Apologies for the long long gap in blogs... I am back in civilization and have a chance to sort through all my photos and get back on track. I left Childers on Tuesday morning (at 4am!) and headed to Brisbane where I had a couple of days with Azza. Yesterday I flew to Melbourne, back to Vicky and Grant's wonderful flat where I have been relishing sitting on a sofa, sleeping in a room by myself and using a kitchen and bathroom that hasn't been used by 100 other people already... heaven! I spent just over 2 months in Childers and I had an absolutely amazing time. I was really sad to leave, although the reason for leaving is soooo exciting and has kept my mind off saying goodbye to all my friends. Olly is arriving on Sunday!!!

So.... working in Childers. I was extremely lucky to land my job working on avocadoes. It was far and away the best job available with good pay, reliable hours and lovely people to work with. I worked 7 a.m. til 4.30 p.m. Monday to Friday and had weekends free. My first 2 weeks I was ground picking which involved wearing a large canvas bag on my front which could hold approx. 60 avocadoes and picking the fruit within reach (so not that high for me!). There were usually 6 of us doing this. I then got the chance to train on a cherry picker - so cool! I started as a reserve driver, covering for people who were off work, but because I could pick very fast they soon put me onto my own machine. I never knew I had a talent for operating a cherry picker! I really have learnt a lot about myself this trip... I had an absolute blast working on the cherry picker - it was like the ultimate tree climbing device! It also made the time pass quickly because it was like a problem solving exercise, manoevering in and out of the trees without breaking any branches. The cherry pickers work in pairs, one either side of the tree, and pick into large bins. Each bin is worth AUS$6000 and each pair picks between 8 and 12 bins a day. There are 12 cherry pickers. The ground pickers also pick roughly 4 bins each. That is a lot of money!

I had another casual job on the side while I was there. My ground picking supervisor, Charlie, found out that I was a teacher with a degree in Maths and asked me to tutor his 14 year-old son. I spent a couple of hours a week teaching him trigonometry, ratios and algebra! He was really lovely but not a very keen student! In Australia, students are allowed to leave school at 15 so he is planning on quitting in December to come and work at the farm with his dad. It will be a shame as he is bright and could do so much more if he had the drive. Charlie was really kind to me, picking me up from Childers and driving me half an hour each way to his house in Bundaberg and letting me the stay the night with his family. He also took me on several tours of the Bundaberg region and drove me and my friend Charlotte to the Town of 1770, 2 hours further north on the coast. I am so grateful to them for their kindness in showing me round, as well as getting me out of Childers once a week!

Outside of work, life was very relaxed. There wasn't much to do in Childers so most evenings were spent sitting around the bunkhouse or the cabins. It started to get a little cold in the evenings but we didn't have an indoor communal area so we just wrapped up warm (sometimes in sleeping bags!) and drank tea (or beer!). The weather on the whole was fantastic; cool in the mornings and at night, but still up in the 20s during the day with beautiful blue skies. Unfortunately the trees were usually wet in the mornings so it wasn't too pleasant at work until after first 'smoko' at 10. And we did have one "cold snap" for a week where the temperature dropped to 3 degrees in the mornings - brrr!

Friday nights were always celebrated as most people had Saturdays off. Everyone either hung out in the bunkhouse or made a trip to one of the local pubs. There were a few special nights - a Battle of the Bands at the local lawn bowls club (!) and people's leaving parties - which were real highlights. I was also lucky enough to have some cooking lessons from friends. Nepalese curry, Korean stir-fry and numerous Italian pasta dishes have been carefully recorded into my notebook for future reference! We managed one major group outing on the public holiday for the Queen's birthday: 30 of us drove down to the nearest beach at Woodgate. A lovely day and a stunning beach.

My best memories of my two months in Childers will definitely revolve around the friends I made living at the Sugar Bowl. Living in such close proximity, with so little to do, allowed us to really get to know each other. Hopefully I'll get to meet up with some of them further down the road on my trip or when I return to the UK.

Well Olly arrives on Sunday for 2 weeks (hooray!) and then I fly to Cairns - back on the road again!