Blogs from Riverland, South Australia, Australia, Oceania - page 2

Ah! the Mighty Murray River. 36degrees. Bright sunshine - all day. Willy willys. Dust and flies. We left the peaceful and clear waters of the Murray headwaters and headed further westward. Hume Weir is very low. Picked up some fuel and groceries (no fruit - they shoot ya if ya carry fruit around here) in Wodonga. Stayed on the banks of the Murray in Barmah State Park. Swam, caught shrimp and fished all day. Sandy banks and clearish water. The River Red Gums just drop huge branches without any warning. Wednesday 13th Feb. Headed off again towards Nyah State Forest, you guessed it, on the banks of the Murray. Camped overnight and fished some more. Stopped where the Murray and Murrumbidge Rivers meet. Very peaceful, some fish, murky water and our very own sandy beach again. ... read more

Not a great deal to report this week - besides I’m writing this about 5 weeks late, so any incidental stuff has been forgotten. It’s basically another week in sleepy Loxton! The week started with Luke, our supervisor, oversleeping! He didn’t seem too apologetic or concerned that all of us lost out on a few hours’ work thanks to him. Having said that, he’s been on time and reliable for the 2 months that he’s been there, so it’s no big deal. One of the Korean girls, Hae Jin, had a bit of a go at him saying that he ‘smoked too much’ - that went down like a fart in a space ship and put him in a bit of a mood. We ended up starting work at 0630, so it wasn’t all bad - ... read more

Another working week, but at least the weather’s picked up. It’s been comfortable around 28 - 35 degrees but I’ve been having to get up earlier (0455) because more people are working now, which means that Rob, the hostel manager, has to do more runs for people to work. I’ve been getting to work around 0520, shitting around waiting to start work at 0600; we can’t start any earlier as it’s still dark! The beginning of the week was difficult because Saturday through until Tuesday night I only had an average of 3 hours’ sleep per night. I kept having to have power naps before work and at lunchtime! Friday was Australia Day, which is obviously a big deal for most people here. One of the Aussies, Brad, suggested we go to the pub with us ... read more

We now have to find work - sharpish!! We’d heard stories over in WA about work being piss-easy to find in SA. The state is full of fruit farms and vineyards - the Barossa Valley, Australia’s most famous wine producing area, is a short drive from Adelaide. We made a few calls before we left but it turned out that our best bet would be just to drive there and ask for work. Yet again, these prophecies of a shed load of work turned out to be crap! The main agency we went to in the main town in the area said that there was nothing around until February - the only lead we got was orange picking in Waikerie, further east. We got the details for that and it didn’t sound like a terribly good ... read more