Week 4/5 The visit to Queensland

Now folks this is rather long so make a cuppa, put your feet up and make yourselves comfortable hehehe… Finally, I have gotten around to writing the next entry to my blog… apologies it’s late but it has been one of those weeks… what inconsiderate timing Christmas is!!

Not a great deal happened in the days between my last entry and when we headed up to Queensland but, as I am sure you can imagine there was plenty of running around (a bit like headless chooks) trying to get everything sorted and packed ready for our trip.

We headed over to Sydney on Monday 5^th December to stay with Adam’s sister, who very kindly volunteered to take us to the airport the following day. It would have been a very early start to take ourselves as Oberon is a good 4 hours from the airport and that would have meant we would need to leave at silly o clock in the morning to fly out at 11.30am, so instead we had a lovely relaxing evening catching up with the family.

I have to say, I am a big fan of this interstate flying as you arrive at the airport, fly through check in (pardon the pun), then 30 minutes later you are boarded and on your way. No passports required and security checks are kept to the bare minimum. Beats flying out of Heathrow any day of the week!

We arrived on the picturesque Hamilton Island on Tuesday 6^th (who’d of thought it would be cheaper to fly to a remote island rather than the mainland?!?!) which was absolutely roasting with super humidity, the sort that makes you melt from the inside out and that old saying ‘women don’t sweat they perspire’… well in this sort of humidity even the babies sweat never mind the women. The skies above were overcast and there was a fine drizzle descending on us. I must admit I did think to myself ‘oh great we are in for a week of rain’. I wouldn’t have minded too much though even if that was the case as I love the heat and it was joyously warm up there. The last few weeks in Oberon had been pretty chilly, and so I read in the paper Australia as a whole has been at its lowest temperatures (15 degrees lower to be exact) in 56 years. Trust me to leave England away from the cold, only to take it with me. The overcast skies were a bit of a one off though as for (give or take the odd storm) the rest of the holiday, the temperatures were soaring and we had clear blue sky.

We took a ferry crossing over from Hamilton Island to Airlie Beach then boarded a coach that took us right to our hotel doorstep. We checked in and headed up to our room. As soon as we walked in I realised we had been duped and miss-sold our hotel. The description on the booking website didn’t match the venue we had just arrived at one little bit. We had booked through a company called Booking.com and in all fairness they were fantastic. I emailed them to say that the hotel wasn’t up to the standard that it had been portrayed, and almost as soon as the email had sent, I had a reply back. The booking website said they only displayed the information as provided by the hotel, I informed them this was somewhat ‘out of date’. We had chosen this hotel over 2 others as basing it on the information contained in the website, it looked far flasher. Adam and I were both a little disappointed as we thought we had purchased 8 days in an executive suite complete with spa bath and sea views, but in actual fact what we had paid for was holes in the ceiling, frayed carpets, stained furniture and a building site view lol.

My complaint to the booking company did do the trick though as we were upgraded to a room twice the size and twice the standard. It really does pay to moan if you are dissatisfied!! It still wasn’t quite what we were initially expecting but better than the first effort. The hotelier said he had only taken over the running of the hotel 3 weeks prior and they were still completing the inventory of what needed to be replaced and refurbished. He was nice to us about the move and seemed genuinely apologetic. However, I think it was only 24 hours and they had re-filled our original room… so much for the ‘updates’.

After moving to our new room we were totally chuffed that instead of the cupboard containing a fridge and a sink, we this time had a full kitchen in our apartment and decided so that we could spend more money doing nice things, we would cook for ourselves on a few evenings rather than eat out. Hahaha, what a joke that was, we headed out to the local supermarket and purchased the ingredients for tacos. Quick, simple and tasty… Or so we thought! I cooked up the mince and while I was waiting for it to reduce, I popped the taco shells in the oven. 5 minutes at 180 degrees. I set the timer on Adam’s phone so it would buzz when they were ready. I was stirring through the mince and thought to myself ‘what is that smell of burning?’, decidedly confused, looking all around the pan thinking ‘but nothing’s burning??’ the penny dropped and I thought ‘oh crimes, the taco shells!!’, I opened the over door and in about 8 seconds flat the entire apartment was full of smoke and ALL the fire alarms were going off throughout the hotel. No amount of door opening and flapping of towels around the sensor would disperse the thick smog. Next came a knock at the door and behind it, a rather sour faced hotelier who briskly informed me that the alarms were automatically connected to the fire station and if they were to arrive we could expect a $1000 fine for the privilege of their visit. At that point the alarm started to buzz on Adam’s mobile telling us that the taco shells were ready. It had taken less than 2 minutes to colour the shells a delightful shade of charcoal black. The hotelier stormed away to see if he could re-set the system, to our complete luck he did manage too and the fire brigade never arrived.

