Right, so It's been a while since my last update, but i figure it's better late then never.
Gyranda was a farm in the Australian outback, several hours inland from the coast and nearby Duke's Plain. As you've read previously, Volunteered uncer a really great farmer by the name of shane at Duke's plain. Apparently I made a decent impression, and he arranged a job for me at his Brother's farm, 45 minutes away.
Gyranada is one of my strongest memories of Australia. I worked on the farm for a period of about 2 month, and it was interesting to say the least. On the one hand, I've never worked so hard in my life, most mornings I was up before dawn to feed two dozen horses, I would then do a full day of manual labor and finish just after dusk. Generally 10-12 hour days with only a few breaks for smoko (the aussie term for a short break, which would invariable include fresh tea brewed on a small open fire).The owner of the farm, Burnett, was a stubborn and gruff man from another century, and more then once I had to bite my tongue at some of the things he would say and ask. One time in paticular, when I was returning to the farm after a brief visit to the hospital I drove down the front road to the house to return the car I had borrowed. Apparently this was a poor choice as since i was a worker, I was supposed to drive down the back road instead. My bad. There was a lot of this sort of thing.
I will fully admit though, that I was totally out of my element. Here I was a Canadian city boy with an education in adventure tourism working as a farm hand in the Australian outback. Despite being generally competent I constantly felt frustrated, both with myself and with the job. Totally smashing a feed trailer through a gate in my first week certainly didn't start me out on the right foot either. Despite all of this I grealty enjoyed my time at Gyranda, I feel like I learned a lot of skills from my time on the farm. Everything from driving a manual transmission, to a motorcycle, to horseback riding. Toss in some general carpentry, farm knowledge, biodynamics and a first hand look at the whole farming system, I even helped work on a motor more than once.
Gyranda was tough, but definitly a diamond in the rough.
