clue what I might be saying! I think most of the bush men cant understand me.. sometimes Roger looks at terry and says "what did she just say terry?"!
As well as the normal daily routine we always do something extra.. such as clean out the sheds or something.. now you might think yeah yeah cleaning out sheds how could that be exciting? well everythings an adventure here... here you are sweping out sheds with redback (poisonous) spiders lurking under everything and tatantulas running up walls...! Green frogs are everywhere as well, they come out in the evenings and you can hear them lurking around.. and a big bog eye lizard might come trotting on by...
Last Friday we went down the Fords Bridge pub (Fordsie) for a drink.. I was a little nervous but it was really relaxed and friendly... it really is a proper bush pub... we didnt stay long though as there was a power cut and although it was fun by candle light all the farmers were worried about their farms etc..
We have a lot of power cuts because of the afternoon storms but I've got quite used to them, we sit aroudnt talking lots... once night I was commenting on how all their Helpxers had stayed along time and Terry said in this really scary voice "Who said they ever leave?!" they like to wind me up with stories up backpackers getting murdered in the outback etc... at this rate I will be too scared to leave the farm!!
the night we went to the pub Knackers, their 16 year old nephew arrived to stay for a couple of weeks too.
Heather and I have also been weeding a patch of ground and planting a lawn so thats our project.. since the lawns have been getting so much water I've even been mowing the lawns.
Last Sunday Heather, Zoe and I drove to Cobar which is about 3 hours away to see her friend Midge who has 3 children. We had a really nice day there, I went out with Midges daughter to her boyfriend Dan's station. Both farms had lots of animals, a really tame cow and a pony that Zoe (15 months) had a ride on!
On the drive there we saw stacks of bearded lizards sitting onb the side of the road and a few emu in the distance and on the way home in the dark we saw hundered of roos so had to driove fairly slow or we would have hit a few - even being careful we hit a good few nightjars.
On Christmas Eve I baled shortbread and Heather baked mulberry muffins and we went for a wlak to the flooded river nearby and cleaned out the boat and kayak so we could use them over xmas... a taratula leapt out of the boat at us while we were doing that!!
I had a ride of Be Happy in the round yard to get used to her and vice versa which was cool and then more realtives arrived... Heathers sister Bev, her husband robbo and their children Danika and Thane, we had a lovely Christmas Eve evening, swimming, drinking mulberry wine (the boys have beer on tap set up and drink it by the keg but I'm still not a beer fan - everyone says I'm not a proper pom as I dont like tea either..!) and of course eating plenty of chocolates... and I've never had a BBQ on Christmas eve before!!

