First Week on the Farm

I have now been WWOOFing for a whole week and I can honestly say I am loving it. I shall never be a morning person but getting up at 7 am means that by 9 am I am awake enough to appreciate the sunshine and by 10 am and cup of tea number two I am almost human.

After an easy weekend I woke up on Monday morning to a rainy day which meant working inside. After a warming cup of tea we headed to the packing shed to do some tidying up then post tea break my fellow WWOOFer did some baking whilst I did a little light housework. It brightened up in the afternoon but not enough for me to venture into the pool.  After a quiet afternoon we finished out day with some Chinese chequers where I was soundly beaten by my hosts youngest son and my German friend.

The next day we ordered sunshine and it arrived bright and early. We headed out to the vines and did more pruning, first at their bases like we did on Sunday then along the tops of the vines higher up. I think I did pretty well; I only managed to snip off one healthy branch by accident leaving the rest intact. Once the farm work had been completed for the day I got to wash the dog. He looked sad when I tied him up but the moment I started rubbing the shampoo into his coat the tail started going and he obviously loved the attention. A quick wash down with the hose and it was time for him to be given his freedom. He gave an almightily shake and then it was straight to the dirt to roll around and get rid of the bad smells the shampoo had left on him! I might have been annoyed except he was so cute and funny that I was too busy laughing at him. I did have the presence of mind to get a few photos and after he had finished sorting himself out I took my camera off to the vines to snap them and their fruit. Unfortunately the batteries in my camera died before we got to the animals so we swapped it for my fellow WWOOFEer’s and went to see the male alpacas and donkeys. The donkeys were happy to be petted and even jostled for position to get their noses rubber but the alpacas though interested kept a wary distance. Having had enough exploring for the day my crazy friend decided to jump in to the pool to cool off. It might be lovely weather up here but the pool is unheated and therefore too cold for me, I must be getting old. After all that excitement it was time for a quick shower followed by some relaxing internet and TV time and of course some after dinner board games.

On Tuesday my hosts received a delivery of bugs, apparently these are good bugs which will eat the bad bugs that attack the vines. In this case I was a lot more interested that my German friend who soon left me with the bugs whilst she made a start on the picking work. I placed strips of bugs on some of the vines randomly throughout the farm so that the 10,000 bugs would spread out evenly attacking the nasty bugs hurting the vines. Then I grabbed a bucket and joined my friend collecting fruit. With some varieties you pick from the vines but the ones we were collecting are picked from the ground after they have dropped off the vines so we used old cans nailed to long poles to scoop them up and place them in to the buckets, much easier than constantly bending to pick them up! After our mid morning cuppa it was a change of pace as my friend headed out on the sit on mower to cut the grass between the vines and I washed the wee convertible car which my hosts are planning to sell as it’s not at all suitable for farm life. It was another beautiful day so washing the car in the sunshine didn’t really feel that much like work! After lunch we had a change of scenery as we headed in to Bundaberg itself to collect one of the kids from school and do some shopping. I was introduced to the wonders of big W and a proper supermarket. Since I was dressed for the sunshine I did find it a little cold as we seemed to buy a lot of meat which meant chiller cabinets, brrrrrr!

Thursday seemed to arrive really quickly and once more we learnt a new skill. Actually my friend learnt two as she was shown how to drive the tractor. We were given the choice but as I am likely to be here longer I thought it was only fair to let her try first. Besides I’m not sure how well my driving skills (such as they are!) will translate from wee fiesta to the not so wee tractor. This time we were replacing dead plants with new ones. I started off by digging the holes whilst my friend removed the old plants and pruned the news ones before we planted them but after the tea break we swapped and I got a break from hole digging. It was nice to get a break from digging but I have discovered I actually quite enjoy digging holes and it is very satisfying working with plants knowing that they will grow and produce something useful. I must be getting used to the early mornings and farm life as in the afternoon I found I still had lots of energy and decided to go for a run, which proved I didn’t have as much energy as I thought I had! I shall have to try again and build up my running muscles whilst I have the space and weather for it or I shall never be fit enough to learn how to snowboard over the winter.

On Friday we jumped on the back of the tractor and took some fertilised water down to the new plants. Whilst watering them we decided to ‘christen’ them, naming them after our friends and family back home. Germany has some really interesting names and it was fun to chat about folks back home whilst we worked. Post tea break we trimmed some weeds down in preparation for mowing which wasn’t hard but I really should have taken some hay fever tablets first, oops. Fortunately for my hay fever my friend rather likes the sit on mower so we left her mowing whilst we headed over to the alpaca paddock to suck up poo. Yup, you read it right. We used a giant vacuum to suck up the alpaca poo from the paddock. It may not sound nice but since it is essentially a giant vacuum cleaner it is actually rather good fun and moving it about is not a bad work out without needing too much effort. In the afternoon there was more baking and whilst the others did paperwork and made ‘surprise’ muffins I decided to clean the bathroom, a great idea until I realised half way through that really I should have waited until after we had showered. Really, I am not so bright. We finished off our day by visiting the female alpacas who were starting to come in from the other paddock for the evening. The girls were a bit more friendly (or maybe just more inquisitive) than the males and they came a lot closer than the males had so my friend managed to pet one of them. In the evening we played Aussie monopoly again managing to finish just in time for dinner and TV. Being Friday night I managed to stay awake (just) until 10pm, yup it’s a rock and roll life style on this Aussie adventure.

Given the choice of Saturday or Sunday off we chose Saturday and after a lazy morning we headed in to Bundaberg. Our hosts dropped us off in the CBD and after a quick perusal of some of the more interesting shops we headed out to the rum distillery. It was a little bit of a walk and once we got there we took the mini tour round the museum to learn about the history and how they make the rum. We then headed to the bar to taste their reserve and smoother red top rum. Originally they gave us the drinks neat but after we had tasted them the bar staff added mixers and we took them outside to enjoy the sunshine. Once they were gone we tried the liquor which has caramel, chocolate and vanilla in it and tastes really good. Feeling slightly more light headed than we had on the way up we headed back into town for a wee snack and some more exploring before being picked up and taken back to the farm. Sadly most of the shops on the main street seemed to be closing or closed by 4:30pm so we walked until we found a cake shop and purchased a cheesecake for desert that evening. Whilst waiting for our lift we were both surprised by how loud the birds were as the sun went down. There were loads of them and they were flying about and chattering at each other as if there would be no tomorrow! On arriving back at the farm we were introduced to one of my hosts mother and her partner. We then had a lovely meal and a relaxing evening in front of the TV until once more it was time for bed. Now it’s Sunday once more and we are getting ready to start work again and I for one will be interested to see what this week will bring.