Monday 5th August

Having arrived safely at Dayboro yesterday for our Workaway stint we were ready to be employed today in some hard labour. We were relieved to hear Susie wanted us to help with some decorating on one of the Queenslander houses they are renovating, rather than attempting to tame the garden behind the house at Dayboro, which in places had started to resemble virgin rain forest.

Of course painting requires old clothes and we had come equipped to do gardening – but being used to having volunteers helping out Susie had an extensive supply of appropriate clothes to transform all shapes and sizes into DIY hillbillies. John sported his straw Bunnings hat, whilst i looked a real yokel in my shorts and boots. Susie had even managed to supply a pair of shorts with the obligatory rip across the thigh to add a touch of real DIY-ers style.

The house was a two hour drive over the mountain range- so we were treated to a fantastic trip over Mount Glorious before starting work. It was extremely pretty and concluded in the town of Lowood- a small town with a frontier town feel. After the obligatory stop at the bakers for bread rolls we arrived at the house, broke for coffee (and the obligatory Lamington cake and Anzac biscuits) and then surveyed the scene. We were faced with a partially renovated 1860s Queenslander, which Susie and her husband were renovating to rent out. The house had just been re-pinned- the original wooden stilts being replaced with metal stakes to hold the property about 7 feet off the ground. Our job was to undercoat the railings and ballastrades around the verandah of the property. All went well until, shortly after lunch Susie managed to integrate part of one of the wooden posts into her thumb whilst sanding. Those who know John will know he's not good in a medical crisis especially one involving blood, so he focussed ******* his painting whilst Susie tried to ease the pain in her finger with a variety of first aid techniques. In the end her thumb was throbbing so much we had to decamp early- with John taking control of the 6 gear Skoda on the two hour journey home.

The problem with visiting Australia in August is the short day length and it was almost dark by the time we got back to Mount Mee around half five- still we still had plenty of wine in the fridge so a good night was had by all – again J