Meet the Hippies

One of the best parts of doing some travelling is meeting different people and I have found this one of the best parts of this stop. There are 10 of us camping by the shed, most are Germans, one Czeck and an Asian Australian. The youngest is 18 the oldest is 39. We have one lesbian, a couple that arrived in aus together, a married couple (lunatics), a couple that met here at the farm and a few single guys. Some live in tents some in converted commuter omnibuses and us in our caravan. Where to start hmmm...

Sage is a 39 year old lady who used to work in IT before realising that she never saw the light of day and was missing out on life. She quit her job 2 years ago and got on the harvest trail to meet awesome people and travel around. She is really short and is by far the fastest picker she works faster than James and I put together which we find rather depressing but ya she is a machine on the field.

Phillipp that gave us the job is 20 and is a sound technician and has worked for the circus and toured with a band.

Klara is also 20 and has been on the harvest trail for over a year and a half. She is going back to Germany to start her Social working degree this year.

Inza is 33 and goes back to Czeck republic in 3 weeks unfortunately. He is a Geography teacher mostly junior school though and most recently was teaching in a Motessori school.

We have become friends with one of the farms permanent workers (truck and forklift driver in this season). He is Polish born and lives down the road from the farm with his Aussie fiancee. He calls everyone gangster and he is known as OG or orginal gangster but we found out the truth the OG is actually his fat black and white cat. They are passionate about wine and travel so you can imagine how well we have got on :)

Thats just a highlight but you will meet the others in my stories as we go on :) I think it is absolutely amazing that people from all over the world different goals and histories, different family stories and experiences can all come together to live and work really hard together. It may seem stupid to some people to live, in a tent as most of them do, sharing basic living areas in the middle of nowhere with people you have never met in order to work your arse off all week. To us it is a different perspective, we are sharing experiences of culture and personalities and we are earning money in a way that not only makes you appreciate what you eat all the time but also allows you to travel and see as much as possible. Im not very good at putting into words what it means and how much you gain from it but I think its incredible and I'm so glad to have the opportunity to try it.

Below are photos of what I will always refer to as the shed ie where we cook, eat and  socialise :)

First Job... The Place

Having spent days being told that every job we phoned about had already been given to someone else we became gumtree addicts and sat refreshing the page every few minutes. The one time I refreshed the page an advert came up saying a German guy had a job for someone that could give him a lift to the farm. I threw the phone at James and he gave this guy a ring straight away. The reply was one of surprise when we said we were phoning about the advert on gumtree... all he could say was I just put that ad up right now! Chatting later he claims everyone it was a mere 30 seconds from posting to recieving the call!! A couple of days later we hit the road for our first long trip in the caravan.

Max speed 80km/h unless attempting to go uphill in which case we would be lucky to get to 40km/h! The car and caravan both did well (except for a minor window flying open crisis fixed by being boppered up with fishing line ;) ) and a beautiful trek through the yarra valley later we arrived in Neerim South where we met up with Phillipp and Klara and headed to the farm. They seemed great and we were just relieved that we had made it onto a farm and had a source on income.

So where is it and what is it like... It is east of melbourne on a farm owned by the Pike's near Neerim Junction. We work in the paddocks of potatoes but the travelling workers take residence aroudn the sorting shed which is in the middle of the farm. We were a bit anxious to find out that we could not attach power and water to our caravan and that to get those we would need to go into the shed. It is still frustrating to know a bit of the potential of living in a caravan and not be able to make the most of it. It is however much better than we thought it would be because we socialise with the others and it is a great vibe in the shed at night. The down sides are the really small space that we all share and the toilet in the tin shed, but most difficult aspect goes to the very average shower that is only sometimes hot is also half way across the farm :( Shopping is done mostly at Neerim South which is a small town about 10km away. Big shopping days take us about 35km away to Warragul.

Anyway turns out it's a really beautiful area with enough to do to keep us busy and happy when we have time off :)

Buck up or Buck off

Before we left for Aus I had read an article about rodeos in a magazine on camping and caravaning, so I was excited to go to one before I had found out where and when I could. When I then came across an advert for one in the town where we had gone to the fauna park only 40km from us, I was basically counting down the days! We packed a lovely little dinner and drinks into our cooler box and bought some epic camping chairs complete with drink holder and cooler bag attached. Hats and suncream on we set off to watch the bucking brontos. We had decided to go early and watch some of the preliminary rounds and get good seats. It was great to stroll around with no crowds and we got a parking between the horses (though that may have been more because we got lost and parked in the wrong area :) ).

