CCR songs are coming to life!
G'Day!
Seeing as though I had to end my last post abruptly, and you sickos are probably all waiting around to hear how badly I seared myself while playing with fire, I'll first let you know that I'm fine. Disappointing huh? I escaped with only a few small burns and some black marks on my shirt. On the plus side, I did learn a pretty cool move with the poi chains.
Anyways, due to various socio-economic factors that are mostly beyond my control (the Bargain Entertainment to Equity Ratio is out of control in Australia) I've been forced to start looking for ways to earn some money. To this end, I've found myself on a farm outside a little boon town called Bowen.
I just happened to talk to the right person on the phone when I was calling for a place to stay, and she new of a farmer looking for some help. So I'm now staying at this working hostel out in the middle of nowhere. By another stroke of luck, I met the guy who runs the place and he happens to be a fellow Canadain. James came out to Oz when he was 19 or something, married an Aussi girl and has been here since. Anways, their place is closed down now since its off season for farm work, but he offered to let me stay with him, his wife and his mother in law for free, in exchange for doing a bit of work around the place. Wicked.
I've been working on this farm a few kms away where they grow passion fruit. Yes I do get to eat them, and yes they are delicious. I've been digging in seedlings, chucking around hay bales, weeding, and all sorts of random little tasks. Its hard work, but its pretty rewarding and as an added bonus, I often get the feeling that I'm living a CCR song (Cotton Fields and Lodi both fit pretty well). The other day I got to spray a bunch of feilds with herbacide while hanging out the side of an old farm truck...that I was also driving. A bit tricky to begin with, but better than shoveling out in the sun - its 35 degrees or so by the way. Another highlight of the job is that James is lending me his Honda 250 trail bike to ride to work and back. Such a sweet bike. I've yet to feel more Australian than ripping down the gravel road at 6:00 in the morning watching the sun coming up and the kangaroos skattering in a panic in front of me! James also has a smaller CR100 (2-stroker) which rips really well for its size. I can even pop some little wheelies on that one! I'm definately going to get a bike when I get home, or maybe even over here. Soooo rad. Oh, and another interesting coincidence; The farmer I'm working for is a mechanical engineer! He hated sitting behind a desk all day, so he bought the farm (so to speak). He still does a bit of consulting work for the coal mines to keep the cash flow looking good, but he loves the farming life. He's got a sweet little shop with welders, drill press, lathe, etc... where he does all his own maintenance on the farm equipment. Oh, and he also brews his own beer. I think he's actually my hero/role model of the moment. I'm really loving the farm work, and I think it would be even better if it was your own farm.
Seeing as though I had to end my last post abruptly, and you sickos are probably all waiting around to hear how badly I seared myself while playing with fire, I'll first let you know that I'm fine. Disappointing huh? I escaped with only a few small burns and some black marks on my shirt. On the plus side, I did learn a pretty cool move with the poi chains.
Anyways, due to various socio-economic factors that are mostly beyond my control (the Bargain Entertainment to Equity Ratio is out of control in Australia) I've been forced to start looking for ways to earn some money. To this end, I've found myself on a farm outside a little boon town called Bowen.
I just happened to talk to the right person on the phone when I was calling for a place to stay, and she new of a farmer looking for some help. So I'm now staying at this working hostel out in the middle of nowhere. By another stroke of luck, I met the guy who runs the place and he happens to be a fellow Canadain. James came out to Oz when he was 19 or something, married an Aussi girl and has been here since. Anways, their place is closed down now since its off season for farm work, but he offered to let me stay with him, his wife and his mother in law for free, in exchange for doing a bit of work around the place. Wicked.
I've been working on this farm a few kms away where they grow passion fruit. Yes I do get to eat them, and yes they are delicious. I've been digging in seedlings, chucking around hay bales, weeding, and all sorts of random little tasks. Its hard work, but its pretty rewarding and as an added bonus, I often get the feeling that I'm living a CCR song (Cotton Fields and Lodi both fit pretty well). The other day I got to spray a bunch of feilds with herbacide while hanging out the side of an old farm truck...that I was also driving. A bit tricky to begin with, but better than shoveling out in the sun - its 35 degrees or so by the way. Another highlight of the job is that James is lending me his Honda 250 trail bike to ride to work and back. Such a sweet bike. I've yet to feel more Australian than ripping down the gravel road at 6:00 in the morning watching the sun coming up and the kangaroos skattering in a panic in front of me! James also has a smaller CR100 (2-stroker) which rips really well for its size. I can even pop some little wheelies on that one! I'm definately going to get a bike when I get home, or maybe even over here. Soooo rad. Oh, and another interesting coincidence; The farmer I'm working for is a mechanical engineer! He hated sitting behind a desk all day, so he bought the farm (so to speak). He still does a bit of consulting work for the coal mines to keep the cash flow looking good, but he loves the farming life. He's got a sweet little shop with welders, drill press, lathe, etc... where he does all his own maintenance on the farm equipment. Oh, and he also brews his own beer. I think he's actually my hero/role model of the moment. I'm really loving the farm work, and I think it would be even better if it was your own farm.
I've been tossing around my ideas for the northern BC 'fallout shelter'/'hippy commune' and its been getting rave reviews. Gabriel (James' wife) was telling me about a straw bale house they built a few years back. Basically, you just stack together straw bales wherever you want your walls, then cover them with a clay 'render' you make from the ground. Dirt cheap and they reckon its the best type of house for hot (or in our case cold) climates because of the huge insulation value of the walls. They're totally into all sorts of alternative housing. Naturally, I entertained them with a few good dome building stories. But the straw house puts those fancy domes to shame.
The flys here are absolutely atrocious. Saw my first horsefly a couple weeks ago, and wouldn't at all be disappointed if it was my last. At first I thought, 'oh ok, big annoying fly, I'll just ignore it', then the bastard took a chunk out of me! I got a small, but satisfying bit of revenge on his species though. A bunch of us were walking alongside this river, and we saw a spider web with a fairly sizable owner. We stopped to check it out for a bit and thought it would be cool to see it eat something. Just then, one of the horseflys landed on the back of my leg, and in a move I'm still surprised with and quite proud of, I turned, bent my leg up and flicked the unlucky fly right into the web! What followed was simply awesome. The fly got stuck and the fat spider was on him instantly. I think the spider may have given him a quick bite, but then immediately started wrapping him up in webbing. It was all over in about 20 seconds. I even got most of the massacre on video. I only wish I had got the fly flick too, but its still pretty good. I'm going to try and post it soon. If anyone has experienced these carnivorous little insects before and has any other ideas for tormenting them, please let me know. I'm hoping to teach flys fear by the time I leave Australia. They reproduce pretty quickly, so I think I have a chance teaching the entire species to fear me through natural selection. If not, there should still be some pretty good entertainment involved.
Still working on getting some pictures up. So, ya. Any day now....
Still working on getting some pictures up. So, ya. Any day now....
Anyways, this is kind of a rambling email, but I think it reflects my thoughs right now pretty well. Hope everyone's hanging tough through the Canadian winter. Even though I've been making up plenty of stories about polar bear maulings and heated fire hydrants, I know there's plenty of awesome back there right now. See ya soon mates!
Dave
posted by Dave @ 3:02 AM
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