What an evening! A short while later when Adam and I sat on the balcony eating the revised menu of taco mince on toast we fell about laughing over the irony of the situation. We were cooking in to save money but due to a faulty oven we almost landed a larger bill than if we had eaten out every night for 2 weeks, never mind 1. Needless to say for the rest of the holiday we did not try and use the oven again! I’m pretty sure the hotelier was p**sed at the two moaning minnies he had earlier switch rooms for, who then as thanks tried to burn down his hotel… ops!!!

Airlie Beach is a real backpacker town, geared towards the traveller. The town does have a lovely feel about it though and is very relaxed. This time of year is jellyfish breeding season and for that fact you are not able to swim in the sea, well not unless you own a stinger suit and for those of you who don’t know what that is, it's a full body Lycra ensemble that covers every extremity from the poisonous tentacles of the jelly’s, the suits are far from flattering and seem to be produced in colours like bright turquoise blue and cerise pink… just so you don’t go unnoticed.

We decided to spend some time at Airlie’s manmade lagoon in the centre of the town rather than at the jelly ridden beaches. The lagoon consists of 2 giant pools with a bridge dividing the two. The pools have gently sloping sides, so if you don’t want to swim you can sit half in, half out the water cooling off, glorious! Each day the grassy banks surrounding the pool are covered in snoozing backpackers fast asleep under the trees, catching up on Zzz’s they missed from the night before. 

Adam and I found this really delightful fish eatery… if you are ever in Airlie Beach go there. It’s called Fish D’vine and the fish really is divine!!! The restaurant is sophisticated yet simple and comes complete with a great rum bar. They construct every rum-based cocktail you could ever possibly want. We went to Fish D’vine twice as the food was truly amazing. One evening I had sea coral trout served on flat egg pasta with a pea and saffron sauce… it was to die for. We also sampled barramundi, red emperor and Snapper.

There was a third of a mile saunter between our hotel and the centre of town and one evening as we were heading up town for dinner we saw something move on the roadside. As we got closer we realised what it was, a cane toad. It had been stormy earlier that day and we had experienced a couple of down pours. The wet atmosphere, so we learnt, brought the toads out to play. We were both fascinated by the toads as they were gigantic!!! They were everywhere, and they had surfaced in their thousands (slight exaggeration but there were far too many to count)! There were 5 of them in a perfect line, playing follow the leader across the footpath headed towards the road, quite the spectacle. I hadn’t taken my camera so after dinner we walked back to the hotel to collect it and toddled back up to take some pictures. There was the biggest toad imaginable, sat with his gang of minions as we were on our way out for dinner, he was huge and I wanted a picture of him so I asked Adam to try and take a picture with his iphone. I bent down to put my hand next to the toad to show just how big he was, as I did this his pal hopped and plopped right on top of my sandal clad foot. To Adam’s complete amusement I squealed and launched the toad into the air flinging the poor little chap into a bush. On arriving at the restaurant I did a moon light flit to the ladies so I could wash my foot!

Another evening Adam and I went to a pizza eatery called Sorrento’s which is down in the harbour. We were seated on the upstairs balcony for dinner, gazing out across the water, listening to a really soulful female jazz singer. As it turned into night the moonlight shimmered on the water creating incredible shadows and reflections of the moored boats… it was very romantic… ahh I hear you say!

On Sunday 11^th we took a trip out to the Great Barrier Reef. It was a two and a half hour boat ride to get there, calling in at Hamilton Island on route picking up further guests, arriving at the reef about 11am. We went with a company called Fantasea and to their credit the whole operation was extremely well organised. Our boat arrived and moored up adjacent to their pontoon and we all deployed. There were several activities to undertake throughout the day. Adam and I headed straight for the snorkelling, we collected our gear mask/snorkel and of course the mandatory turquoise blue (gimp, I mean…) stinger suit. We got ourselves changed and headed down to the submersible platform to get into the water. The sea was surprisingly warm. The currents and rips through the water were decidedly strong and on occasion you would need to grab hold of the guide ropes to pull yourself through the current, otherwise it would sweep you off to the opposite side of the reef.

