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:
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:
posted by Kev & Charlotte at
4:07 AM
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