4 Months In

Erika writes--

I was surprised to realize that yesterday was four months into this trip. Although our first week in Australia just dragged, the weeks since have really flown by with my noticing. I'll be home in 7 weeks or so, now. It is really surreal to think that. On one hand, I cannot wait to see my family and friends and catch the end of summer in Colorado. Two weeks after we return, my sister is getting married so I'm definitely excited about being home for that. On the other, I'm planning what we'll still do here in Australia and realizing there is not enough time (or money, as always!) On top of that, I miss New Zealand and I wish I could go back--already! It is a country that exerts a strange hold over anyone who ventures too close.

Our time in Australia so far has been quite varied. The first week was a little miserable. We were camping in Jervis Bay where we hoped to dive and hike for the week. It rained the whole time. We moved over to Canberra where it was predicted to be a little drier and we could do indoor activities. It rained more and was colder. Our tent was surrounded by a puddle--and inside, we entertained ourselves with reading out loud and Bananagrams and general ridiculousness. We spent far too much time solely in each other's company. We became even weirder. Honestly, it was hilarious and fun. But I was not sorry when we saw the sun again and when we slept in beds.

We have wwoofed (volunteered on farms in return for experience, accommodation and food) on three farms since. We spent some time on a biodynamic beef and ginseng farm, a sheep farm working towards self sustainability and are now on a large sheep and crop farm. It has been incredibly fun and educational. This week, I've cut young lambs tails off, shot vaccinations into them, ear tagged them (didn't help to castrate) pulled lambs from ewes after chasing the ewe down with a ute, driven a tractor with hay and helped to weigh and measure fat on yearling sheep. We've learned about bottling beer and making wine, gotten great recipes, moved cows, poured footings and chopped out tussocks. We have stayed with some wonderful, kind and generous families. Without exception, they have welcomed us in and taught us about Australian life and everything else we could think of questions about (how many kinds of football are there here? how does this government work? what is your relationship with England, anymore? why do you hate these tussocks so much?) It's been great. A system like this requires so much trust on behalf of both parties and proves that the world and people are so much better than we often believe.

One of our hosts introduced us to a wonderful woman in Sydney who welcomed us into her house when we had to go back there to change some arrangements. We were only planning on staying a night but she enticed us with a craft fair so we joined her and two of her friends for a show in Sydney Harbor. We saw an incredible display of quilts which would have made our mother very jealous and bought a few things for us all to do in the car and in the evenings. Too much, probably. More darling people and more great memories. We are looking forward to flying out of Sydney, just so we can see them again and tell them all about our trip. Here's a depressing thing about this trip--winter in the northern hemisphere, winter in the southern hemisphere and home just in time for winter in the northern hemisphere again. Incidentally, I am something of a summer girl. I live for those long, hot days and camping in the mountains and gardening, etc. We're in the south of the South Australia right now and even though it is a fairly mild winter compared to Colorado, it is pretty chilly. We are definitely going to head north after this. The north of Australia is in the tropics so we're going to try to find some tropical weather and enjoy that. All we need is the right beach. Right now, though, I'm going to go curl up in front of the fire and read "Eucalyptus", an incredibly Australian novel about a father who says he will marry his gorgeous daughter to the first man who can name all the gum (eucalyptus) trees on his property where he's collected all the known species. Did you know that there might be up to 900 species of eucalyptus?

Erika

PS. I saw white kangaroos today. They were special bred.

postscript #2: answers to earlier questions are--maybe 4: Rugby Union, Rugby League, Australian Football and Soccer. too complicated to tell you here which is good because I don't know if I totally understand it all but historic events unfolded before our eyes yesterday when Julia Gillard became the first woman PM here and overthrew a sitting PM. nobody knows--there is a Governor General who represents the queen (and once kicked out the whole gov't) but she was appointed by Australians! the bad tussocks are called serrated tussocks and were an import from South America--stock can't eat them but they tend to take over paddocks, especially when drought weakens other grass. We hated them, too, very quickly.