Got the coach to Brisbane where it continued to rain for pretty much all of our 5.5 hour journey. On arrival we found that the road past Brisbane was severely flooded from the cyclone, meaning that coaches and trains were suspended, and even when commutes are to be resumed there are backlogs to clear. So our only available mode of transport to get to our farm in Bundaberg was to fly.
We booked our tickets that evening and made our way to the airport for yet another flight the following morning, our third in Australia alone, taking our total flights since September to 12! But, unlike our other flights, this plane had no jet engines, instead we found ourselves boarding a light aircraft with propellers. This definitely made the journey more interesting, with our seats sat right next to the engine. Overall not a bad flight, although it did get a bit bumpy at times.
No clouds in Bundaberg, instead it was scorching hot, feeling the heat radiate off of the Tarmac as we got off of the plane! We went to get our bags where Malcolm and Jenny (the farmers) were already waiting for us. We were relieved to find that they were normal people, and were actually quite nice. We flung our backpacks onto the back of the pickup, or Ute as they call it down under (we haven't figured out why yet), and made our way to the farm. We've now officially swapped our city lifestyle for one in the country. The landscape here is flat, with farms set up everywhere you look and the soil distinguishably red.
We pulled up to the farm, our home and workplace for the next few weeks. It's a Strawberry Farm, set in 18 acres of land, so it's only a small farm, and there's a big red tractor, so it's legit. We pulled up to a giant shed, which is divided between work space and accommodation, doesn't sound very homely but it is actually pretty nice. Workers accommodation has two bedrooms, one with three beds, and one with a double bed which Emily and I get to share, soo nice to have our own space again after the last few days. There is a shared kitchen, toilets and a shower for us. There were already two German girls living here, Linda and Lena. It took me (Curtis) ages to actually establish which one was which. They have both been in Oz au-pairing for 10 months. They have already been here for a week, but will be leaving in two weeks as they continue down the east coast before going home.
We dropped our bags in our rooms and started to settle in, with Jenny and Malcolm wanting to drive us around to show us the local area. Not a lot to be quite honest, although there is a stretch of nice beaches, with the closest being 3km away. A bit more of an effort to the 6 minute walk we were used to in Melbourne, but they do have push bikes for us to use whenever we want.
Besides the ping pong table here, there isn't much else to do, and the most tragic thing of all is....wait for it....NO WIFI!!! Absolutely devastating! We will have to rely on our 3G, of which in Australia, and particularly out in the bush, is rubbish! Too slow and not enough data to download or stream movies or TV series'.
As part of the deal for working here, we get all of our meals included as well as the accommodation, with Jenny cooking dinner for us. Although she's not a bad cook, we would like to cook for ourselves instead, but her deserts are just unbelievable!
Anyway, that's an update of where we are and what were doing now. Still backtracking to what we did on the Great Ocean road but hoping to have that done eventually and will do an update of what we get up to on the farm from time to time :).
C & E x