STOP, DROP, AND ROCK MELON

Stop, Drop, and Rock Melon: You can do these in any particular order.  We started with the rock melons, then stopped, followed quickly by dropping.  We both agree it was the hardest day of manual labour and mental strength of our lives so far.  I’m sure many of our co-workers, would have agreed but we didn’t get a chance to talk to them, as they decided not to even finish the day.  The idea sounded simple when we started.  “All ya have to do is follow the tractor, twist every melon to see if its ripe, and if it is it will break off, then simply pick it up and put it on the belt.”  They were right.  It wasn’t hard.  Well the first 500 were ok, then the next 500 were little tricky to hold on to, but the last 500 seemed to weigh 100 pounds.  That must have been the wet part of the field.  We were all glad to see the tractor sink into the mud 45 min early to end the day.  Everyone on the bus back to the caravan park decided to try picking onions the next day instead.

The following day rained. So did the day after.  It was at this point we decided to socialize, and trade movies with people to give us all something to entertain ourselves with while we wait on the sunshine.  Speaking to some we find out they had been waiting on weather for over a week so far.  We had a look at the weather forecast.  It called for another 4-5 days of rain and the farmers assured us it would take another 2-4 days of dry weather before they could convince the tractor to take a run through the fields.  With our dwindling bank accounts and increased free time, we turned the wheel to the coast and pushed the right pedal down in search of indoor jobs.

Brisbane was the next major city, and that’s where we began our search.  It reminds me a lot of Calgary.  It is spread out with only a few high rises in the center.  It has a river running through the middle, and all the major roads in or out are under construction!  We treated ourselves to a cabin.  This gave us a great chance to dry out and recover from the melon picking.  I can’t stress enough how important it is to stretch before and after any strenuous activity.  After sitting in the car for two days, following our one full day of picking, we were both walking as if we fell from a two story building.  We made up resumes and scoured the internet for work, in between refilling the hot water bottle and taking in the next episode of “24” which we became addicted to(like the fellows who gave em to us promised).  With both walking, and clutch work low on the priority list we enjoyed our recovery time and hit the airports and temp agencies hard later in the week.  Amanda found work right away temping as a dental assistant which left me with interviews out at the general aviation airport just west of the city.  To my pleasant surprise they have a Canadian on their staff already which they had sponsored from an apprentice and were the local Cirrus service centre.  They were pleased to see I had experience with them as it is uncommon to see in many Australia applicants.  The bad news however was that they would be slow until the new year and would have to check back after the holidays.  That didn’t fit into our financial plans.  The plans being: “we need money A.S.A.P.” Amanda continued to temp and I decided to look into alternative employment.  Through complete fluke I stumbled on a single leaflet left behind at the book trade in, when I was dropping off magazines I borrowed from the last one, and just so happened to be for a segway tour just north of Brisbane.  I decided to give it a ring and tell them about my segway experiences in Canada.

The timing couldn’t have been better.  The tours were expanding and the holiday season has left them all flat out and need someone to take up the slack.  Next thing you know I am doing training for a rainforest/resort tour on a fleet of 15, X2 off road.  I am actually writing this blog from inside a sea can (which we use as an office/storage).  The tours have been great.  They have been mostly family’s and couples.  This is a welcome change from the regular students I have, which include the fresh from the beer gardens, “I’ve seen mall cop I know how to ride it” kinda crews.

Amongst all the new work for the two of us we squeezed in some more play.  We took a weekend trip down to the Gold Coast as well as Byron Bay.  We got up at 5am and were the first in Australia to see the sun rise from its most easterly point.  We watched some kite boarders tearing up the waves in a redbull world event.  Your visit to OZ is never complete without a trip down the narrow switchbacks to Nimbin.  This is a village stuck in the “free love” era and boasts: “home of the hemp Olympics” (complete with bong toss) and also the worlds largest (recorded) joint.  Their claim to fame however is their VW bus museum.  I won’t go into details an spoil the surprise, besides is better you see it for yourself.  Two hours after arriving we feel we have seen it all and head to the information desks favourite hidden gem; Mynion Falls.  The rain comes down in sheets as we dodge the washouts on the single track road up to the falls.  We tough out the rain with the help of the last few episodes of “24”.  The silence is broken in the morning by the sound of a ute and two amped men going on about jumping off the falls.  Thinking it was a dream I considered falling back to sleep, but with all the posters of skydivers, and base jumpers running through my head I decided to toss on a pair of shoes and follow em to the lookout.