Almost as soon as we got into the water I had an up close and personal encounter with a large sea turtle. I had a little giggle to myself as the turtle was genuinely so chilled out it was like a scene from finding Nemo and I was expecting him to say “dude”. The turtle was no more than an arm’s length away which enabled me to get a couple of remarkable photographs of him with the disposable underwater camera we had purchased, the camera didn’t take very high resolution pictures and didn’t depict the colours or show their intensity well, but worth the investment to capture otherwise unobtainable memories. The reef is extremely intricate in composition with ornate looking corals and the most diverse collection of beautifully coloured fish. The waters are decorated with Surgeon Fish (Dory’s), Parrot Fish (of which there are multiple brightly coloured varieties), Moon Wrasse, Blue Fusilier, Giant Gropers, Giant Trevally and Sea Turtles to mention but a few. The Gropers are enormous and it’s a little unnerving when you have one sneaking up on you with their great big rubber lips flapping in the tide. The Giant Calms are something of a spectacle, as you swim over them they sense the shadow created and close up. We must have spent a couple of hour’s snorkelling in all. There were a couple of professional photographers taking pictures of the fish and it was nice to do some pictures with them as they had amazing equipment. You can check the pics out at… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyQtr_ROFhw&fmt=18

Also on board the pontoon were an underwater viewing platform and a semi submersible submarine where they had resident marine biologists sat giving talks on the sea life.

On our final day (and they do say they save the best till last… lol). We had organised to catch a charter and go sea fishing for a few hours. We were meant to depart at 7.30am but were contacted by the organiser first thing to ask if we would mind rescheduling to the afternoon as there had been a storm warning issued for that morning. When we woke at 6am we had thought ourselves it may be a little dubious to go out as we could hear the thunder rolling outside. So we agreed and were collected at 12.30, taken up to the harbour where we met our host and had a safety briefing. At this point in time (as it had been since 7am) it was glorious sunshine and crystal clear blue skies.

We boarded the fishing vessel and set sail. We were extremely lucky that there was just myself, Adam and our guide Scotty. 10 minutes into the ride and our guide cast out 4 trawling lines behind the boat, they were set up with some fairly hefty lines so that we could try and catch something like a Giant Trevally or Barracuda while we were on the move. About 15 minutes out to sea, looking back at the coast line of Airlie Beach, we noticed thick dense black cloud descending on the Airlie shores. The cloud was swirling and becoming thicker, blacker and denser by the second and with every moment that passed it was expanding further up the coast line. The cloud erupted into the most violent storm with thunder clapping so loud it could pierce ear drums and fork lightening striking so bright that I think it was illuminating the skies all the way back down to New South Wales. We halted our boat so that we could gaze in awe at the manifestation behind us and take some photographs. No more than 5 minutes later the storm had turned and was heading straight in our direction. It had spread so far down the coast line it was surrounding us and moving in with haste. Our guide Scotty slowed the boat right down so that we cold brace ourselves ready for the storm that was just about to hit… and boy did it! The rain pelted down so hard and fast that it felt like it was breaking the skin, it was like being stabbed with a thousand needles. The wind was driving the rain in sideways so there was no way of getting away from it. We found ourselves some bin bags that were stowed away in a cupboard we poked a few holes in them to make some temporary raincoats. It was a vain attempt to protect ourselves, but in actual fact they did very little other than make us look silly and stop the wind from being quite so cutting. Certain moments of the storm were extremely scary as the thunder was roaring right over head and fork lightening flashing off the sea just a few feet away from us on either side. The boat was made of some form of poly-plastic but it had an internal metal frame so we were making sure we were not touching any of it. I recall one instant when Scotty’s sunglasses were ripped off his head at an unbelievable rate of nots and thrown down into the sea. The 3 of us huddled up on the driver’s seat behind a small wind visor trying to shield from some of the wind and the rain.  

We were swallowed up by the storm for a good 20 minutes, at one point we must have been in the very eye of it as the air was motionless, the water was as flat and as smooth as can be and the rain fell as soft as tears rolling down a cheek. There was an eerie feel about it as we could see no more than a few feet away because of the storm lashing down outside of our protective little bubble.

Maybe no more than 5 minutes later and the storm departed, within moments the skies were once again a bright sparkly blue with the sun beaming down on us and there was not a ripple to be seen in the water, it looked like glass. If it were not for the 3 equally soaking wet bemused people stood on the boat having all been witness I would have sworn I’d have just dreamt the whole affair, as there was not a hint of evidence that a storm had ever been present.

