Stop. Harvest Time!

Hello.

Wow, it's nearly been 4 weeks already! It's amazing how fast time goes here. We get up early, work for about 10 hours, come back to the house and watch a DVD and then it's off to bed for a bit of sleep before we start over again. The harvest has started so we're still on the harvesting machine but because it's all new, they're inviting us to suggest improvements and try to make the whole system better. Exciting eh!

In some ways the work is not very interesting, but there's often a twist. For example, you might be told to "take the jetwash and clean out those boxes over there". Nothing to get your blood pumping there, until they add, "...and watch out for snakes."

Or the other day when we were emptying soil from a load of pots and were joined on several occasions by big Huntsman spiders that seem to just appear right next to your hand.

Or the tree frogs that jump out of nowhere and hop up onto your head!

The weather's getting more and more sluggish now as the wet season approaches. The temperature still remains at around 32 degrees but the humidity is rising so it's becoming harder to work. Thankfully the NT has none of the water shortage problems that most of the other Oz states suffer from so we can keep ourselves topped up without worry.

We've also learned another thing about the NT; that it doesn't stand for Northern Territory at all. It actually means Not Today, Not Tomorrow, Not Tuesday, Not Thursday, No Time, No Tools... etc. Trying to get things done here is not always easy, the whole place is just so damn relaxed.

The people here are a bit different too. They're still nice and friendly in that unmistakably Aussie way, but they're definitely more... erm... rural. For example, there's a guy here at the farm who doesn't wear shoes. His feet are so rock hard that he claims he can walk on broken glass. We're yet to see the evidence but it wouldn't surprise us. The people here also tend to drift around a bit, working on a farm for a while before simply packing up one day and going to another one. It's a little surreal.

On Friday we're being treated to a day off and Maoz and Narma, the farm managers, are taking us out to a nearby billabong for a day of fishing and bbq and booze. That should be a nice break from the monotony of the harvest machine so we're really looking forward to it.

Our longer term plans are also coming together. Chances are we'll stay on the farm for a bit longer than we originally planned (well, two weeks was our first estimate) and earn ourselves a good bit of money for the next stage of our trip.

Time for some more photos now. We've nicked a few of these from the office computer.

There's a few of these big buggers around and they're a pest. This one picked the wrong time to meet Marty and his crossbow:


The might Toyota Hilux - older than us and yet still as strong as a tank:


And some random pics from the house, taken just now:



One of thousands of cane toads that live around the farm (we probably have about a hundred outside the house). They're poisonous to eat but apparently you can get high by licking their back... mmmmm:


Aerial view of the farm taken earlier in the year (it's a bit greener now). Our house is obscured by trees but it's towards the centre-right of the photo:


And from the other direction:

Nuts

Hello.

Just a quick update to say that all is well here in the Northern Territory. The harvest has started here so we're spending most of our time sorting through the nuts and clearing out all the crap, such as the sticks and leaves and rotten fruit (cashew trees also grow apples). Oh, and also real crap, of the wallaby kind.

It's as exciting and smelly as it sounds.

Last night we were shown the creek on the far side of the farm by Cotts, an Irish backpacker who works with us. We took the farms Toyota Hilux, which is over 20 years old and yet is built like a tank (I was knocking trees down with it a few days ago). Even in the Hilux, we're not supposed to stop at the creek in case some prehistoric monster decides to attack us, so we just passed through. Unfortunately there wasn't a lot of that sort of wildlife to be seen so we'll have to go back with the camera and get some good piccies.

Nothing much more to report from here. It's getting hotter and more humid but it's surprisingly bearable. We must have become accustomed to the Australian climate!

Life on the farm

Life on the farm is good. We've just completed our first week and it's just flown by. It's hot and hard work at times, but it's enjoyable stuff and we've both settled into the life here nicely. The weather sits around 33 degrees throughout the day and this time of year is known as "the build up," as it's the transition between the dry and the wet season. The clouds start to form, the humidity rises and then by November time, the tropical storms start and the rains continue right through until March-April next year.

We'll be gone by the time that happens, which is a shame because it'd be great to see a good tropical storm. Nevertheless, we've still got a hell of a long way to go and time is running short.

So we've been working on the farm all week. Charlotte's mostly spent her time in the nursery sorting out the new plants and I've been fixing leaks in the irrigation system. We've also been doing various other jobs around the farm, and today we've been clearing branches ready for the harvesting tractor to come through.

We've also learned that this farm is quite unique. There is just one other cashew farm in Oz, and this one is essentially one big pilot project. None of the nuts will be sold or eaten. They're all collected and the nuts from the strongest trees are grafted onto others to try and create the ultimate super-cashew. Or something.

We popped to the shops on Tuesday night to collect some supplies. Popping to the shops is a 5 hour round trip from here, so we collected a lot of supplies.

And last night, Bob (the man who owns the place) arrived and took us all out for a meal and booze. We like Bob.

Who knows what we'll be doing tomorrow...

We've got a brand new combine harvester

Well, we arrived at the farm on Friday to find that they had no idea we were coming. We thought a 2 hour drive and a tank of fuel was going to be wasted but it's turned out fine. We were given a quick look around the accommodation and there was an empty room for us. On our first day, most of the staff were busy fighting a bush-fire that had got seriously out of control so they told us to relax, have a look round and settle in. We did just that. We might have relaxed more if it weren't for the crackling of fire just a few hundred metres away.

We're staying on the farm itself and it was a great relief to find some nice people, decent accommodation including a room that isn't a van, cable telly, free broadband and wonderful other forgotten luxuries like a settee and a fridge freezer!

What's even better is that we get it all for working here, so we're not paying anything for rent.

The farm is huge, covering several thousand acres, and just a few metres from the house is a big billabong, which translated means a big water hole. There won't be much swimming however, as that part of the farm belongs to about 20 crocodiles. The farm is also home to kangaroos (naturally), hundreds of cane toads, billions of flies and ants, and some of the most poisonous snakes in the world (we haven't seen any of those yet though...)!

Our job's are basically to help out around the farm. There aren't a lot of people here so we'll be doing different things all the time. We also get to drive round in Gator's, which are like 4WD go-karts. It's great fun!

The only major downside to this place so far is that the nearest shop is almost 100 miles away, in what is possibly the best named town in the world: Humpty Doo.

Right, time to bring the photos up to date (from the east coast of Queensland to the Northern Territory). I hope you all know that you can click on any of our photos for a big version!

Rock Wallaby on the hill overlooking Charter's Towers:


We saw hours and hours of this view:


They filmed Crocodile Dundee here:



One of the caravan parks on our trip had an inexplicably large number of peacocks wandering round:


The last stop before the border, Camooweal. We just caught the end of a chariot race (with people instead of horses):


The Devil's Marbles - more interesting than they look on this photo:


...see:


Funny where you can get Charlotte to go when she hasn't got her glasses on to read the sign:

(not really of course, they were only harmless Freshwater Crocs and there's a 10 foot drop before the water)

The natural, 34° thermal pool at Mataranka... mmmmm...


Our last night in Darwin was spent at the Mindil sunset markets. It's all craft and asian food. It's very nice:


The farm, and a bit of a fire in the background:


Our new wheels:


The billabong: