Ok, so it's been a long time since I last posted, sorry about that, I've been very busy! So settle down and make a cup of tea, this could be a long one!
Turns out I was picking pumpkins, not watermelons, but they are essentially the same. And Elodie, the way you go about picking them is from the ground, with vines growing out the tops of them, and you cut the vines, pick up the pumpkin and throw it from person to person along the line until the person nearest the tractor trailer puts them in big container bins. I only got an hour and a halfs work from that, due to rain setting in, but it was good, cos we got the rest of the day off. A few of us went to a nearby lake, Lake Eacham, and the driver (an aussie, Nathan) knew about a pretty cool part of the lake. He took us 5 minutes up a path, and then down through the trees a bit to the lakeside, where there were 2 trees that we could jump from into the lake. The small one was about 7 metres high, the big one about 15 metres, and we went to the big one first. It was pretty damn scary, climbing out onto the branch over the bank, and the worst thing was that I was directly above the bank when I had to start the jump, so I could see all the branches and stuff in the water below me. I was first off, and it took 20 minutes just to have the courage to jump, I was so scared!! Nathan promised that the water was deep enough, but because I could see the bank, it just didn't seem true! Eventually, I took the plunge and jumped, and it was probably one of the scariest things I've ever done! But once I got in the water, I came to the surface wooping so much, absolutely pumped full of adrenaline! We also did the smaller tree, but it was nothing compared to the big one, which looked even bigger from below than it did from the tree.
The next day, I was back at the good farm, just Yuvi (another Australian) and I this time, and we were cutting down dragonfruit plants (kind of like a long thin cactus growing up a pole) with a massive machete, which funnily enough, really appealed to me! We had to go back the next day too, planting cuttings of another variety of dragonfruit in the place of the ones we'd cut down. It was good to get more work from them, but after those 2 days, there was nothing more. Yuvi and I had a day off the next day, and we went back to the lake with some other people, jumping out the trees again (this time I was the only one who did the big one).
On the Friday however, we were rostered to a new farm, another mango farm, picking by hand this time, that was an hours drive from the lodge, and with a 6.30am start, that meant waking up at 4am. An absolute killer. Only we turned up at 6.00, to find that work had been postponed to 9am, but we hadn't been told. We couldn't believe it. When we eventually did, start, it was a very long and hard day, half an hour for lunch, and no breaks, finishing at 6.30. We did get small breaks when the water in the machines had to be changed, so it did even out a bit, but it was still a long hard day. We got back to the lodge at close to 8pm, which didn't really give us time to do very much before going to bed for max. 6 hours sleep. When we got back though, Laura and Helen, our friends from Sydney, had arrived at the lodge, and I spent a long time that evening catching up with them. It was so good to see them again, and they were pleased to see us as well, and we spent the night jsut drinking and talking about what we'd been doing for the last month and a half. The next morning, we woke up again, and on getting to work we found yet ANOTHER 3 hour delay because the chain of communications had broken down. We were so annoyed, but we dutifully did our work and went home again, this time in a hire car that was provided by the farm. It was a big 8-seater 4x4 Toyota Land Cruiser, 4.5 litre engine, and I volunteered to drive it for the next 3 days to get people to and from work. It is without doubt the biggest thing I've ever driven, and I had such a hard time parking it! It was so wide, but I eventually got used to it.
Whilst driving to and from work every day, I was almost hitting about 3 wallabies every journey, because they kept jumping in front of the car just as it went past. They are really stupid animals in that way, and one even had a staring contest with me in the middle of the road, making me slow down almost to a stop, before jumping out the way. Dead wallabies are a regular occurence on the roads, in some places there were 5 in a 200m stretch.
We spent 5 days at that farm in total before stopping on the 22nd for christmas, absolutely knackered and grateful for the rest, and on christmas eve, Jonny (a Geordie at the lodge) and I went to the butchers and the off licence to stock up on meat and beer for the christmas period. I bought, a 300g rump steak, 3 big pork and rosemary sausages, and 4 prok ribs for my food, more than a kilo of meat, and put it in the fridge ready for christmas. On christmas eve, most of the people left at the hostel, the ones who hadn't gone to Cairns, spent until about 3am jsut drinking, playing games, Jonny pulled out his guitar and we had some songs, generally just having a really good night together in the absence of our normal friends and family, and it was a lot better than I had expected.
