I picked up Irene at airport in Brisbane yesterday morning, and we started driving north towards Cairns right away. I guess it’s good that we had already planned spending the first driving up north (and that we have a lot of catching up to do), because as soon as we left Brisbane it started raining, and it hasn’t stopped since… Just have to mention that Queensland is know as the sunshine state, and apparently is hasn’t really rained here for nine months….
On my way to Brisbane I’ve spent most nights parked on a roadside rest area. It may not sound like the safest option, but Australian rest areas are not like rest areas in the rest of the world! There are always at least five other cars/mobile homes/caravans with travellers of all ages staying over night. There are picnic tables, toilets and sometimes even barbecues! The place I’m staying tonight got a hippie playing guitar for everybody. The place I stayed last night had a mob of chickens running around, and a rooster waking everybody up at 5 am. At 6 am a van showed up and started selling coffee! Except for the lack of showers the rest areas are much like caravan parks, only free!
Most people have probably heard of Byron Bay. I have to admit I was quite looking forward to going to this infamous place. People have told me that you either hate or love the place, and for some reason I thought I’d fit right in. And I probably would have, five years ago! Once known as an alternative hippie community, Byron Bay has been transformed into a backpackers mecca. And what a disappointment! Maybe I’m getting too old, but I found the place annoyingly crowded and busy, nothing at all like the laid-back costal town I was expecting. I couldn’t even be bothered to take a single picture. Instead, I fled to a nearby beach and got this all to myself:
Another sad goodbye this morning when I left Rosemary and Mark at Yarramba. Last night they surprised me with birthday cake and a present (since tomorrow is my birthday.) So wonderfully sweet of them that it almost made me cry!
After treating my car to a desperately needed oil change in Cooma, I headed north towards Brisbane this morning.
I was told it is possible to do the drive in one day, but 1700 km in one day is definitely not for me (!). After getting through heavy traffic and weekend delays through Sydney, I have stopped for the night on the coast north of Sydney. I’ve got to be in Brisbane Wednesday morning, so that leaves me plenty of time to do some sightseeing on my way up the coast.
I’ve had so much to write about the last few weeks, but unfortunately no time to write. All day is spent outside working with the horses. I’m leaving Mark and Rosemary and all the horses up I the mountains on Friday, to start my drive north towards Brisbane to pick up Irene. Hopefully I’ll have time to write more about my stay at Yarramba later. For now, here are some photos for those of you who are interested.
Mark and Rosemary here at Yarramba live quite differently from most people I know. I fact, I don’t think it’s possible to live greener than they do. Nothing is ever wasted here. All water is recycled. They have a compost toilet. Things are thrown away unless it can’t be used for anything at all. (That means that the place is full of things. Still they somehow always seem to remember where they thing they need is.) Most of the vegetables they eat grow in their garden. The ducks are bred to be eaten. (My first night here I got to pluck the feathers of a newly slaughtered duck that we had or dinner.) Cooking is done on a stove with a wood fire. Almost all food and cleaning products are organic.
There has definitely been some adaptation from my side. I don’t think I ever would be able to live the way they live, but I do think I can learn a lot from how they live, and hopefully take some of that with me.
I’ve already been here for a week and time really is flying. I haven’t even had time to take a single photo yet! I’m working from when I get up until I go to bed, mostly because I want to take this opportunity to learn as much as possible while I’m here. This is approximately what my day looks like:
– Get up at 7 o’clock, have breakfast
– Clean out the horse yards (there are 20 horses)
– Help feeding the horses
– Get one of the horses, groom and saddle him for Mark to ride up to the paddock to get the other horses
– Lead horses to their yards as they are coming in
– Water plants/garden
– If there are people coming for lessons in the morning I get the horses from yards, to groom (brush) and saddle. If not, I get a horse ready and have my own riding lesson
– Lunch, and again dishes is my responsibility (…)
– If there are people coming for lessons in the afternoon I get the horses from the yards again, to groom and saddle. If not I get a horse ready and have my own lesson
– Help with shoeing horses, treating horses with problems, training horses etc
– Helping getting the horses back up into the paddock for the night
– Clean out the yards again
– Help feeding the horses that are staying in for the night
– Feeding chickens and ducks, collecting eggs
– Helping getting vegetables from the garden and cooking dinner, then dishes again…
– Bedtime
And then there are hundreds of other little things in between. It’s quite hard work, but really rewarding. What I do really makes a difference. There is no escaping the fact that both Rosemary and Mark are getting older, and it is getting more difficult for them to get things done. They therefore rely on people like me to help out to keep things going. They are wonderful people, and it just keeps amazing me how much they know. Check out their website (just google Yarramba Trail Rides) if you’re interested in knowing more about where I am.
I guess nobody would expect me to go to Snowy Mountains, myself the least. It sounds cold, doesn’t it? But there I was, in an coastal town south of Sydney, and it was pouring down. So I needed to find something else to do. I found an ad for an volunteer job, applied, and the next morning I was on my way! The next few weeks I’ll be working with horses in Snowy Mountains. (And just to make that clear, there’s no snow, and daytime temperatures are around 18 degrees.) I’m paid in accommodation, wonderful home cooked meals, and riding lessons. I learned a lot about horses on Challa Station, but unfortunately there were no horses I could ride there. It made made me realise though, that the 12 year old girl in me still wants to learn how to ride. So being able to work with and learn from extremely competent people that the couple here are up here is a prime opportunity. They might be considered a bit eccentric, and they definitely live a different kind of life, but they are absolutely very nice people. (Still I bet most of you would be shocked if you saw their house. I’ll try to take a photo some day.)
Internet connection is not the best, and I’m not quite sure how long I’ll stay. Probably until I have to start driving up to Brisbane. I’ll try to walk up to the hill where I’m sitting now to post updates every now and then, and also some photos when I take some.
ASTRID 