G'day there people!

We're now in Melbourne for a few days doing some sight seeing after finishing our fruit picking a few days ago. I've also updated the blog with quite a few new pictures dating back to Sydney a few weeks ago that I hadn't had a chance to do until now so check them out after you've read this update. Below is a quick update what we've been up for the past couple of days:

Saturday 3rd February

For the past couple of days we have all been shaking the pear trees whenever our bags are full as it means you don't have to keep going up and down the ladder but it also means you have to be quick to pick up all the pears that come flying off the trees! Unfortunately Alex got busted by Joe (the boss) today as he was caught shaking the tree while Joe was directly behind him. Joe went mad and told him that he had one more chance otherwise he would throw him out! Luckily we had stopped shaking the trees as Celine had warned us a few minutes earlier that Joe and his family were working down the next row of trees. So no more tree shaking now...have to go back to properly picking them off the trees. D'oh!

Sunday 4th February

Absolute scorcher of a day today, 42 degrees in the shade! Far too hot to work so we only did half a day picking and then drove off to the Lake in Shepparton, which is the only thing worth doing there, and spent the afternoon chilling out and reading our books. Bizzarly Dennis and Sandra, who we had met in Geelong, bumped into us and mentioned that they were in the area to find some fruit picking work. After explaining the nightmare of picking pears they quickly changed their mainds and decided to go back to Sydney and find work there.

Wednesday 7th February - Kerry's Birthday!

Happy 23rd Birthday to me!!!! I have decided that my birthday present to myself shall be the deduction of three years of my age! We woke up today at 6am as we forgot to set our alarm. After reading my lovely birthday cards from Darren and Celine and Alex I got a lift by my Prince Charming in my awaiting carriage (the tractor) to the 'Orchard of Eden', where we would spend the day picking pears in the sunshine. Not exactly the birthday I had intended but different all the same. When we arrived at our row in the orchard I could see that there was a banner spanning across the aisle with "Happy Birthday Kerry" on it. Bless them, Celine and Alex had spent the night making a banner from a cardboard box and had attached it to our ladders so that it was flying high as we arrived. They also put a load of pears on the floor in the shape of a heart. (Excellent... a few that we could shove into the box without picking- bonus!) The poster has pictures of Australia and pears all over it and created using Joe's little girl colouring pens. It made my day really special. Just before commencing the picking Darren gave me another surprise... he ran over me with the tractor!!! I think he saw this as his chance to replace me with a younger model now that I'm in my late 20's! He also thought that he'd be the beneficiary of my comprehensive insurance policy! Luckily he only went over my leg and it only took the top layers of skin off. Thankfully no serious damage was done and I found it really funny. It's not every birthday you can say you've been run over by a tractor! At 4pm we gave up for the day after filling 5 bins and I hit the shower. Unfortunately the 'Kerry's Curse' striked again and I broke it!!! The shower is from back in the 50's and hasn't been checked since the 70's. It is scary and you have to ignite the gas, upon which point flames erupt in the furnace section, which heat the water. I have no idea what I did, but all of a sudden there was melted metal exloding everywhere! I had 2 options... 1) I could run quickly out of the shower, which wasn't an option as it'd mean running naked into where the farmers work... and 2) I could turn the gas off whilst the metal flies onto me. I chose the second option and thankfully the metal solidified quickly so didn't burn me like I though it would. I don't think that Joe was too happy about us breaking the shower, although I think that we did future pear pickers there a favour, as he'll need to invest in a new one! After breaking the shower we headed into town, where we bought some ingredients for fajitas, as it was my turn to cook for Celine and Alex. That night we had a good dinner all together and drank a few drinks to celebrate.

Thursday 8th February

LAST DAY OF PEAR PICKING TODAY! Hooray!!! Despite the eye poking, being run over by a tractor, having metal spark at me and the constant bruises and cuts I will miss this place, and I know that Darren will as well. What with Celine and Alex becoming such good friends, 'King Albert' with his stories of travelling the world and being married once for 10 hours, before divorcing his new Mexican bride, Joe, Frank and the mangy cats and dogs, it seems now that we could put up with the picking for the community feel. It will be sad to leave the little family that has blossomed on Fichera Farm. Still we are both looking forward to Melbourne and are heading there tomorrow. We spent until 6pm picking and afterward we all had a drink and spent the evening taking photos and swapping stories and addresses etc. At 10pm I got the best call ever!!! My beautiful sister Jodie had given birth to little Stephen John McKay, weighing in at 6lbs 8oz. Her husband Rick called to tell me the good news and he sounded elated. I am so very happy for the both and after running round the farm telling everyone (animals and plants included) the good news I had an emotional moment as I wish that I could teleport myself home, just for a while. Still, I shall endeavour to make up for my absence upon my return at the end of the year.

Friday 9th February

We woke up at 8am today and it felt like the longest lie-in in the world. We spent the first part pf the morning going back to A+E so that we could get a medical form for my eye. I received a $130 bill in the post today and Joe said that he would cover it, as he can claim it back for injuries caused at work. Thank goodness for that as that is the equivient of 4 pear bins after tax!! It took until 2pm to properly clear everything away and pack all of our belongings into the car. We said some tearful goodbyes to Alex and Celine, who we are really going to miss and have promised them that we will see them again in the future. We then drove into town, where we needed to pay our cheque in. Darren had a spot of bad luck at the bank as when he went to withdraw money from the ATM machine he collected the receipt and the card, but forgot to TAKE THE CASH, as we were rushing to get to the library to use the internet. After about 10 paces he remembered and we rushed back to the machine but the money was gone. We told the bank manager who explained that after a few seconds the machines eat the money back up again, so we find out on the 14th if the money was taken back into the ATM. It was a busy day though and we both know in our hearts that someone took the $150. Oh well!

