barmera, renmark and the farm.......

i was in barmera for a few days, nice lake (bonney) and small town, not too much there, the manager was quite helpful in trying to find work and i moved to a town 1/2 hour away called renmark. i was there for 1 day when i was told that someone dropped out of his job and they needed someone for 2-3 weeks to work, the only problem was it was about 35 k's away so i would need to stay there as i did not have transport, i needed the money so i just took it. the next morning the manager drove me to the farm and we rolled up about 7am, it was in the middle of nowhere, right in the outback and surrounded by 1000's of acres of farm that grew armonds, citrus, oranges, etc....... - we drove to the top of a hill where i met the farm owner, had a chat for a few mins then he looks over at his tree's and shouts 'FLAMING GALLAH'S!!!' and pulls out a shotgun and starts firing into the tree's, the manager wished me luck, lol - he said that he might have a daughter staying here that i could meet, i told him i was'nt interested while her dad had that shotgun on him!! lol

anyway, i started work that day and did 16 days straight, around 10 a day and blew armonds, walk up and down the rows of armond tree's with a big blower that shots air out quickly and move then into the middle of the path for the machine to collect, it was pretty tedious but paid well and i collected just over $2000 at the end of it (with 300 more to come when i leave australia (in tax) - very basic accomm. in a big shed and the toilet/shower block was a short walk away, not convenient late at night!!!!! i saw a emu and kangaroo in the fields though which was good!!!

i got back to renmark on the saturday morning, made a few phone calls and headed to the hostel where the manager said i could stay until the coach arrives and he will give me a lift to the stop, i was sitting down to watch tv when 2 japenese girls came out and started chatting to me (there english was good, a little broken but much better then my japenese!!! lol - i asked them if they wanted to go out for a drink and we spent a few hours just drinking and talking which was really good, they said they had never had strongbow but really liked it (they asked me to write it down so they could order it in the future!! lol) we took a few pics, i shot a small vid on the camera and we exchanged e-mail ad's ( i just received an e-mail from them actually saying that we could maybe meet up in may somewhere which would be good) - it was really nice as they were 2 of the nicest ppl you could meet, always smiling and laughing and had a really good heart, when they knew i was travelling to sydney and got back to the hostel they said can i wait there for 10 mins before i leave to say goodbye as they wanted to do a quick shop, then they came back with a bag of food for the journey!!!! they also taught me some japenese

hello - Konnichiwa
thank-you - Arigato
good-bye - Sayonara
cute - Kawaii
Terumi and Nayumi from Osaka and Tokyo

the journey to sydney was 19 hours!!!! very long but at last i arrived, sydney central was full so i booked in too a place nearby for 1 night then to central for 1 night as they are pretty good and have laundry and internet

i saw india win the ODI at the SCG - the first time i saw Tendulkar he gets a century!!!! alot of indian fans and a very good atmosphere!!!!!!

just got into wellington last night, went out for a quick bite to eat then had a sleep until almost midday - hada walk around and a meal at mcdonalds (double cheeseburger, large fries and a large coke (in case you were wondering!!!) lol

wellington is a beautiful place, quite small but on a harbour and had big hills and mountains surrounding it, i will explore alot more in the next few days, i will probably be taking the lord of rings tour early next week

talk to you all soon

g