David and Beth were my original fruit picking contacts. However, when I had first called them, they didn't need any extra pickers, so they gave me the number for Koolkuna. After 3 weeks at the berry farm, I was collected by Campbell and taken to Balnagowan Organic farm. Balnagowan is in Walcha, whose small country town is a half hour drive away. It is a working sheep and cattle farm, as well as being an Organic farm employing backpackers and marketing fruits such as zuccinis (corgettes to us Brits), yellow button squash, potatoes, snow peas, beans and shalots. On the farm [View Full Entry]

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From Tamworth, I was collected by Lother and taken an hour away, to the berry farm in Niangala. Here, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries, amongst others during the season, are picked. They are then sorted and the ones that aren't perfect enough to use for selling in punnets are used for jams and ice cream. The farm also offers self-picking for tourists. The fellow pickers were Emily and Robyn (Ozzie), Colin (NZ), Jamie (Pom), Troy (Romananian/Oz) and Jerome. After me arrived Japanese Dai and Kaori, who I loved hanging out with and learning Japanese! John came along [View Full Entry]

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12/13.01.06 After a fun-filled week with Andrew, I flew back to Sydney and the next day I caught a 5 hour train to Tamworth. A week early for the infamous Country Music Festival began, I intended to get a job to see me through the festival. I had completed my Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) course to assist me, but I ended up with a position that involved giving air-brush tattoos to the public during the festival. The days were long but fun and I made sure I made up for the work by partying hard in the evenings! My accomodation [View Full Entry]

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Having 2 weeks spare before heading to Tamworth for the Country Music Festival, I decided to take my French friends Lilli & Jenny up on their offer of a lift to Melbourne, as I had found them a home on our driveway whilst in Broome. Matt came down and we had an 8 hour road trip to Andrew's - a family friend whom I met at June's on Christmas Day. The guys hung out at Andrew's with us for a few days, before heading into the city to sort out work etc. Andrew took me to Philip Island for the weekend [View Full Entry]

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I appologise now (Mum) that most of these photos will be drunk backpacker ones, similar to those of my student days! Some days, however were not spent intoxicated - probably just hungover! No no, I'm not that bad! On Boxing Day, we went on a Treasure Hunt pub crawl... I was disappointed to find there was no treasure! But we had a great time finding each pub and the beer that awaited us! Oh, and in some cases tequila... costly but well-spent for the high level fun! 27th Dec: Julia's birthday so we went for breakfast and later to the World [View Full Entry]

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Still residing with June and very welcoming family; still jobless but making plans... I decided on a family Christmas Day over a hostel Christmas! However, I headed back into the Cross to see what the orphan backpackers had been up to, and to spend the week and New Yrs in the city. [View Full Entry]

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Having seen Sophie off, I proceeded to seek a job to replenish the funds I has spent whilst being a tourist! I spent a few days with my Western Coast travel buddy, Anna, before she went to Thailand for Christmas, which was cool. We went up the Harbour Bridge Pylon and other Sydney stuff! During my unsuccessful job hunt, I stayed with the lovely June, Lauren, Andrew & baby Caitlin. Lauren & Andrew's Irish friends, Ciara and Gabe, also stayed so we had a few group outings. Andrew's Dad dragged me Dragon Boating each Saturday morning (ouch!) and Andrew introduced us [View Full Entry]

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After our Blue Mountains adventure, Sophie and I spent some time (and money!) being tourists in Sydney. We stayed in Kings Cross for a few nights and went partying, climbed the Habour Bridge and saw the 2006 Dance Awards at the Opera House. We did a few of the popular walks, e.g. Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach, chilled at Manly Beach and did some Christmas shopping - in summer!!?? [View Full Entry]

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Sophie and I wanted to fill up our valuable 2 weeks together so we took a 2hr train ride to Katoomba from Sydney and spent three days touring, hiking and partying in and around The Blue Mountains! We met a couple of other pommie girls and a few randoms at the local pub. Thanks goes to Jamie, our hostel manager and personal tour guide! Oh and his crazy friends Shane and Joe. We even rode the mountain climbing tram... and the explorer bus was wonderful and impressively reliable! :-) Once again, a good time was had by all! [View Full Entry]

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Sophie landed the day after me and we filled our first few days touring Sydney... I'll write more when my diary's with me but for now here's some piccies to keep you occupied... [View Full Entry]

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