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Published: October 19th 2006
Our lunch spot
This was the perfect place to eat lunch - a little bench in the shade, with a beautiful view!Oil Leak Fixed!
Oct 11th: We picked up Betsy at 5pm and started back out on the hwy. I was very careful to monitor the oil and water because I had the garage replace the valve cover gasket and the oil pan, and they had to remove the radiator to get at the front of the engine, so I didn't want to take any chances. We have had no leaks to this day. Finally fixed! We slept at a hwy rest stop that night. We are becoming used to the sound of trucks through all hours of the night!
Oct 12th: We drove through Grafton quickly after a quick stop at a campervan depot where we puchased a new sink handpump - one that wouldn't leak all down through the food drawer! We also bought some shelving supplies to build a new shelf in the clothing closet so Carolyn and my things were kept a little more seperate - Carolyn now had way more room, until we chose to put the case of Victoria Bitter in there as well.... uh-oh!
We drove to Yambi next and then over to Angourie, where we had read about some fresh water swimming
holes right by the ocean, as well as some good surf. We hiked down a little trail with a picnic lunch and found a secluded bench that looked out over the ocean and had our PB&J sandwiches - also becoming a bit of a staple. After this we went to the spring fed swimming holes and they turned out to be amazing, and the one had a huge cliff on the one side where a few locals were working up the courage to jump off. I don't think Carolyn really wanted me doing it, but it sure looked fun! So I climbed the cliff the the first one and jumped from there - it was probably about 35'. The water was quite refreshing and a little cool, but a nice change from swimming in the ocean. Carolyn thought it was too cold to swim, and had no intention of jumping from the the cliff, so stayed by the bank and sunbathed. Then I climbed up the the highest ledge - probably a little more than 50'. It was a pretty good climb up the cliff, and there were a few spots where you really had to feel your way around
to find a path up. The jump was well worth it - and left me with some sore feet (have to remember to tuck them in a little more next time!).
From here we got back on the road and headed to Ballina. Here we saw a huge prawn that was built into a visitor's centre. Interesting, but a little scary! We stopped for the night just beore Byron Bay.
Oct. 13th: We got up early and drove into Byron bay. It was a bit of a surprise to see all of the people (mostly foreign tourists) milling around. So busy and different from the sleepy beach towns that we had mostly been visiting until this point. We checked our email at a place that gave us an hour for $1 (normally it is $6!). After this we did some much needed laundry - only one load this time as we are getting better at only washing the dirty stuff! We walked around the town for quite some time, poking in and out of small shops. I bought a hat that has a sewn in terry cloth - to try to stanch the bit of a sweating problem
Joe jumping off the rock
I was too scared to do any of this clif jumping...I was happy just watching! that I have always seem to had :D! We bought some groceries for dinner (Woolworthes has become our favourite grocery store), then drove out of town to a rest stop to sleep (aren't we cheap!).
Oct 14th: We drove back into Byron Bay and went to Byron Bay Tourist Park on the south side of town. We wanted to have the entire day here to get our money's worth. We set up Betsy and had some showers, then got on our bikes and headed into town. We watched a rugby sevens game for a while - a very interesting game to watch - then headed out to fishermans lookout which was along a 4km hike along the coast and up to a lighthouse on the tip of a very high pennisula. This pennisula is the most easterly point of mainland Australia! We parked the bikes and did the walk which took up most of the morning and early afternoon. So many stairs, and we were both a little winded upon reaching the top! The views were good and there were frequent sightings of humback whales from the pathway and lookouts. We ate a lunch at the top, and splurged
on a macadamia mango ice-cream cone (one for the two of us!).
We biked the 5km's back to the caravan park and relaxed for a bit in the sun! We walked down to the ocean (a 10min walk from the park), and I went for a run along the beach while Carolyn sunbathed and read. I tried to swim lengths in the ocean, but it was very difficult with the waves that kept crashing over top of me, not to mention the strong rip tide that kept trying to sweep me along the beach sideways. We tried to cook our kabobs that we had bought on the camp electric grills that they had at a little common area, but it turned into a bit of a disaster when we forgot our plates and had to cart everything back to Betsy anyways! We read and journaled and then went to bed. We have been savouring a beer every once in a while, but it is the box wine that will probably do us in. You can buy a 4L box (it literally is a box) of wine for $9. And, it is quite delicious!
Oct 15th: The next morning
Lighthouse walk
We are at the most Easternly point on mainland Australia. we got up and showered, and I decided that it was time to buzz my hair. It had become quite unmanageable and with all of the heat and sweat was getting uncomfortable. We took a picture before and after the cut, with me putting on my angry/horrified face. The first picture with all the hair hardly does it justice! Carolyn has been cutting my hair for about 2 years now, and found the Aussie clippers to be similar to the ones at home (we had purchased these for $10!).