Scotty had received a few phone calls from the charter company during the storm trying to check we were all ok but because of the severity of the weather we didn’t even hear the phone ringing. When Scotty called back the charter company informed him that the storm warning had been issued at 1.52pm and by 1.57pm it was belting Airlie Beach with full force. They had recorded 23mm of rain fall in 3 minutes… wowsers!

We had lost an hour of our day because of the storm, but we did get a very pleasurable few hours fishing after and caught some stunning fish. We caught a few Venus Tusk Fish and Blue Fusiliers, a Grassy Sweet Lip, a Moon Wrasse and a Trout Lolly. We used a few tusky’s as live bait but had our line, hook and bait ripped off at astonishing speed by what I can only presume was a mammoth fish due the load the line could hold.

Our holiday up to Airlie Beach in Queensland was the most amazing and not one that Adam nor I, will ever forget! I think a few of those stories will be appreciated for years to come.

Week 3... from the heart of Aus

Over the last week I have sampled yet more delights straight from the heart of Australia…

This is one of those nights where I just can’t sleep. Not for neither love nor money so I thought I may as well make use of the time and write my blog. Besides my erratic sleeping patterns life on the farm is just grand and I’m having a fantastic time. Today we named the latest addition, the little kelpie pup ‘biscuit’. She’s a spirited little soul who courageously barks and growls at the other farm dogs like she’s 10 times her size, well until one of them playfully bowls her over then she lets out a frightened little yelp and runs for cover.

I am told we have had the most rain in 20 years this last week, typical eh, I leave the UK winter and head down under for a second summer and it appears I have taken the bad weather with me. Mid week we had an almighty thunder storm which was closely tailed by a black out. The lights were out for a good few hours in the evening so we played a game of candle lit monopoly, how romantic, ahh. When thunder storms strike there is always a quick dash around the house unplugging all the electrical items as the farm is sat on an old  volcanic site and the electrical charge passes underground through the volcanic rock like a conductor and surges through the power sockets making light work of exploding TV’s and PC’s.

Adam and I went over to Sydney on Friday, till Monday to stay with Adam’s sister who lives on the North Shore which is a delightful area. On Saturday (26^th Nov) we caught the train into the city centre, I was rather impressed with the ‘double decker’ trains, I’ve never seen a two storey train before. England might well take a leaf!

We started our day off from the Darling Harbour (which houses the Sydney Aquarium) and followed the meandering shoreline around to Millers Point, Dawes Point (the Harbour Bridge goes from here across the river to Milsons Point), The Rocks, Circle Quay and finally to Sydney Harbour, along the way absorbing the phenomenal views of the Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House. Walking the coastline, as we did, meant that we could survey the spectacular architecture from every angle.  We made our way back along the harbour after a final ‘up close and personal’ inspection of the Opera House back to an area called ‘The Rocks’. This section of the harbour is a bustling warren of market stalls, shops, art galleries and museums. The Rocks streets are bursting full of history about its Aboriginal past right through to present day. The numerous galleries boast an impressive selection of authentic traditional and contemporary Aboriginal artworks and the market area seemed to entertain traders from around the globe, who were displaying a vast array of trinkets so suit every personality.

On Sunday (27^th Nov) Adam and I headed over to Manly Beach for the day. I’m a typical ‘sun seeking brit’ and the minute it pokes its head out, I’m in it. Carefully lathered up in cream though, as I’m well educated on the potency of the Aussie rays. The Beach itself is beautiful and very well kept. It was very enjoyable to spend the day there soaking up the sun and wandering around the surf shops on the Corso. For me though, although I had a really really lovely day, next time I’ll be heading off the beaten track to locate a secluded cove somewhere as despite Manly’s charm it is a little too touristy for my liking. It was however, a lot of fun watching all the surfers and the local surf school had a huge pack of novices out learning to ride the punchy barrels.

Monday (28^th Nov) evening, Adam and I went out at 9pm armed with a high amp lamp to ‘spot’ the local nocturnal wildlife. We didn’t have to venture to far from the farm to a large area of pine forestry to find what we were looking for. Almost immediately after turning down a dust track we had an adult wombat run across the way into shelter from the opposing trees. We saw a total of 11 wombats, including a Jill and Joey (mother and baby) duo. I did manage to gain some video footage of one of the wombats foraging and short as it is due to the wombat’s camera shy nature, it is uber cool! When I get a decent internet connection I will try and upload it. We also got to see 2 ring tailed possums and a black tailed possum. These are the cutest little creatures! Their forefeet are structured like little human hands and built for climbing. The wildlife here is truly amazing are there are so many species to observe; it’s fascinating.

