Beatles' mistake - 'Strawberry Fields (aren't) Forever

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Greetings from my monster purple writing chair!


It truly is quite the couch - one of those recliner jobs - ever so comfy but super ugly - and smells pretty funky too! Ho hum - it helps me scribble which is all that matters.


Slime and Dan are busy looking at Trevor's ears - i.e. his speakers, cause he only sings tunes out of one ear... wait that can't be right - guess i meant voicebox as opposed to ears! Anyway, it's somewhat annoying as it only comes through on the left side which means Slime is slowing going deaf as i keep making him turn up the beats cause i can't hear them on my side!


Anyhoot - the reason they are tending to Trevor's sound is because on Saturday we are OUT OF HERE!! Thank goodness - not sure how we have survived the creatures of Caboolture/ morons of Morayfield for so long - but I am now almost giddy with excitement at the prospect of leaving them all far - very far behind! You also may have noticed that i mentioned 'Dan' in paragraph 2 - we met Dan in Tasmania while wrestling the grapes from the vine - and he finally found us again after spending over 6 months freezing his goolies off in his Tasmanian TENT! Silly, silly man! Dan will be joining us on our adventure for as long as he can before finding more work so he can pay for a Boeing-ride back to Germany in November. At this stage we have zero plan - we are simply steering Trevor North in search of Barrier Reefs and deep blue patches to snorkel! Onwards and upwards i say!


As you have all now guessed, we are officially free from the fields! We were supposed to pick our final berry tomorrow but the rains came with gusto and put a stop to that! Shame - feel a bit bad for nice Farmer Bill - there is still so much fruit to be picked but at least 80% of it is either mouldy (mmmmm do love me some mould) or damaged from all the rain, so he was forced to cut his losses and throw in the towel. Dan did get 3 days picking in before the season came to an end and in doing so earned his nickname 'Lightening Dan' - or simply Lightening. He would trundle though the fields at a frightening pace - smoked Slime on just his second day! Go Slime! The berries did go crazy in the end - as Jules pointed out to me, I managed to pick 8 x my body weight in just one day... and yes, I know i'm not the largest of betties but that's still a sh*t -load of strawberries! We went to say goodbye to Bill today which was a little sad - he invited us for grub when we do our U-turn mission back to Melbourne, so i guess we'll be seeing him - and the fields - again soon!


Other stories - wow there are too many to tell and i know i have a knack for rambling! (Just a quick aside - it's quite funny watching Dan and Slime fix Trevor - Dan is under the car with man tools; Slime is supervising and asking Dan if he would like a cookie! Trevor and I are quite pleased that Dan is coming with for the mission! But back to stories - Slime's birthday was a hit - i gave him a pocket watch to match his old man cardigan! He was most pleased! It's actually really cool though - you can see all the intricate tick-tock workings inside - he also got psp games and a whole host of other silly treats. We also had a little party here at home where much silliness was had - darts, beer, goon and fellow pickers from the fields!


Summer is definitely shining - hot and humid - just like Durbs. We went to Bribie Island last week as it was the perfect throw-a-frisbee-on-the-beach day! So there we were, hurling our plastic toy from one peep to another having oodles of fun, when Dan spotted dolphins swimming close to shore. We paddled out to greet the swimmers - got about half way before Slime posed the question 'what if they're not dolphins'?! We all laughed nervously and continued swimming towards them - a little slower this time! We ended up getting really close and didn't get munched so it was quite a special paddle in the end - especially for Frida the long Swede as she had never seen them before.


The very next day - our little home grew - well not exactly - but it now houses 9 people as opposed to the regular 4! We got lucky again as they're all really nice - we have a Frenchie by the name of Taungie... when he introduced himself i thought he said his name was donkey! I asked him to please repeat it and i still thought he said donkey! He had to say it at least 3 times before i understood!Oh dear... we also have another Italian who we call Croc (donkey and croc!) and a Japanese surfing chap called Sho and finally a Scotsman by the name of John... all very nice laid back merry folk! They are all picking pineapples - holy goat - they have so many wounds from all the pine spikes - John is at the hospital as we speak having them bandaged (the sores become infected and swell up with pus so they have to be cut open and drained - yay, pick me pick me - his hand was so swollen you couldn't even see his knuckles - he had another 2 - one on his arm and one on his bum! So yes - HOORAY FOR STRAWBERRIES!


And finally - the ENTER SHIKARI gig!! wow - i don't know when last i had so much fun! It was just supposed to be Slime and i - but that was before we played darts... Dan needed a 6 to win - he muttered that if he could hit the 6 with his first 2 darts, he would come to the gig. First dart - miss... 2nd dart A SIX! So 2 became 3 and off we went for a night out on the town! And what fun - the gig was amazing - jumped about like a retard and laughed till it hurt😊 It was just so good to forget about strawberries, Morayfield and our monotonous existance over the last 4 months - even if it only lasted a few hours!


And that my friends is enough from this ex-picker! Both Slime and I have our days picked for the visa - 93 in total - loved it so much we picked an extra 5 days! Looking back it was a fun experience but I'm still super stoked to be packing up Trevor and trundling off for adventures in the sun😊 Next time i scribble i hope to describe giant fish with fat lips and spots and frisbee tournaments in the sun! Hope everyone is happy... miss you all loads and sending many a fat squeeze!


Lots of love
2 ex-pickers
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