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Published: June 19th 2008
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Blog after Start of Sydney
Since the last time we blogged many moons ago we have travelled about 4000 kms. We left the Blue mountains and travelled to Derek and Bretts holiday home for a while. We stayed there for about 2 weeks cooking and relaxing and just chilling out. After this we travelled up the east coast of NSW. Sadly the weather was terrible alot of the time. We played in the following hostels in return for use of their facilities.
Medelucia Hostel - Anna Bay
Coffs Harbour YHA
Byron bay YHA
In the Medelucia Hostel we met a lovely kangaroo call Jose. It was a kangaroo that was sick and had to be taken in for care. It was really cool just to see a kangaroo that was treated like a pet.
While we were in Coffs Harbour we played in the Coffs Hotel for some cash and a feed, and met a couple of aussie blokes who where adiment that they were Irish (one in particular) and who loved all things Irish, he even played the Bodhran (although pronounced it wrong).
Next stop Byron Bay, where we played to a group of hippie
tourists in the YHA.
Then to Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast, Queensland, we played in a hostel to a handful of people ,as they were all heading out to a pub crawl, they couldnt have given a rats arse who was playing. We didnt mind, we got double room,a place to park and some food.
30Km south of Surfers we back tracked to a more relaxed Coolangatta, where we surfed a bit and chilled out for the week. We stayed and played at the YHA, bought a skate board and tried it out, to practise our surfing skills, a few brused ankles and sore bums to say the least.
On the notice board was advertised Olive picking starting Monday, we were intigued! We left our little life in Coolangatta and started toward our first job! We got sidetracked an hour or so north of Surfers Paradise and went to a waterpark for the day. We were like children running around the place and laughed all day. It would take too long to discribe the fun we had, so I wont, but we had a lot, and everyone should go to a waterslide park! At one stage Nick stood
for 5 minutes in frount of a huge map of the water park, saying “ we've done that one, that one that one, I want to do that one and that, thats fun” We stopped in colundra for the night and woke Monday morning to find a flat tyre on the rear wheel, no proper jack, a job to go to that we were 3 hours away from, and a birthday girl. Nicholas fixed the wheel (with half a jack and a stanless steel knife ,go on wexford!!--like a good van husband, as Elaine so excellently puts it) and brought me out for breakfast. At about four in the afternoon we finally got to our place of work, knocked on every door possible and sat around for 40 minutess in the heat wondering if we should stay or go! We finally heard a dog bark and wandered through the fields until we found a group of people at work, calm and peaceful and two dogs. Introductons accured and we got to work, 30 minutes later we stopped and were shown to our room in the homestead. 30 minutes later, it was pitch black and freezing.
Springbrook Olive Farm was
near Gomeri, west of Gympie, and is owned by a lovely couple called Dan and Joanna, the run a company that trains tourists how to work on aussie farms and then find them work.
A day in the life...
6.30am- wake freezing, as there are no clouds to keep in any heat. Brekkie.
6.55am- Hop into the back of the ute and drive through a field of sleepy cattle and horses as the dogs chase the ute through the fields filled with the morning mist.
7.00am- Start picking the tiny Olives off the branches, fingers freezing! This continues until about 9.30 when we bundle all of what we picked into crates (usually two), then ourselves onto the ute and back to the workshop, where we measure the weight of the picking.
Coffee and Brunch
10am- Load ourselves back in the ute and the dogs chase us back to work- pick pick pick, Sinead and Kim scan branches for spiders and the like and pick pick pick till
12.30pm-crates back to workshop for the mornings weighing and to the owners gaff for lunch.
YUMMEE
2pm-No rest for the wicked, back to picking, pick pick pick Sinead and Kim again scan
for spiders and little critters and finish at about 5pm.sometimes 4pm(then we would walk around the farm)
One beer each after the days work.
Dinner, with very polite people and a very polite time of 7.30pm, and home at a very polite time of 9pm.
We slept in the van (as there were mice in the homested-a normal thing on a farm but I(obviously Sinead)didnt want to sleep with them , later Nicholas had the heart to tell me that there was a dead mouse behind the bed-arrgh!! A snake in the pool and a grasshopper on our lampshade!
We had an unforgettable time there, and met some great people, one of which was Kim, a Canadian girl, who got a lift with us to Noosa.
Since Noosa
wow....how time passes! We stayed in Noosa for about 8 days. We gigged in Halse Lodge YHA in return for parking the van and food and busked on Hastings street a couple of night, and we were both very surprised at our success! We walked around Noosas National park area and saw dolphins, koalas, turtles, lizards amongst other things. We finally pulled ourselves away from Noosa and back
on our northbound journey. Stopping at :
Rainbow Beach,
Hervey Bay and Marybourgh (where the author of Mary Poppins was born)
The Town of 1770 and Agnes Waters.
Bundaberg,
Rockhampton,
Mackay and
Airlie Beach.
Whitsunday Islands.
We gigged in Mackay 3 Sundays ago in a restaurant by the Harbour and have been invited back to play. We played in the lagoon bar on Daydream Island last Wednesday and we are now spending two weeks playing in Club Med on Lindeman Island (all inclusive accommodation, food, activities such as sailing, windsurfing, kayacking etc...it's really cool).
Traveling north soon to cairns and port douglas.
HOPE YOU ARE ALL WELL.
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Brian Codd
non-member comment
Hi....... Nick & Sinead
How r things? I liked the latest entry, could done with more pics cows though