Long Bus Journeys and Dubbo

So of course I didnt end up getting an early night.. I stayed up chattign to the girls in my room instead.. and got one of the girls phone number and address as she lives in Tasmania..
Then of course I had to get up at the crack of dawn.. and did I mention the bus was leaving at 6:30am and not due in till 7:50pm?!! yes thats a bloody long bus journey!! Reminded me of the 36 hour bus journey in America to be forever remembered!! Cant say the scenery was that amazing for that bus journey brisbane to Dubbo though.. luckily he played a few movies and I read the book Pat and family got me "Road to Paradise" which I've now finished and was a good book! Now Paullina Simons needs to get writing again as I'm all up to date with her books again!
I booked the hostel for Dubbu while on the bus there... god remember the days when I used to be super organised and had appointment slots in my diary and had a 5 year plan for my life?! scary!
So what can I say about Dubbo?! well first i should say other peoples reactions to it..!
When I was booking the ticket the girl at the desk looked at me in horror and just said "Why on earth would you go there?" and when I said "Well actually I'm going on to Bourke" she just went silent and gave me a horrified look!
When I was in NZ the Aussies Mat and Louise at Shortbread Cottage used totake the pis constantly for me going to Bourke and Louise constantly saying it was a dump and I was going to die.. and as for the Guidebook I got out the library (2003 Lets Go - Bourke being sadly cut out of the 2007 version altogether) that was classic.. it described the landscape of Bourke not unlike what the world would look like after a nuclear explosion and that you would not want to go unless you wanted to officially go off the backpacker trail and go to the end of road (where the road literally ends and the world apparently ends) and go to the Back'o bourke. Now of course I was excitedly heading to the the back of Bourke - 100kms afyter to road ended in fact..!
Now I've seen all the movies of backpackers getting murdered in outback Oz and the guidebook said not to walk about at night in Dubbo.. so of course the bus dropped me off in the middle of nowhere.. 2kms out of town in the dark.. and I of course might as well have had a sign on my head saying vulnerable backpacker since I was lugging a huge backpack around and looking around at where my hostel could possibly be. It was also about 35 degrees so I was looking just glorious sweating buckets.. I had also counted 42 mosquito bites while I was on the bus and I think i doubled that number on that walk..
so eventually I arrived at the hostel huffing and puffing.. for him to realise two Melissa's had booked in and they had given my bed away..! the hostel was full (see people do go to Dubbo after all!! - although amusingly after speaking to the people staying there.. they are only there to work in Fletchers the local abbatoir!)
Anyway.. thankfully the owners put me up in their house which was a relief and even better as I got my own room for the price of a dorm bed!
I didnt have any food or money to pay for my accomodation though (oh yees organised me)! so i had to venture out in the dark again.. an older English women told me off and said I couldnt it wasnt safe.. god I was beginning to wonder why I had ventured in this direction!! but another girl who had been staying in bourke for the last month offered to walk in to town with me so that was cool!
I planned to get up early and do the 6:30am zoo walk... yeah right... hah ha I woke up at 10am.. and then only because I was so hot I might have died.. I had to move into the hostel and then went to the Saturday markets and gorged myself on local produce (mainly cherries which were on every stall!) and bought my bus ticket to Bourke for the following day.. I then decided to walk to the zoo.. 4kms didnt seem far... OMG!! By the end of the hostel garden path I had drunk my first bottle of water.. by the end of the road my mouth felt so dry I might as well have been waking up with the hangover from hell.. 1km later I wished I had kept that cork hat Jill made for me at Founders Park in nelson... I did at least have a hat.. after being fussy and not finding one I liked after searching for the last 2 years I decided f' it and bought the first one I saw in a service station.. yay now I could look like a cheap (enter word of choice..!).. after 2kms I had finished my 3rd bottle of water and i looked like I had tourettes from fl;icking the flies away from my face.. I couldnt open my mouth.. I had to just snort at them to stop them climbing up my nose.. after 3kms I stopped and almost burst ino tears and would have done had the flies not got excited at the hint of moisture in my eyes! I weighed up my options collapse and die there on the side of the road,, turn back and forget the zoo.. or walk the last 1km to the zoo sit in the cafe and have a cool drink and get a taxi back... I opted for the cool drink in the cafe at the zoo... 1km my arse.. felt more like 3km since the driveway was about 1km..
Anyway refreshed with powerdae and ice cream and air condiitoning I decided I may as well give the zoo a look.. so it being about 35 degrees and the humidity being ridicolous (sorry what was this rubbish about the outback heat being different as it was dry heat?!!!) mu suncrean was sliding off me as soon as it was applied and the sweat was dripping off me attractively and off I trotted ropund the zoo.. only to discover that the walk round it was in fact 6kms long...! anazingly I didnt die although now I can see why tourists get eaten by sharks and crocodiles after ignoring signs telling them not to swim somewhere.. I would have gladly leapt into the crocs pool for 10 seconds of that cool water before I got eaten.. anyway I restrained myself and it was a good zoo... although idid realise that its not like the wild .. I mean you know there will be a lion in the next paddock because the map says so... I want to go on safaris in the wild and never know what I might see next! But there were no cages and the enclosures were huge which was good and there was a teeny baby giraffe..
so after the 4kms there, the 6kms round I decided to take a shortcut home,,, yeah right.. after god knows how long when the dehydration had set in and I was once again ready to die and delirious I spotted this red sign in the distance... a hungry jacks (ozzie burger king).. forget food - all I wanted was air conditoning and an ice cold drink... eventually persuaded myself to leave after the locals were begiining to stare at this strange girl sitting in the corner looking sticky, dehydrated and delirious.. and opted to go to the supermarket before going home or I might never persuade myself to leave again! Was very happy as got knagaroo sausages! which were rich, and meat and rather yummy!
I had a nice evening catting to all the koreans, taiwanese and japanese at the hostel who are all working in the abbatoir and realised everyone thought I was a kiwi.. it felt kinda good! (the interefering old bat from england even said "what would you know about england? have you even spent long enough there yo make that kind of judgement.. when i said something about stress and materialism in England.. she looked quite miffed when i said that no i wasnt kiwi I was in fact English).
Getting to sleep wasnt easy.. I was kanckered, but had a hideoius heat rash of somesort (although was worrried someting might have bitten me and I might die) and it wasnt any cooler than it had been at midday... I needed some more minimal clothing! I set that as my goal beforer I caught the bus the next day.. 2 hours of solid shopping later I was hot and fed up and no better off..
Waiting for the bus I noticed I was the only white person.. I had never seen an aborigini before and suddenly I was the only person who wasnt.. it was a strange experience.. this is what I wanted.. I wanted to learn about their culture.. I wanted to be included in it... but I felt kinda scared... I was the only white person on bus and they just glared at me... I needed the toilet but with all these eyes on me I felt nervous to go through them all to the back... it wasnt even a courious stare it was a hostile stare... as if saying "this is our bus".. The bus had been 30 minutes late but the driver said we would catch up our time... yeah right.. we had to wait for other buses and stop for cigarette breaks... and at this stop in cullbar the all just stood and stared at me.. there I was standing at this shop in the middle of nowhere in the red sand (a shap like nothing I've ever seen before) and all these black people just glaring at me... at this point I just remembered everyones looks of horror at me going to Bourke and began to worry "God, maybe they were right?! We ended up being over 1.5 hours late, I had no cell phone reception to warn my hosts, not that I had their number anyway... it was in my emails somewhere...
Anyway.. thankfully Heather, Terry and Zoe (15 months) are lovely... it was amazing drinving up thse red dirt tracks to their place from Bourke... when we arrived back we had a power cut... Terry offered to put the generator on so I coulld watch "Wolf Creek" and informed me they would be getting up at 5:30am for an 8km run.. (first taste of Terry's sense of humour...!)
So that is where I am now.. I've nearly been here 2 weeks and I've had such an amazing time and done so many amazing things!! I shall write all about them in the next entry another day...

