So, I have now been at the Dairy for 7 weeks and have 12 weeks to go until we set off travelling! The days pass fairly quickly and not a lot happens but I thought I would update my blog with a few of the things that have been keeping us entertained!

A few weeks ago work became fairly interesting when one of the cows fell from the walkway into the pit. All of a sudden lots of people appeared to try and get the cow out. There are steps either side of the pit where we work and the cow couldnt stand because the floor was so wet and slippery. In the end they had to tie a rope around the cows neck, apparently one of the strongest parts of a cow, and tie this to a Ute outside the Dairy. They then used the Ute to drag the cow along the floor and up the steps! This particularly caused a commotion because on the morning shift, my shift, we are always getting criticised for running late. Each shift has a certain amount of cows to milk and if we dont get all of ours done it means the other shifts also end up running late. Another thing that kept happening a few weeks ago was mixing herds. All of the cows at the feedlot need to be milked but not all of the milk is suitable for human consumption. A few times cows from herds with 'dirty' milk got mixed up with herds of 'clean' cows which of course involves more time wasting while this problem is rectified. Needless to say, the man that did this 4 times in one week no longer works here. Recently we are back on track, even finishing early!

We have been socialising a fair bit since we got here which has been great as it breaks up the monotony of the week. For Stacy's birthday we had a BBQ and drinks at the Donga. We ended up going to the local pub where we met some of the locals. We caused a bit of a stir as newcomers, everyone knows everyone in this small town! We ended up at a house party, not returning home until 4am. Fortunately I didnt have to work the next day! It was a really good night, probably one of the best since we have been here!

The following week was the Melbourne Cup. I won $80 on a sweepstake at the Dairy. There was a very relaxed atmosphere at work and in the afternoon we all ended up going to the pub in another big town nearby, Pittsworth. It wasnt a particularly eventful evening but good to get off the farm again.

We had another BBQ for Carl's birthday. He is the boyfriend of our ex-boss, Lisa, (now the Vet) who lives just across from us. There were huge thunderstorms that week which are fairly spectacular out here as you can see forks of lightening for miles. Fortunately they have a verrandah with a roof so we were still able to have our BBQ under cover. We have since had a couple of storms which, although great to watch, are not great to work in as the wind blows dust into the dairy and we often have power cuts which delays milking as the cups dont work!

The next day Lisa and I had a spontaneous pub trip when we found out that Linda, the Dairy Administrator, was secretly celebrating her 50th birthday party with her family at the local pub. It was a very funny night - I dont think I've seen anyone so drunk! which involved Lisa and I drinking a cocktail out of someones hat whilst standing on the bar!

That weekend I found out that someone had used my English bank card and spent £1000 on a chocolate fountain. I have no idea how this occurred as the transaction was made in England 2 months after I left. I presume that my card was copied whilst in a cash machine. I have been in touch with Fraud Investigation (after 100 mins on hold!!!!) and have had to sign a delcaration form. They said there is a good chance I will get the money back but they cannot gurantee anything and I am currently waiting to find out what is going to happen. Its a slow process with me being on the other side of the world and they wont let anyone else deal with it on my behalf.

After being here for 5 weeks we finally got our bunk beds! It was such a relief to have new comfortable mattresses and more space in our room. Particularly for Stacy as she was sleeping on a mattress on the floor. It felt like such a luxury when they arrived!

Stacy and I have been entertaining ourselves through the long mornings/afternoons with the Twilight series of books. Despite not being a fan of the film I am totally addicted and have nearly finished the fourth and final book just 3 weeks later. We have also been doing a lot of baking and now have a bit of a reputation for our cakes on the farm. They are mostly very popular but we did bake some muffins that were rather disastrous last week - they were a little over-done!

There have been a few changes at work over the past couple of weeks. There are two new women on my shift, Emily and Melissa. Emily is only 18 and really very annoying. She doesnt pull her weight and can be very bossy and patronising. We have already had words about the way she has spoken to me and things have improved now but no-one likes her and work is definitely less enjoyable with her around! We have also had a new boss, Jason. His wife Gina is lovely and has taken me shopping a few times. They came here after travelling for 4 months and have very few posessions. I went to their house a couple of days ago and they are sleeping on matresses on the floor and have only 3 camping chairs and a small TV in the living room! They have 3 children so I think it must be hard work for her keeping them entertained with no toys. They have gone away this week to pick up all their furniture so I am watering their plants and feeding their fish for them.

Stacy and I will be doing more house sitting in a few weeks. Lisa has asked us if we would like to move into her house for 10 days over Christmas to house-sit while she visits family in New Zealand. We're really looking forward to it as they have a huge TV and sound system, plus a play station and free internet! We will also have a land-line which will make keeping in touch with home easier. We will be working on Christmas day as we get double time ($35 an hour!) but will hopefully be together on the morning shift so that we can have a BBQ and call home in the afternoon!

We finally got rid of our housemate from hell, Doug! And have now got two new German boys living with us, Dominik and Robyn. They are very young, 19 and 18 but are nice and work hard. Their English isnt as good as Henrik and Florians yet but I think it will improve as they will speak it constantly now they are here. Henrik and Florian are planning to leave soon which both Stacy and I are very sad about.

Last week the four of us, Stacy, Henrik, Florian and I, managed to get the same day off and borrowed a car from a colleague to take a road-trip to Brisbane for the day. We were so excited to get away from the farm all together for the day! It only takes about 3 hours to get there but we had to stop a couple of times on the way as the primary reason for our trip was so that Florian could buy a camper van. The day was successful with everyone getting what they needed, although my only purchase was face-wipes...most unexciting! We even got to meet up with our friend Lena for lunch which was really nice. I drove the car home and absolutely loved it. Its an old Ford Laser from 1990 but with a new 1.6 engine and a huge sound-system in the back. Stacy and I had the girly beats blasting and have since been very tempted to buy it, as it is actually for sale. We're still unsure about what to do as its such a risk and could potentially cost us more than using buses. However it would also give us a lot of freedom. We are currently swaying towards not buying it, but it would be fantastic to have a car!

It was extremely hot here a couple of weeks ago with temperatures in the 40's. It's even hot when I leave the donga at 5.30am to walk upto work! We are definitely acclimatising but it was almost unbearable by the time I finished work at 2pm. The worst thing is the flies. They are still incredibly bad as its extremely humid here, there is a storm coming! Its impossible to explain quite how bad they are but let me just say that when I am at work I am nervous about even opening my mouth to speak because I am sure I would end up eating them! It is disgusting!

I'm still as pale as ever because I work indoors all morning and spend the afternoon inside with the air-con on full blast! I think I am going to give up on the hope of getting a tan because lying outside and being attacked by flies is not very appealing. Im sure we will get some colour when we are travelling.

Well I think you are up-to-date with all the trivial goings on of Dairy life now. I am fit and well, slightly bored of work but at least I am busy and travelling is only 12 weeks away which I am very excited about! There is something quite nice about living on the farm, its hard to explain but I feel very much like part of a community, the way of life is so different to what Im used. But I do miss the city...right now I would love to go shopping and then to Nando's, haha!