Saturday 10th February

We had a fantastic day today. We woke up fairly early and set off towards the Steavenson Falls, In Healesville. The falls are normally lit up, using hydro power, in the evening, but due to the drought there is not enough water to power the lights so we decdided to see them in the day. There was still enough water to make the falls look stunning and we spent a while watching the water cascade over the rocks into the pool beneath, which slowly trickled down a stream surrounded by a forest of mountain ash trees. It was nice to be enjoying the scenery again and not be breaking our backs picking pears! After visiting the falls we headed to Bruno's Sculpture Garden. Bruno is an eccentric, but nice guy who lives in Healeville with his wife. They greet you at the door of their house and invite you in to look at Bruno's artwork. Bruno paints and creates fantastic sculptures using various methods and inspirations. He bases a lot of his work on his family and my favourite piece was a life size sculpture of his daughter on a unicorn. He portrayed many fairies and mystical beings and we spent three hours looking around, although I could have stayed there all day. Bruno also spent a while talking to us about the end of the world. Apparently three waves will wipe out the earth as we know it within the next three years. As long as you remain open and true to yourself though there will be something bigger and better waiting for you. All of the aliens and George Bush know about it already, as do the Indigo Girls (girls who can communicate with the next level) Mmmmm.... it was very interesting... we think that he was a member of the Scientology Church, although he didn't confirm it and we were scared of being trapped in his house forever with his secret room full of Tom Cruise pictures! In the evening we made dinner and I spent the night on the phone to home, whilst Darren spoke to Lois and Tara, a Mum and Daughter who travel Australia a lot. They were really friendly and had lots of stories about Oz.

Sunday 11th February

We drove into Melbourne City today, which is scary to drive around. The City itself is slightly smaller than Sydney and we found a campsite 10km outside of the centre in East Coburg. After setting up the tent we decided to take the tram to the City and look around. The tram stop was a 30 minute walk away, through the back streets of the suburbs and when we got ther the tram wasn't working so we had to get off half way and get a train the rest of the way. It took about 2 hours to get to the city by which point it was late afternoon. We walked around for a few hours taking in the sights and although the atmosphere is lovely in Melbourne the actual City is not half as breath-taking as Sydney. We saw various sights, such as the State Library and Crown Entertainment Centre (a huge casino that belches fire from the top) and walked along the River. At 10pm we headed back to the camp and got completely lost! Thank goodnesses for pizza takeaways, where the nice cook knew exactly where we needed to go and gave us excellent directions.We found our way back to base and retreated to our humble abode for the evening.

Monday 12th February

We booked to see the 'Neighbours' Tour today, much to Darren's disgust. We have also made reservations for 'Dracula's Caberet', a caberet night featuring entertainment with actors dressed as vampires and a 3-course dinner. We have heard excellent reports about it and I guess it's a little like "The Rocky Horror Show". You can dress up if you like but I look bad enough as it is without the need for fangs and fake blood! It was a bit pricey but it will be a cool way to spend our 4th Valentine's together. To save money we stayed at the campsite today as it was 30 degrees and the pool beckoned us. It feels like ages since we had a lazy day so we spoilt ourselves with multiple naps, visits to the spa pool and generally hanging around. Darren started a new book and I finally finished my first letter to my sister... I've been promising her a letter for 3 months! In the evening we met a Danish couple called Maria and Mas (who looks the spitting image of Cristian and has a similar sense of humour!). We spent the night laughing with them about pear picking (they too had experienced it and only lasted four days!). It is funny how everyone you meet, no matter what country they come from, has the same ideas as you. They shook the trees too, and moaned and laughed about the same things. They are thinking of booking up for the Dracula night so we may all go together. We talked until 12:30am and decided to go to bed then as we had to be up at 6am for the Neighbours Tour.

Tuesday 13th February

We got up early this morning and headed in to the city by tram to find the Neighbours tour meeting place. We eventually found it and went in to pay for the tour and were shocked when we were told it would be $40 each!! We had read on the leaflet that it would be $30 each but apparantly that price is for a cheaper tour at the weekend and the $40 tour during the week you get to meet some of the 'actors'. We told them to cancel the booking, neigher of us has properly watched the show for a number of years and wouldn't have a clue what to say a neighbours 'star'! Plus Holly Vallance left quite some time ago so Darren felt he had no reason to go! ;o) So today we have decided to instead update the journal with some photos and updates for you guys and then we're going to have another mooch around the city. At some point we have to go and pay for our tickets for the Dracula Show and also either today or tomorrow we need to go into the Qantas office and change the dates for our flight tickets. The plan is to head for Gippsland on Thursday, which is further South East along the coast and is supposed to be beautiful with lots of lakes and then we head up the East Coast into New South Wales again to go and see Canberra for a days. Hopefully we'll update you all again then! Hope that you are all safe and well and we'll speak to you all again soon!