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Published: March 14th 2007
G’day Folks,
Would you believe I’ve been in Oz for 13months now! It’s deffo flown by.
I last wrote my blog halfway through my time at Wydgee Station in the outback and a fair old bit has happened since then. Heres how it goes;
After picking peaches and apricots we all had a two week break to wait for the other fruit to ripen on the trees and be ready for picking. I still had to carry on my normal duties of controlling all the irrigation to the orchard, feeding pigs etc. so was still up every morning at 5am but I at least had the luxury of being able to go back to sleep afterwards. We all helped out with a few duties around the homestead and ended up cleaning up some pretty vile rooms, which looked like they hadn’t seen a dustpan and brush in the last millennia!
After my two weeks ‘rest’ we had to get on with the fruit picking again. This time it moved onto plums, then rock melons and watermelons. Melon picking is pretty backbreaking work and the sweltering heat didn’t really do me any favours, but I soldiered on. Once
Goatie
Me and the baby goat i found by the water pump at Wydgeeall the fruit was picked, it went into a chiller for a day and then we took it all out again and packed it all nicely ready for the people of Perth to spend their money on.
Unfortunately the majority of the Watermelons had been destroyed by the hundreds of crows circling over the orchard so we ended up having to poison goat carcases to kill the crows. This as it turned out was to be my job, which I didn’t think was to unpleasant until in a moment of lapsed concentration I managed to slice my knife through the goat’s stomach and unleash the most horrendous smell I have ever experienced. Then, just to make it even worse, the digested food went all over my hands and no matter how many times I washed my hands the smell would not shift, which always made lifting your fork to your mouth at dinner time a smelly and off putting affair.
I had an opportunity to go on a mill run with one of the family members from the next farm along. As the water that reaches the farm is pumped by a series of windmills from underwater streams,
The Slime
Just about to Jump into the gunge - the buckets wouldnt even sink in the stuff! they are working 24/7 and don’t always cope too well in the heat and often break down. Wydgee station is about 400,000 acres of nothingness, which worked out to be about 60km x 60km of land! This made navigating around the farm a difficult affair. We did get lost once and ended up on someone else’s land but we finally made it back to the homestead a couple of hours later than scheduled. The amount of dead carcases, and rotting Roo’s I spotted along the way made me realise just how inhospitable a place the outback really is.
Once the melon picking had finished and the penultimate truckload had been taken to Perth, my time was almost to be up at Wydgee station. To enable me to work for one more week before I left for Christmas I did a bit of weed wacking around the orchard, and then finally my last job and the piece de resistance the cleaning of a windmill tank.
Myself and Alaina, all ready to leave and awaiting our lift back to Perth, rather foolishly asked if there was anything else we could do before we left….BIG mistake! The bloke in charge, the
Our ride to perth
Scrambles' road train farmers brother, who by the way had the biggest case of little man syndrome ever witnessed, decided that he hadn’t tortured us enough and decided to send us on a ‘little job’. This job was to clean all the gunk/algae/whatever else was in there that I couldn’t see, out of a large tank that the water pumped by the windmills goes into. We agreed and jumped into our ute (pickup truck) and headed out into the bush. I put my ladder up against the tank, peered over the top and looked in to what I can describe as swamp green cheesecake! It was about 2ft deep and honking.
Reluctantly I climbed in with my buckets and shovel and started scooping the stuff out and passing it over the wall to Alaina to throw on the ground. Alaina jumped in an hour later and did the same. Four hours and about a million litres of gunge later we were finished. I was covered in the green stuff and stinking once again. We later found out from the farmer that we shouldn’t have been given that job because the tank had a crack in it and the gunge was stopping the
Christmas Meal
Sat down for our Banquet water leaking out of the tank. So I would like to take this opportunity to thank Eric for giving us a job he probably knew we didn’t have to do in the first place…cheers mate!