This week, Tuesday (29^th Nov), I learnt to ride one of the bigger 250cc farm bikes and Adam took me on a jaunt across the farms rolling 4,500 acre landscapes, which was a complete barrel of laughs. I did, quite spectacularly manage to stall the bike whilst trying to change down gear going uphill, it seems I went in the wrong direction with the gears, stalled and then had to wait for Adam to see I was missing from the expedition, to come and rescue me.  While we were out we saw a large full grown blue tongued lizard or skink I think is the correct term. We managed to catch him to take a closer look, it was a bit of a ‘crikey’ Steve Irwin moment. We let him go straight after and the blue tongue slinked off across the field, its movement pattern is much like a snakes. My initial ‘wow look at that’ when I spotted the skink made Adam jump a mile as he thought I had spotted a snake… poor chap hehehe! I shouldn’t mock though as I’m sure when I come across an aggressive brown snake which is trying to fling itself at me, I’ll be running to my mom.

Much love to all my family and friends back home… xxx

Week 2 of the Aussie Adventure

(13^th to 21^st Nov)

This last week has been super enjoyable… Sunday afternoon (13^th Nov) was spent with Adam and his parents, we went over to Jack Duggan’s Irish Pub in Bathurst for a very entertaining evening packed full of music and some very yummy food. My mom had pre-warned me about the ‘banjo playing yokels’ before I came out to Aus and here they were in full force… we had the banjo… the rocking chair… even the veranda… but sadly not the theme tune from deliverance hehehe! It was like a jamming session I’d expect to find in someone’s garage but instead it was smack bang in the middle of the pub. There were, I guess, about 8 to 10 people sat round a table in the centre of the pub, jamming away… it was mega, if a little bemusing, they played some classic Irish tunes and everyone enjoyed a sing along.

The week following was pretty casual with lots of time spent catching up with family and friends. Shearing had been going well but there was a bit of a setback due to the rain. This means that they will now have to shear for a day or two early next week to get finished.  The farm is looking lush and green from all the rain though. In my now second week in Aus, I am soooo pleased to say I have only had one run in with a dangerous spider ‘the white-tailed spider’ this horrid little critter had made its way into the kitchen and I almost stood on it whilst trying to set the table for dinner, lucky for me Adam’s mom was at hand armed with some spider-killing-spray to detonated him. It was a good job I didn't stand on him as I hear they give you some pretty long lasting ulcers caused by the venom when they bite. These spiders look like massive giant ants with a white tip to their abdomens *shudders*. One bit of wildlife I am fascinated by is the kookaburra you see pairs of them high up in the trees in the garden and their call sounds like laughing, when a few pairs are going at once sounds like a comedy club lol.

Saturday (19^th) day time Adam and I spent playing round the farm on his motorbikes. I rode his miniature Honda motorbike however, I’m not sure it was the best idea as small as it maybe, it's a twitchy little beast and it tried to throw me off every time I hit a rock or rut as we were riding across the fields, despite that though it was the most liberating fun I’ve had in ages.

Saturday night we went over to Newbridge to spend the evening with some biker friends of Adam’s mom and dad’s. They are a charming group of individuals whose motto is ‘growing old disgracefully’ which, I’ve got to say, I love!! They are all part of Ulysses Motorcycle Club and they go off on motorcycle rides across Australia’s glorious landscapes whenever the time permits. This, I feel is my retirement destiny, I too would like to ‘grow old disgracefully’ hehehe. The evening was spent sat out in the back yard of one of the couples, on the veranda, taking in the beautiful views across Newbridge, eating homemade pizza’s, made ourselves and baked in the outdoor stone pizza oven whilst sipping on some sumptuous local plonk… Bliss! The next door neighbour of the couple is a lady, who has dedicated her life to rescuing injured animals, in most cases she nurses the animals back to full health then releases them back into the wild. There are a few cases though that will never make it back into the wild and will remain in her care for life; this is the case for a stunning little Nankeen Kestrel. The kestrel was rescued and has lived there from almost the day it hatched, it is so tame that it would never survive out in the wild as the other birds would kill it for its unusual behaviour, when the lady enters the kestrels enclosure the little kestrel jumps all over her head and shoulders wanting to play. The lady was kind enough to show Adam and I around and to introduce us to all the rescue-ees. I got up close and personal with some amazing animals that I don’t think I would ever have been lucky enough to see out in the wild and if I did they would probably be a blip on the horizon. There was a real menagerie of animals to view… goats, pigs, birds, dogs, snakes, bearded dragons to mention but a few but my favourites would have to be the little kestrel, 2 baby eastern grey kangaroos, 2 baby red wallaby’s and the little baby wombat… awwww!!

Sunday 20^th Nov Adam and I took a trip out to Kanangra Boyd National Park. The park is truly unspoilt and a far cry from the touristy nature of Katoomba and the three sisters. We walked for easily an hour, across the gently undulating Boyd Plateau viewing the marvel that is Kanangra Walls and the labyrinth of deep gorges and jagged ravines into which the plateau falls away, before coming across 2 other hikers. The views from the top of the plateau are spectacular the landscape is so raw, rugged and untouched. There are small tracks that have been worn in by years of explorers but even so you are partly walking through brush and trees the whole way as there is nothing about this mountain top that has been commercially adapted. After we had walked the plateau we headed down the mountain into a deep gully to the Kalang Falls, where Adam was brave enough to take a dip in the stunning pool that had collected at the bottom of the falls. He’s a braver man than me though as the water was freezing! There is far more to the falls than the eye can see and they flow layer by layer right down to the bottom of the mountains, we climbed a little way down, off the beaten track but to go any further you would need some serious climbing/abseiling gear.

All in all this really has been a week to remember and one I’ll be marking down in my history; I’ve been made to feel so welcome by Adam’s family and friends and I honestly feel like the luckiest girl in the world and cannot believe I have seen all that I have so far on this trip, it’s truly mind-blowing. The biggest thanks go to Adam, my gorgeous boyfriend who is taking the time to show me where he’s from and all this beautiful country. Thank you Adam… all my love, K xxx

My first week in Aus... and what a week :)

So finally I’m here, landed safe and sound on Australian soil!! I intended to post a blog before we departed but in all honesty there was no time. Between a trip up to Shropshire to visit family and friends, and packing up the remainder of the house there was not a single minute to spare.

We landed into Sydney airport on Wednesday morning after quite a painless 23 hour flight from London. I say quite painless as for at least 12 hours of the second leg of the journey from Abu Dhabi to Sydney I slept and I can only assume that it is for this fact alone that I have cheated the jet-lag and yes I AM smiling smugly to myself!

After watching weeks of Australia’s ‘Nothing to Declare’ I was decidedly nervous about coming through customs as I thought I might be in for the third degree regarding my medication, how long I was staying, how I would be supporting myself, where I would be staying etc but I sailed through without a glitch.

We were greeted outside by the lovely smiley face of Adam’s mom, who collected us and took us an hour across Sydney to visit Adam’s sister and family. We left sometime early in the afternoon and embarked on a 3 hour journey (yes you heard me… another 3 hours travelling lol!) over the Blue Mountains (given their name from the blue haze that rises off the eucalyptus trees in the heat) which is part of the Great Dividing Range to Oberon. I must say although another 3 hours travelling was not high on my ‘things to do’ list it was awesome. It was a gorgeous sunny day and there was so much to see. Australia is in a word, beautiful… extremely rugged terrain but so so beautiful!

Arriving at the farm I had the absolute joy of meeting the rest of the family… Adam’s dad along with a proper menagerie of animals… the 2 family pet wallaroos, a parrot, numerous dogs, small exotic birds, the farm cat… thousands of sheep and hundreds of steers to mention but a few lol.

Thursday morning I did have a bit of a lay in but then in the afternoon we went up to the shearing sheds to help out. I can honestly say that in my 30 years have never seen anything quite like it and the whole process runs like clockwork. Any one day will consist of 4 runs, each run lasting 2 non-stop hours and each shearer will de-fleece anywhere between 150 to 200 sheep per day. On average (working on the bottom figure of 150 sheep) that works out to be 37 sheep per shearer, per run. There are 3 shearers working in a line with their shears hanging from a boom above them, behind them are 3 pens with swing doors and to the side of the pen doors is a shoot. The shearer will enter the pen and take hold of a sheep which will be flipped over onto its rump then pulled through the swing doors under the boom. The sheep is put into position (usually with a leg or a head between the shearers legs to disarm the sheep, as unless held correctly they will kick 7 bells out of the shearer) and the shearer will then commence the shearing. The sheep is rolled around from side to side and the full fleece removed in one foul swoop… I can tell you it really is a true art-form! Once shorn, the sheep is directed down the shoot and out the back into another pen. At the end of each run the sheep are counted and then released back into the main paddock.