The rodeo was exactly like in the movies, it was epic!! Horses are trained to buck and there are different levels of difficulty. I hadn't realised that they are given scores based on a number of factors and with the bulls and bucking horses it is not only based on how long you stay on it's back. The minimum in order to get a score at all is to stay on the animal for 8 seconds and there are certain rules about what your hands can touch and where your legs must be. The coolest thing is that they all dress up and are literally called cowboys!!! Big buckles on tasselled trousers, boots, spurs and no outfit complete without the cowboy hat! This was not limited to the competitors but many of the crowd were into the spirit of the outfits aswell. James and I had an arguement over which was cuter the 2 year old cowboy dressed to the nines or the little pink cowgirl (he was waaay cuter). Needless to say we felt a bit left out in our normal jeans and boring hats but we had a ball.

There are lots of different events: the bucking horses and bucking brontos which are the main attractions and are only done by men ( I have the feeling there is a connection between this and the fact that it is a seriously insane thing to even contemplate doing!). The female events were the delicate ones based on speed and accuracy. The one event was the one that is always in horsey movies where the rider races around 3 barrels placed in a triangle in a sort of figure of 8 at each leg. The idea is to get round them the fastest without touching the barrels. The other event was lassooing a small cow in the shortest time possible. The cow gets a 10m headstart and then runs for its life! Some people got the cows in like 3 or 4 seconds its crazy. The men also do this event but once they have got the rope around its neck they jump off their horses and wrestle the bulls horns to the ground... again insanity. A step harder was the team lassoing event where one man got the cows around the neck from his horse and the other also still on his horse had to rope the cows feet ... while it is running...impossible. The last event that happened on that side of the arena is hard to describe but basically 2 horses sandwich a bull between them and one rider spontaneously jumps off his horse and grabs onto the horns and tackles the animal to the ground.

These were crazy stupid events but getting on the back of a riled up big ass bull is for those that have lost it completely! Most didn't make their 8 seconds but when they did it was great to watch even though you spend the whole time cringing. There were only 2 injuries that were on the more serious side. We expected there to be an army of medics for what is considered one of the most dangerous sports. If St Johns needs 2 ambulances on the side of a junior rugby match bucking bronto riders must get the best of the best right? Well... no... obviously these are the real hard core people cause when a man fell off the giant bull onto his neck and didn't move 2 casual first aid looking people strolled out of a make do tent in the corner and had a look while the commentator said something about the bull! The guy got taken off to hospital eventually and the other injured guy just had a concussion.

It was everything I hoped it would be expect for the crowd who seemed unfriendly and barely clapped even though these people risked their lives over and over, so the vibe was a bit dead. James was half asleep but I got him slightly enthused at times! We found the fair at the back of the grounds and played some games before we went home. Throwing balls, popping balloons that sort of thing and came away with 2 ugly toys that are now named Sally and Ben and you have to guess which is which since James and I cannot agree on this ;)

It is hard to explain such an event to people who mostly have not been to a rodeo but just know that it was great fun and if you ever get the chance I recommend that you make the trip.

 Its fairly obvious but I cannot take credit for most of these photos I downloaded them off the site for this event after the pro photos were uploaded.

Fruit Salad City

The first place we got to stay with our caravan and actually start living in it was called Mooroopna and is known as the fruit salad city! It's a big fruit farming area which is why we started there hoping to get a job. It has all the quirks of a small town (population 7200). We were both really enteratined by the building across the road from where our caravan was parked since to us it looked a lot like a tower in a fairytale castle!

On closer inspection we discovered it was a Turkish and muslim convention centre which was not at all what we expected from the damsil in distress tower!

With a name starting with moo we figured they must be big on their cows, but to our surprise it was not Mooroopna but the closest city (5km away) Shepparton that are obssessed with cows. When I say obssessed I mean that one of their biggest attractions is a display called moooving art! The pun has no limits as this display includes fiberglass cows that are painted and placed around town. Did I mention that the display moooves as the cows are placed in different places throughout the year and the designs change! I guess since the area produces 35% of Australia's milk that they sort of have reason for said obssession. I intially thought they were cooked and it was ridiculous but the cows grew on me as we passed them frequently. We particulaly liked the ones that were placed with meaning like the cop cow outside the police station and the how now brown cow outside the library. Mooroopna was even given a cow that was painted in all the different fruits!