That afternoon, the trucky was to arrive to pick up the last load of melons headed for Perth, and was to be my ticket out of Wydgee. Alaina and I loaded our backpacks on and climbed aboard. The truck was a two-carriage road train and was massive. The ride to Perth took about 6hours and was definitely an experience. ‘Scrambles’ our driver took us to all the truck stops and gave us a little taste of a long distancedriver’s life. It was a bit of a shame about the music he played in his cab but I couldn’t complain, as after all it was a free lift. I finally made it back into Civilisation and the flashing lights of Perth at about 8pm that evening.
After a few days in Perth in a hostel, we managed to get hold of some friends who had also been off fruit picking and as it turned out they were in Perth too. We all packed our
The Ashes
Me having a rare wicket taken. stuff and headed for a campsite in Fremantle (45mins south of Perth). There were about seven of us overall and we were all ready for a bit of relaxation over Christmas.
Although it was Christmas time it never really felt like it, as it was sooooo bloody hot, most days were over 35oC. This converted your nice cool tent at night into not far short of a furnace by day. A few of the days were spent down at Cottesloe beach, where on one day had cameras from GMTV down there, so in true brit style we made the biggest banner on the beach to try and get on TV. A few managed to make the grade but it seems I didn’t quite make the cut (perhaps I was just too handsome!). Other days mainly consisted of water balloon fights, playing cricket (In which the English beat the Aussies in our own Ashes series!) and generally sitting round eating and drinking.
On Christmas day as a turkey wasn’t really on the menu with the only cooking implements being a microwave and barbeque, we decided to spend a small fortune on meat and have a massive feast. $150 was
New Years Eve
Everyone (minus one or two) out on New Years spent on ribs, steaks, burgers, sausages, kebabs and salad and a banquet was prepared. It turned out, even with seven of us eating it, the food was to last two days so we even managed to have a Boxing Day lunch as well.
The next 5 days after Christmas were pretty much a blur, with the festive season well in swing. More cricket was played (badly), water balloons were burst and more sunburn was gained! Until New Years Eve rolled around. The girls spent the whole day getting ready and shouting at the boys for not getting ready, and the boys played cricket. Once everyone was ready (and us lads still beat the girls), we all headed into Freo for a few beers then in taxis to Northbridge. Our destination was to be the Mustang Bar. We all met up with a few more friends and partied the night away, the countdown went (I think) and so did fireworks (I’m told) then next thing I knew I was on a train heading back to Fremantle. We all had a really good night and it will be one to remember (thank god we all took photos!). The next day I
The Aftermath
New years Day! don’t think anyone actually spoke to one another as the whole day was spent curled up under a tree sleeping, trying to rid ourselves of the hangover, which had not surprisingly arisen.
Unfortunately, as all the festivities of the previous two weeks had vanished, so had the money in my bank so time to head back to the city and get a job.
After a few days job searching I managed to get a job in a British pub called ‘ The Elephant and Wheelbarrow’ and I quite enjoy it. Everyone who works there is a backpacker so are generally all a good laugh and easy to get on with. The pay is brilliant; the only downside is that some days I don’t get home from work till 5:30am! So most of my time these days is spent working in the pub, or sleeping because I’ve been working too late. Otherwise, on my days off I tend to go for a wander round the city or up to Kings Park, and sometimes I walk to a suburb just out the city and go for a swim, as its always refreshing when its roasting hot.
In February, I
Little Parakeet Bay
Where we spent most of the day at Rottnest Island also applied for my second year working Holiday Visa for Oz. Unfortunately, as the Aussie government don’t seem to think that fruit picking is enough, they also make you have a medical, x-ray and nurse screening before they can decide whether to let you stay. I booked up my medical, and all was hunky dory and paid the $252 on top of the $185 I had just paid for my Visa application and away I went. All was going fine until the urine sample part came along. Being a fool and going for a wizz just 30mins before my medical meant I was in for a lengthy stay at the medical centre. But it was OK as I had a 5-year-old boy sitting next to me who was having just as much trouble, with his dad to keep me company. After what I suspect was about four gallons of warm water later I was finally able to fill the cup and I think could have filled a cup on cue at any point during the rest of the day!