We then decided that we needed to get some money coming in soon because we were starting to get quite poor. We have been keeping track of every dollar that we have spent since getting here and we just passed the $5000 mark. Seems impossible that it could all dissapear like that (especially with us being so cheap), be we have an account for every dollar in our little green expense book! The Van rego and repairs together were close to $2000, then gas and food, it does make sense - just a little forboding! We have decided that from now on we have to live on $50 a day
while working and $100 a day while travelling - pretty close to what we have been spending each day. Seems like a lot, but dissapears very fast!
We called the havest hotline to see if there were any jobs in the vicinity, but were told that we would need to go a little farther north. No problem. I would have like to stay in Byron a little longer, but we did need to start working and it was tough around there because there are so many people willing to work that all the jobs get snapped up. So we again headed north.
We drove towards Murwillumbah, which is very close to Mt. Warning (named by Captain Cook while he was circumnavigating Australia in the 1770's, as a reminder of the dangerous reefs just off the coast that he almost got tangled up in). it was still before noon, so we decided that we would become mountain climbers for the rest of the day! The summit was at an elevation of 1157m above sea level, and was 4.4km up and 4.4km down. We drove up Betsy to the base of the accent, which was a bit of a climb
Return walk through the rainforest
The walk was pretty easy, but we were glad we had our "mountain shoes" for the way back because it was a bit more rustic than the coble stone steps we took on the way up! from the town. I almost didn't think Betsy was going to make it up several of those hills (over 20% grade). I made the mistake of stopping on one so Carolyn could take a picture - We almost started rolling backwards even with the brakes on and it was almost impossible to get going again! The engine was needless to say very warm by the time we made it to the base - I almost had to pull over to cool it down! We had a quick lunch and were then ready to start the accent! For the next 1hr and 39 mins we hiked vertically. We counted and there were only two or three places where there was a single step down - every other one was up! We were warned to take lots of water so we brought 4L and we had on our mountain shoes, so there was nothing to stop or slow us down until we reached about 300m from the summit. A couple waiting here passed along a 'good luck', and we understood when we went around the corner! The rest of the way was basically a cliff of rocks and stoops, that had a
Pre hair cut
Joe was unsure about cutting his hair...we bought clippers so that I could do it for him like at home. Day 1, I just trimmed the back and sides... chain link handrail that allowed you to climb up! The pictures again do not capture this well. The view was spectacular. All of the Australian landscape in about a 60km radius was in view! We could even see the lighthouse we had visited in Byon Bay, and other towns like Tweeds Head and Surfer's Paradise! Carolyn was not feeling very well at the top and was a little light headed. She did manage to eat most of her PB&J sandwhich and I had my two. We then began the decent which was no work at all (all that PE), but still time consuming.
It was starting to get darker, because the sun was on the other side of the mountain, so we packed it in and started on our way again, towards Tweed Heads. We found a park in Palm Beach which is just north of there that didn't have any 'no camping signs' made some dinner, read and journalled, then went to bed. We were awoken at about 3am by the loudest, most irritating birds we have every heard! It was unbelievable that they could make such a racket and they were in the trees directly above Betsy!
Post hair cut 1
The next morning, he decided it all had to go... We both lay there for about 30 mins realizing that there was no way that we were going to be able to go back to sleep. I made a comment about needing earplugs, which reminded Carolyn that she had some in her bag. Ahhhhh.... what a relief! We slept very well until the next morning and work up with the world buzzing around us. A girls sports team was running around the park we were in and people were all over. I always wonder what they think of the van parked so inconspicously with all the curtains drawn in the corner of the parking lot. Nobody really seems to notice us though!
Oct 16th: We drove north to Miami Beach (just south of Surfer's Paradise), and parked by the Ocean. We were now in what they officially call the 'Gold Coast'. We ate a breakfast of oatmeal and instant coffee's, then went for a run along the beach front. We then went for a swim to cool off and splashed in the surf for a while. We lay on the beach just long enough to dry off and then went and showered under one of the many beach showers
along the beach. We made a phone call to the Harvest Hotline again after then and were told that we would be able to find work in Stanthorpe, a small farming village about 3hrs inland from the coast. We decided we would check it out. It ended up taking us 4hrs because Betsy is not very fast, especially on hills where her top speed is often around 60km/hr. Guess that is what you get for having a fully loaded down camper with a 2.0L engine! If it gets very steep that speed is cut in half. We drove to the Blue Topaz, a caravan park 5km's south of the town of Stanthrope, where we had spoken with a lady named Sue about potential work. We got in late so were told that we should come down to the office in the morning, and we could fill out the necessary forms to begin work as a harvester. We paid the $20 for the night, and were told that it could be taken off the weekly rate if we chose to stay the next day. We stayed up rather late this night reading - 11pm (Carolyn is very excited about her Harry
Mt Warning
Driving up towards Mt. Warning Potter now, and takes up the book any chance she can get).
Oct 17th: I was getting up at about 7am and trying to talk Carolyn into getting up, when Sue knocked on the door and told us that she had a farmer that needed some snow pea's picked. I had been thinking to myself that of any of these farm jobs that I was going to do, picking peas was the only one that I was not going to allow myself to do! Funny how that happens! We weren't about to turn down this opportunity though, so jumped at the chance to finally add some money to the coffers. We packed up Betsy and when I went to start Betsy, she wouldn't start! Comon Betsy.... rrrrrrrr.....rrrrrrr....rrrrrrr. No luck. So I started tacking the engine while Carolyn finished making breakfast. There is a little light glass for the fuel in the carborator and I could see that there was no gas in there. I took off the gas inlet tube and when cranking over the engine, there was no gas coming out. The fuel tank was just below half, a little lower then we normally keep it and it
Comon' Betsy!
This picture doesn't actually do justice to how steep it actually was. Poor Betsy barely made it up! was a little cold (our little heater had come in handy overnight), so I thought if I could pour a little gas into the carborator, it might be enough to turn it over and get the rpm's high enough to keep the fuel flowing! So I siphoned some gas from the tank (all this before 8am with the pressure of a waiting farmer!), and poured it in. Luckily it was enough to have the engine catch and varoooooom, Betsy was alive!
We hurried out to the farm where we met Lenny Gangemi, and were shown the pea patch. Normally you can only pick peas in the morning because the sun really withers them through the day, but because it was overcast, we were able to pick all day. The peas are all well held up and you don't have to bend at all, just shuffle along the row with your 20L pail and pull them off the plant in front of you. We picked with the farmer's elderly mother (75+), and it was hard keeping up with her! What a life. She was hard to understand, but she said that they had been on the farm for over 50
years! After 7 hours, my back was aching just from standing up for so long in essentially the same place, and Carolyn's fingers were a little sore, but we both felt pretty good to have finally earned some money! This was way better then my Loraine days because rather than $3/hr, we are making $15.49/hr. We went back to the Blue Topaz and showered. The showers here are not the greatest and you have to deposit a 20c coin every 4 mins or the hot water shuts off. The problem is the box is on the outside of the shower, so if you don't want to walk out naked, you have to throw a towel around you! We weren't that happy with the park but resigned to stay for the night.
Oct 18th: We started picking peas at 7am, and worked until 1pm. The work isn't that bad and the farmer is quite friendly. Carolyn hummed and sang every song she knew the first day (the ants go marching in, the wheels on the bus, 99 bottles of beer on the way - she actually made it to 5 left on the wall! She even resigned to counting in
The Last 300m
If you look closely, Joe is near the top of the photo! her head and made it all the way to 700. Can you tell how bored she was!) I told her to bring the IPOD this time so me and the elderly mother got to listen to Carolyn hum and whistle most of the day. I don't think she realized how loud she was at times, but it sure was funny for me! I find the picking leaves a lot of time for your mind to ponder things and I have been using this time to think about what I want to do with myself when I get home. Not pick peas, that is the only thing for sure!
After work we went back into town and I got a membership at the local library. I figured since we are reading so many books and will be in town for the next 3 or 4 weeks, that we might as well tap into this resource. They also have internet services here for $5/hr. We caught up on a few emails and then went over to the town pool right behind the library. It is a huge outdoor pool, heated, with dimensions of about 50m x 25m. We paid the $2.80
We made it!
Again, I took a bunch of pictures at the top, but it takes forever to upload, so you'll just have to wait until we get home to see the rest! fee and swam for about an hour. I want to make this a regular part of our day - as it is such good exercise and is very relaxing after a long day of manual labour. We are staying at a caravan park in town because it is much nicer than the Blue Topaz, and also closer to the farm that we will be working at. We went to the ReadyWork office and are scheduled to start working at a farm on Monday where we can stay for as long as we like - probably the full 3-4 weeks, or as long as we can hack it. We are getting settled into the small town life here and have noticed signs for several rodeos in the area and countless wineries that all offer tours. We are going to have a very relaxed time here while making money, and perhaps make a few friends! The library ladies are very nice.
Oct 19th: We got up and drove to Warwick with is about 60kms north of here. Here we had the timing adjusted on Betsy because we have been getting a bit of engine ping. We bought some more suitable work
Climbing back down
This wasn't as hard on the lungs, but you had to pay attention for this first part! clothes because Carolyn was very worried about ruining her clothes. On the drive home we passed 180 000 kms! What a feat.
Just remember while you are reading this from your cushy office jobs that Carolyn and I are toiling away in the hot sun, swatting flies, but still having a fantastic time!
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Darcy
non-member comment
Sniff...
I'm going to cry I'm so jealous. Great job on the detail Joe. Keep up the journaling. It's fantastic.