Up the West Coast: You Must Be Wwoofin'

I got up at the butt crack of dawn to catch my very late bus at 7:00 am. In real life, this is not a bad time. This is the time I normally left for work, for instance. But in the world of the backpacker, this is the equivalent of getting up at 3:00am to complete a term paper due that later morning. I was in a mood to meet people, and ended up chatting with most everybody on the bus. It was a good group, and I was a bit rueful of my decision to get off at Dongara (pr. Dong-gra). I would say I was sorry to be leaving them, but that was one of the words that Thou shalt not speak, and so I spake it not. Luckily for me, I was lucky not to be caught, as I noticed twice when I said it, I scooted under the radar screens of would-be inquisitors.

How unfair is it to tell a Canadian we can't say sorry. You might as well make "Eh!" one of the no-no words. My God Man! Like I said, I was lucky.

Before arriving at Dongara some hours later, we made our way up through the 44 degree heat, which for you Americans in the audience is 111.2 degrees, to see the mighty Pinnacles. We were a bit warm to say the least, but nevertheless I was excited to see the Pinnacles. Now the Pinnacles are the remnants of a limestone bed; the actual pointed structures were solidified by a layer of calcrete (that's a real word) which maintained them as the rest of the bed whithered away. The shifting dunes of Sand eventually came and went, blowing hither and tither, making it appear as though the pinnacles rise from the ground. Now they are pretty cool, but harldy monolithic, and I think if I were the German fellow I had been talking to at 7:00am, I'd have been none too happy about having traveled 3 hours one way in the blazing heat, only to hang out for a few minutes before turning around and making the same trip back to Perth.

It's a good thing he had a sense of humour about him. I do have to say though, that given that it was part of a larger tour, it was well worth going. Besides my belly was full of my new passion - Pepper Steak Pies (steak, gravy, pastry, and black pepper x5) what's not to love - so there was little anyone could do to dissuade me from my good mood.

Given the burning heat, we didn't stay out there long, but instead went to the beach where we gleefully ran into the water. Just as a side note, I was again not eaten by a shark. I'm going to let you assume from now on that if I don't tell you I was eaten by a shark AND you continue to hear from me that I was not in fact consumed by this ancient predator. If, however, the blogs cease you may safely assume I was thus devoured. The water was gorgeous. It was so perfect and I would have lived out there if I could have, but there was something about "a schedule" and "being late" that kept coming up in our driver's requests for us to come in, so I reluctantly left the water and wandered back to the bus.

It was not long after that that we arrived in Dongara, I bid my crew adieux, and I started my role as a wwoofer for the Campbells of Dongara. The first afternoon and evening Graham spent a good deal of time explaining to me the various dangers of snakes. Even though Denise had also gone through snake protocol with me, he wanted to be good and sure I understood. He was such a good teacher in fact that he demonstrated exactly what not to do when leaving the house. He stepped on a snake which then bit and spat venom at him. We raced him over to the hospital where a very uncertain intern did little to inspire confidence. All the same it worked out just fine for Graham, and other than a spike in his blood pressure and heart rate, he was no worse for wear. His lesson worked - I was very, even potently aware of the dangers of the serpent.

I have to admit, I didn't work all that hard. It's hard to do much of use when it's over 40 degrees. But we did manage to do a bit, and I did a good number of dishes between my copiously endowed free internet time, and swims in the ocean (still here - Are you picking up what I'm putting down?) Actually, I had an excellent time learning how Aussie Rules Football is played. I learned that it's not simply mayhem and an excuse to deck one another - there are actual rules and objectives and everything! I meditated and had various naturopathic treatments, and had my cards read by a Elaine, a friend of Denise's. They were kind enough to let me join them to an elegant meal at the cooking school, where I had Beef Wellington for the first time. Are you noticing a theme here (beef and gravy). Okay it was a beef reduction, but I gather that it's just a way for me to say I didn't eat gravy which is high in fat and salt (at least any gravy worth eating). Beef reduction - that's like diet gravy right? Great! Since it's only half the calories, you can eat twice as much.

It was only a few days here, but an enjoyable few. It seems that after over-booking holidays, my job was going to be fast tracked. My only problem was that I needed to find work clothes, and I only had Friday to do it. So, I walked down to the "Op-shop" also known as the "Salvo" here. The only black pair of pants I could find were nice dress pants my size, if a little long - but the waist was perfect. The only pair of black shiny shoes - my size. I found a black T-shirt (an required essential) that said "FIND THIRTY it's not a big exercise" which I thought had an appropriately healthy double meaning, the second being that I hit the milestone in little more than a month's time. The pair of black socks was less remarkable and much more like finding gold in a jewellery shop. Yet, for all that, I had struck my own little goldmine; it cost me $9.00 total. Even if it's second hand that's ridiculous. If only second hand books were sold in the same vein. I found this cool used book on Wikka, and then saw that it was priced $15.00 and I turned my nose up at it. I spit on your book prices Australia - you discourage reading!

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