“Excuse me guys. Correct me if I’m wrong but I thought you said you were going to jump off the falls??”…….”yep”

And after a few basic stretches they wasted no time climbing over the railing and hurling themselves toward the earth.  I picked em up at the trail head and gave em a lift back to their ute, as one was late for work.  “Beats coffee!” he said as he drove off.

We took the alternative rout to the falls later in the morning.  We scrambled some rocks and found ourselves a pool and hung out in the natural jakoozee made by the boulders.

The remainder of our time has been spent trying to stay dry (as it has rained virtually every day since St. George) and keep enough clothes clean as to keep the van’s FUNK-O-METER below 10.  We also got to test out or roadside repair kit as we blew our first tire.  Both of us are now confident that we could locate and operate anything we need in that case.  This will save us time in the future, because somehow putting the steering wheel on the other side required the manufacturer to hide the jack, wrench, and handle all in different places!

The calendar has been telling us that Christmas will soon be here.  There are even carollers’ on the beaches and Christmas tunes in the shopping centres.  I stumbled upon a small lonely carton of egg nog today at the corner store.  All this doesn’t seem to cover up the fact the there is no chance it will snow.  It’s a stretch but somehow we will be trading our cooked goose dinner for a couple yabby’s on the BBQ.  I suppose some of the beaches are white…..this year Santa rides a jet ski.

The Squizzy Capitol - Nov 16-Dec

After leaving our very kind friends in Lithgow we traveled to Bathurst where we visited the Bathurst airport. Shortly after we arrived we watched an Albatross jet fighter take off for a test flight. You could be in the hot seat at 5 G-force for a small price of $3200 for half an hour. I told Nick he should talk to the pilot, see if we could get a deal. He suggested working for them, but they weren’t looking. Though he did get some good tips on where he might be able to do maintenance. Maybe next time!
So its on to Orange, the unofficial wine capitol of NSW.

We spend the next three nights at the best free campsite we have stayed at yet. 60km outside the city is a well maintained, cut grass 30 acre land with walking trails, ponds and hardly anyone there. Each night when the sun went down, we sat under the trees, a cool breeze on our cheek, tea in hand “no-worries” we thought it cant get any better.

After some sight seeing, a few laps in the swimming pool at the Ex-Services club, and a afternoon skyping we decided to keep going onto Canberra, the capital, and try and get educated about the history of Australia and its parliament. After a tour of the second floor we watched as people were going through a metal detector, proceeded by a long corridor.  Asking the guard what this was all about she replied “The senates are in parliament, you can ask them questions and have a squizzy”. A squizzy? Nick and I looked at each other after she had left. A whaaat?? We laughed as we asked another guard at another station. He smiled, it means “a look around”.

From there we set off to the Australian Museum.  There we learned about the discovery of Australia and rich history of building the country and industry.  Nick admired a truck with a giant hook on the front used to catch buffalo. But the highlight of the day was learning our new slang Ozzy word, squizzy-and coming from such a important landmark. HA!

Also visited the Zoo in Canberra. We got to see the locals: Kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, koalas, little penguins, snakes, chameleons, as well as visitors from Asia: Red Pandas, India, Africa; meer cats and giraffes. Nicks favourite was the curious otters.
The next day we visited a 1915 power house-run by coal.  In the past decade it has been turned into a glass blowing studio and gallery. We spent 4 hours in the afternoon watching a group of 3 create a large round vase sculpture for a hotel in Japan, just one of 50 that take 5 hours to make each. What an interesting process. Wouldn’t that be fun as your career?

After getting a good feel for Canberra, it was off to the coast again.  We have missed the ocean. We find ourselves at Shell Harbour not far from Sydney. This is where we found a lot of beaches have showers. J

2500km after leaving Sydney we find ourselves right back where we started.  We made it a loop so we could make it back to catch Stereo Sonic (a full day electronic music festival). Thousands of people danced the day away for the outdoor music show. There we tried a deep fried potato ring on a stick, which we thought should definitely be added to the “a-la-stick” menu at the Calgary Stampede.
One short stop in Blacksmiths along the coast and we have decide its time to start our fruit picking career in St. George…………..