In the spirit of fairness I feel that I should add that I don't really like Guinness... But I do like this advert...
On to the matter of my travels.
This last month I have been settled down in one place, working once again. This month has been one of changes... watching the seasons change, watching some things grow up, and some things fall apart...
It doesn't seem like a month ago that we moved to Wentworth. The memory is still fresh in my mind. We had visited the farm where we would be working just the day before, and found that the nearest camp site was in a sleepy little village, about 10 km away, called Wentworth. So we arrived in the mid afternoon and started setting up camp.
The cast for our next month of life was already assembled. In the camp spot next to us were a Welsh trio, Ffion, Phil and Dave that immediately introduced themselves; one camp spot over from them was a French guy called Maxim, who we later found out was to be working at the same farm as us; paddling about were some tiny little cute ducklings; and though we didn't know it, sleeping in the tree just above our tent were a whole family of possums... the scene was set!
We enjoyed our time in Wentworth very much. Our neighbours were great. Phil and Ffion were a lovely couple... Phil was a very chatty guy whose twin passions were rugby and fishing. In fact he would spend up to 8 hours a day fishing on his days off... in spite of the fact that all that he ever caught were carp. Ffion was a bubbly girl who only ever stopped talking when she was reading or being artistic. Dave only stayed for a week, but in that time we came to enjoy his chat very much. As for Max... Even though he was French we found him to be a modest, inteligent, warm guy who was quiet at first, but really funny when you got to know him.
Every day the ducklings would come round, guarded by their mother, begging for bread; and then later on, around dusk, the possums would venture from their tree and get among us. Taking bread from our hands, and taking any other food that we were foolish enough to leave lying around overnight!
As for the work we were doing... We were both working on a grape farm, producing sultanas and raisins. Nam was doing the picking side of things (not too difficult work, though not very well paid) and I was a cart-man. My job basically involved riding around on the back of a tractor, picking up all of the buckets of grapes that the pickers had produced, and piling them onto the back of the tractor. We then had to tip all of these buckets of grapes onto racks so that they could dry.
The best thing about my job was that I got to drive the tractor! The worst thing was the bees that liked to hang out on the drying fruit, and don't take too kindly when we had to spread out the fruit so that it could dry better... I got stung 4 times! Luckily I'm not allergic! As well as the bees there was the usual assortment of spiders, flies, spiders, lizards, wasps and spiders... some of them deadly!
Now our job is drawing to a close... we are in our last week of picking... The ducklings have grown up and been replaced by new ducklings that are even smaller and even cuter... our neighbours have started moving away...
All in all it feels like things are winding down in Wentworth... I guess that is all part of the rhythm of life...
On to the matter of my travels.
This last month I have been settled down in one place, working once again. This month has been one of changes... watching the seasons change, watching some things grow up, and some things fall apart...
It doesn't seem like a month ago that we moved to Wentworth. The memory is still fresh in my mind. We had visited the farm where we would be working just the day before, and found that the nearest camp site was in a sleepy little village, about 10 km away, called Wentworth. So we arrived in the mid afternoon and started setting up camp.
The cast for our next month of life was already assembled. In the camp spot next to us were a Welsh trio, Ffion, Phil and Dave that immediately introduced themselves; one camp spot over from them was a French guy called Maxim, who we later found out was to be working at the same farm as us; paddling about were some tiny little cute ducklings; and though we didn't know it, sleeping in the tree just above our tent were a whole family of possums... the scene was set!
We enjoyed our time in Wentworth very much. Our neighbours were great. Phil and Ffion were a lovely couple... Phil was a very chatty guy whose twin passions were rugby and fishing. In fact he would spend up to 8 hours a day fishing on his days off... in spite of the fact that all that he ever caught were carp. Ffion was a bubbly girl who only ever stopped talking when she was reading or being artistic. Dave only stayed for a week, but in that time we came to enjoy his chat very much. As for Max... Even though he was French we found him to be a modest, inteligent, warm guy who was quiet at first, but really funny when you got to know him.
Every day the ducklings would come round, guarded by their mother, begging for bread; and then later on, around dusk, the possums would venture from their tree and get among us. Taking bread from our hands, and taking any other food that we were foolish enough to leave lying around overnight!
As for the work we were doing... We were both working on a grape farm, producing sultanas and raisins. Nam was doing the picking side of things (not too difficult work, though not very well paid) and I was a cart-man. My job basically involved riding around on the back of a tractor, picking up all of the buckets of grapes that the pickers had produced, and piling them onto the back of the tractor. We then had to tip all of these buckets of grapes onto racks so that they could dry.
The best thing about my job was that I got to drive the tractor! The worst thing was the bees that liked to hang out on the drying fruit, and don't take too kindly when we had to spread out the fruit so that it could dry better... I got stung 4 times! Luckily I'm not allergic! As well as the bees there was the usual assortment of spiders, flies, spiders, lizards, wasps and spiders... some of them deadly!
Now our job is drawing to a close... we are in our last week of picking... The ducklings have grown up and been replaced by new ducklings that are even smaller and even cuter... our neighbours have started moving away...
All in all it feels like things are winding down in Wentworth... I guess that is all part of the rhythm of life...