One of the great things about being out in the country is that these small towns always have such cool events! We happened to time a few perfectly such as the rodeo which I will get onto later and the coming of Formula 1 to town :) The F1 season starts this coming weekend in Melbourne, so to raise awareness and allow what they called country Victoria to see the real cars up close, they bring the cars to one of the outlying towns each year. This year it was Shepparton and we got to see a real racecar driver in a realy F1 car lol. We went down to high street where it was open to the public for free to come and watch the car be driven up and down taking VIPs like the mayor on trips in a two seater. It is as loud as you would imagine when you watch it on TV and we were given earplugs to help with the noise. A stroll down the road and a chocolate milk (destined to be the death of me for sure) while watching mini formula 1 made for a fun morning.

Otherwise small things that we are learning along the way... bread stays "fresh" for a week. I am yet to decide whether this is cool or disturbing! Drinks cost a fortune (so anyone that has ever travelled with me can have pity on James and his wallet). We picked up black seedless grapes for 60c a kg and couldn't work out what was wrong with them. Hurricanes on one side of Aus means heat wave on the other=not cool. Cheaper is not better when it comes to olives. Sunburn happens in approx 10mins even with suncream on. You can kill flies with a magazine that is older than we are. Wine glasses can make a 300km journey if given TLC :D

A Par 3 day

We went on our first tourist trip the other day 40km away from where we staying to the small town of Kyabram. The first thing that caught my eye about the place is they have a par 3 golf course... EVERY hole is a par 3!!! Thinking that par 3s are usually my best holes I was keen and thought that I would dominate this course! Some greens I couldnt reach with my driver and I didnt get a single par (which can only parlty be blamed on course difficulty unfortunately). It wasnt the nicest course I've ever played on but it was different and pretty and more than playable :)


The other thing that took us to this little town was what it is most famous for: the second best Australian fauna park in Victoria (not bad for a little town). So off to learn about real authentic Aussie animals and see them in real life.

Koala, wombat, wallaby, kangaroo, tasmanian devil not in that order!

We both enjoyed the koalas the most and there was even one with a baby which was cute. The little shaded area where we had our picnic lunch was potentially a feature that helped im us liking the koalas since it was a stinking hot day! It was a lovely trip and we spent hours walking around together looking at the various animals. The reptile centre was not our favourite because I was sure the crocodile was about to escape its tiny enclosure and there were too many snakes to be in James's comfort zone!! Neither of us had seen a tassy devil before so that was interesting too. We went back to our humble abode cheerful and relaxed after a fun day out in the sun :D

We really struggling to find a job and hoping that the weekend and start of new week will bring us more luck. I read a quote this morning saying life starts at the end of your comfort zone. I dont think it was reffering to not having a job but it still encouraged me and not all parts of this trip were going to be easy so we learnign to tackle things bit by bit. It is still really hot sitting round 34 degrees so im off to have a swim. Have a good weekend peeps :D

Trek Towards the Unknown

Finally allowed to drive our car we headed about 60km downwards to the place where we needed to register it. I was dreding dealing with a government department and just hoped we had everything we needed. Being safe instead of potentially sorry we ended up arriving 25mins early for our appointment but made our prescence known. I couldn't believe it when the super friendly person who processed our stuff had us driving away by the time our appointment was due to start with newly added number plates :D

We picked up some awesome map and accomodation books and some medication for a very unhealthy James and hit the road. Now we had to drive upwards for about 3and a half hours including a stretch right through the middle of Melbourne. I was sad to be driving cause there were so many things to look at and it was great to get a feel for the inner city. oooh oooh i nearly forgot!! We had to fill up with petrol in order to go anywhere and be proud I have filled my first tank!

It was interesting to see the differences in long distance driving in a different country some good things some bad... Speed limit 110 when you are waaaay out of town = bad, blindingly bright but cool random patches of moderny art next to the road = good.

 We did a bit of shopping when we reached Shepparton and then went and picked up the caravan. Its great and we were so excited to pick it up at last. Unfortunatly the matress had gotten wet and we had to stay in a cabin fora night. We are now settled into the caravan park and getting fully into the hippy living ;) James had cooked a meal in here and the matress now dry is awesome!