Despite my inability to do what most people seemed to be doing no problem, I was granted my second year
Coral Bay
The beach at Coral Bay Visa, so as it turns out I’ve got till January 2008 to travel round this unbelievable country some more.
Shortly after my medical my Mum and Dad came out to Oz and were staying in Perth, so I was a happy bunny to be able to see them after a year and hear about all that is going on at home. I was even treated to a few really nice meals, which was a welcome alternative to noodles and microwave pasta (Thanks again Ma and Pa!)
Ma, Pa, Alaina and Myself also went to Rottnest Island. As Mum and Dad had been there before, they knew the best spot. We caught the Ferry from Perth and sailed all through Fremantle and down the Swan River, catching glimpses of all the rich suburbs and houses looking over the marinas which I had previously thrown phonebooks at. We caught the bus around the Island and stopped off at Little Parakeet Bay. We set out or towels and had a little picnic, relaxed, and I even managed to do a bit of snorkelling.
In need for a little explore of the island, I headed off with Alaina for a look
around. We had a look at a few more of the bays and then ran out of time so ended up passing out on the beach near the ferry port. After an exhausting day of eating and relaxing I slept the whole way back to Perth on the ferry.
Aswell as Rottnest, Myself, Mum and Dad travelled (by plane) to Coral Bay, approx 2000km North of Perth, home of the Ningaloo reef. Coral bay was unbelievable - nobody there, empty beaches, crystal clear water, the lot! The first couple of days were spent relaxing on the beach and reading books. A trip to the shark nursery was also a must. Along the bay there is a shallow pool which about thirty juvenile reef sharks inhabit to enable them to feed, and grow bigger before heading out to the big blue. Here Dad and myself waded out into the water, and if you stand very still the sharks come really close. However it does get a bit scary when the go behind you and you lose track of them!
The next few days after that were days I’ll never forget. First on the agenda was a quad bike ride
Manta Ray Swim
Me - Post Swimming with Manta along the beach and up and over sand dunes to watch turtles feeding in the shallows. The quad ride was so much fun and once I got the hang of it, was a bit of a thrill as I got some good speeds going. I even got up to 57km along an empty beach, which was pretty scary as it was really bumpy.
The next day, I was to catch a boat out early morning to go and swim with Manta Rays. We went out on a boat to where they had been spotted previously, and then a spotter plane would take off and find them, telling the captain where to take the boat. After a couple had decided they didn’t want to be watched, the third one finally hung around. We all jumped into the water and followed the ray, but one flap of its wings and it could shift a fair old bit. I managed to keep up with the ray for about 40mins and watch it feeding and gracefully swimming about. The guide said it was about 3.5 - 4metres across, so it was pretty massive.
After the ray, we were all taken to a
Ningaloo Reef
What we could see from the Semi-submersible beautiful reef a bit closer to the shore so we could go snorkelling. The reef itself looked just like a tropical aquarium and was really beautiful. There were even a few Reef Sharks swimming about so I got to swim with them, I even got a bit brave a couple of times and dived under to get a bit closer.
On our final day, before heading back to Perth, we went out in a semi submersible boat, which sails over the inner reef. This boat enabled you to see everything and got really close to all the coral and the fish. The boat even stopped once to allow us to throw some food over the side and watch them feed. Unfortunately this was to be the last of our time in Coral Bay and we caught the plane back to Perth that afternoon.
So here I am back in Perth, staying in a hostel in Northbridge just round the corner from the pub I work in. As you can probably work out I am still travelling around with the Canadian girl I met in Redcliffs and we have just booked a camper van rental so we can travel all the way up the West Coast and see everything along the way as it is supposed to be beautiful. I’m gonna be staying in Northbridge for another month to save money then were off on the 10th April on our travels - and I cant wait!
Hope all is well and email me to let me what’s going on back in frosty England!
Look after yourselves all!
Dunc
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Farty
non-member comment
Very Tasteful photography
Dunc, Looks like things are getting better and better for you. Ningaloo looks terrific and the photos are brilliant. You must be a very able photographer. Enjoy the next leg of your journey and keep the blogs coming.