On christmas morning, a few people who had hired a car and w3ere soending the day away from the lodge had a spare seat which they offered me, and we all spent the day driving to a couple of different waterfalls in the country. Due to the ridiculously heavy rain here at the moment, a lot of rivers were in flood, and a few roads were closed because the ford was completetly flooded. We went down the closed road to see the flood at one particular place, and the water was raging across the road. It only like about 20cm of water, but the road must have dipped away sharply, because the depth indicator at the bootom of the dip was showing 1.2m deep! We coouldn't believe it, but we took some pictures and headed to the falls. The waterfalls were all in flood as well, and the quantity of water was incredible, not to mention the noise!
After the falls, we headed back to Lake Eacham, (my third time, the others' first) and I showed them the trees we could jump out of. I decided not to do the big tree this time, and in the late afternoon we headed back to the lodge, where I got the barbecue going and cooked all my meat. It was such a good meal, just meat and beer, and we had another night like christmas eve. It was a good night, but obviously it was no match for being at home. I skyped my family at 1 in the morning, 3pm back home, and spoke to my cousins and grandparents that were round at the time, which was really nice and probably made christmas for me. All in all, christmas was a much better time than I thought it would be.
Boxing day was a very boring day, no-one did very much, and I just spent the day watching the cricket, and watching England destroy Australia (come on!!!), but on the 27th, I was back to working on the mango farm. I was given the keys to the lodge minibus to drive everyone to work, and JOnny and I shared the driving. It was another long day, 6.30-6.00, and I have started to develop mango rash, heat rash, sweat rash and all sorts on my neck, stomach and legs, so I have taken the day off today and will probably take the day off tomorrow. I am currently watching the cricket again, and also booking some things for when I leave here, but just relaxing and recuperating. I am absolutely kanckered, and I'm so glad I'm leaving the lodge soon, as I can't take much more of this.
Which leads me on to my plans for the future. I know, what I've said here is completely different to what I've said before about my plans, but things have changed so many times now that I've lost count. However, I can DEFINITELY say now that I WILL be leaving the lodge on the 31st December, to spend new years eve in Cairns, and from there I will be travelling down the East Coast with the money I've saved, doing various things like the rainforest trip to Cape Tribualtion (booked to start on the 3rd January) and the scuba diving at Magnetic Island and lots of other things which I will let you know about when I've done them, but the main point is, I will no longer be working on farms, yay! I will start to REALLY enjoy myself again, which I am looking forward to, this time travelling on my own as Trevor, Shaun, Helen and Laura are all staying at the lodge, and I should be in Melbourne by about mid-February to see the family I have out here, and probably get a job in Melbourne for a couple of months.
So you are now fully caught up on the last couple of weeks! Sorry for such a long blog, I really will try to keep updating you all regularly. I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas, I'm so jealous, and have a very happy new year, I wish I was there to enjoy it with you!!
Joe - I'm the 6'2" martial artist. And I don't know what the will willies are, let alone if i'm going to be affected. Im in Tolga, Queensland, maybe you can let me know if I will be affected.
Sheena - You'd love skydiving, you really would! I wish I'd been at Maddy's to see the dancing, I really do, but I'm glad she had a good time. Have a great new years! xxx
El - Don't worry about the comments, you've had a very good reason! Hope uni is going well and not too stressful. I'm so jealous of you, I want to be home to go to the crown so so badly! I'm missing everyone so much! And I haven't seen Claire in ages, how is she? I'm going red and tanned, red on the neck, tanned everywhere else. There are no pics, I haven't used the camera the whole time I've been at the lodge, but once I start travelling again, I will be sure to bring it out of storage :) As for Zack, I'm so jealous of skiing, that's where I want to be now! The lack of snow has made christmas feel really alien, it just hasn't been christmas if you know what I mean, and skiing would absolutely make up for it! As for the stories, you WILL hear all about them, but they aren't as juicy as you seem to think they might be - yet, haha! Have a great new year with everyone, and have a drink for me when you're there! xxxxxxx