Blog Catch up - Brisbane!

So when I first got to the outback I couldnt get on the internet, but now I can.. and then i thought well since I cant download photos to this computer I shall wait to do my blog and then I can out pictures with each entry.. that seemed like a really good idea.. but of course I would quickly forget things so thought I'd just jot down a few notes to remind myself... well those few notes have become an essay... and it could be months till I get near somewhere to download photos - and by that time I'll end up having to spend a day or three in an internet shop typing out my diary when I could be out having a life... so here goes a start on my catch up!
After my last proper entry on here in Danielle's local library we got the train to Brisbane. ($7.20 for a day pass for trains, buses and ferries - bargain or what!!?) and we found me a hostel nearby the bus station since I would be leaving early the next morning. Found a nice 3 bed girls dorm in the YHA.. then we went and bought my bus ticket to Dubbo and explored town. I had allowed myself 20 minutes to choose a swimsuit after the depressing mammoth 5 hour hunt in surfers paradise. We went into a decent (if expensive) shop where the women measured me up and fitted me properly for a bikini and amazingly within 20 minutes we were wealking out the shop with a bikini top and some boardies!!
Then we went to Southbank which was a real calm within the city! I could believe these huge lizard things that were just sitting around in the undergrowth (I think they are bearded lixards or something - anyway their huge - like iguanas and stuff (photos will follow!) I was just amazed at how they were just there in a bausy city!!
They have lakes and pools in Southbank where people can lay on the sand or swim which is great!! and the river has ferries to commute around town on - danielle and I used out day pass to do an entire tour of the city which was great!!
We had a really good day, talking and reminsising, and exploring and being proper tourists snapping away with our cameras! She doesnt know Brisbane either as she has always been a Sydney girl and although she now lives close To Brisbane she never goes into the city so it was nice to be exploring together! Before we knew it, it was nearly 9pm so we went our separate directions.. me on the train back to the hostel and Danielle back home..
I needed to get an early night since my train was at 6:30am and I had to be there ar 6:10.. and it was a 15 minute walk away...

Gotta go,, thunder runbling and were bound to get a power cut.. we get them pretty much every day...

OUTBACK!!!

I am outback.. the internet is dodgy though so just to warn you so far the computer wont let me on my hotmail and has taken half an hour to get on blogger.. (so dont panic if you dont get regular contact!!) I have so much to update on here for the last few days but am not even sure this post will work.. so here goes.. testing...
But wanted to reassure you all I am perfectly fine and happy having amazing new experiences milking goats, hand feeding the pet kangaroo (skippy!!) and the pet baby emu... and all the other animals on this true outback farm...!