It is extremely busy while the shearing is in progress and is a non-stop process. The culture is a little ‘wink and a nod’ due to the noise in the shed but everyone knows exactly what they are doing and just gets on with it. The dogs will be given a little whistle to summons them to move more sheep into the pens and off they trot rounding them up with barely 10 words said to them… amazing!!

My role for the day was to sweep the floor after each sheep has been shorn and to help collect up the fleeces. By sweeping it collects up all the small bits of wool and nothing gets wasted.

On Friday, we again spent the day in the shearing sheds helping out. This time it was a full day’s graft! I had a lot of fun on Friday as I learnt how to catch the sheep and turn them over for the shearer and I also got to shear one for myself. I had to have some assistance holding the sheep as they are seriously strong and there really is a knack to holding them so that both you and they are comfortable. When the sheep is at ease they don’t fight with you. I have clipped horses in the past so I did have a little bit of an advantage but it was so much different shearing the sheep, as the wool is so dense you can’t actually see what you are clipping so it is done by feel rather than sight. I was petrified I might catch the sheep’s skin. It must take the shearer’s years to get this practice nailed!

Friday night Adam and I took a ride around Oberon to check out the dam which is beautiful and the pine mill which is enormous, one of the biggest in the world I am told and runs 24/7.

Saturday we spent the day visiting Katoomba and specifically Echo Point where you can see right across the mountains to the 3 sisters. It is one of the most impressive landscapes I have ever been lucky enough to experience in the flesh. There is a cable car and a train that both go down the mountain so that you can experience the mountain from all angles, in all its glory. There is also a stairway called the Giant Stairway that you can walk down, right to the base of the mountain and about half way down takes you right to the base of the three sisters. We only had time to go half way down but I’m quite glad in one way as it was killer climbing the steps to get back up. I’d giggled to myself about the unfit souls that were puffing and panting as they were getting back to the top as we were just starting our decent… how silly did I feel when I was puffing and panting when I climbed my way back to the top hehehe. If you ever visit Australia Katoomba / Echo Point should most definitely be on your list of ‘to do’s’ as even though it is a little touristy with coach loads of walking cameras arriving every hour, it is a remarkable mind-blowing spectacle. One of the wonders of the world for sure! We finished the day off at the ‘Edge Cinema’ which is just up the road from Echo Point and they play an old movie about the history of the sisters and mountains, it is very interesting and well worth a look! 

Sunday is going to be spent having a VERY lazy day!!! Catch you again soon… Kx

My introduction :) and hello!!

Hey there... well considering I set up my BlogSpot in June 2010 it’s only taken me 1 year and 4 months to get around to writing in it hehehe.

So... Why now? Well... New beginning’s... That is all I am going to give away for now...!

My name is Kelly aka wok, I am 30 years old, I currently reside in Colchester, Essex with my boyfriend Adam... not for much longer though as I am just about to embark on a 3 month Australian Adventure with Adam! I will come back to this later on though as first I would like to give you some background.

I am Shropshire born and bred and besides a fabulous few years spent down in Devon/Cornwall in my early 20’s the most part of my life has been based in and around Shropshire. My working life has consisted of 10 plus years as a board level executive assistant. You might be thinking eugh why stay in the same job so long, but I have worked for a variety of companies in that time and I have ventured into alternative positions to try life on the other side but in the end I’ve always come back to being an EA, as no other job seems to suit my personality so well, or gives me so much satisfaction. I love the fast paced demanding environment of being an EA... I’d like to say no 2 days are the same but it’s more like no 2 hours are the same. At any one point in time you could be juggling the organisation of 10 different meetings, involving 50 different people, in 7 different venues, while at the same time the phone is ringing, the email is flashing, people are popping by your desk with papers for the directors to sign... and this is all before 9am... it’s just mega!

It takes a certain type of person to be an EA, but then right from an early age I’ve always known I am a bit odd lol.  

Life outside of work is also very varied in terms of hobbies and interests but on the flip side of the crazy life I have a great love of chilling in my own space, cooking, reading, watching movies (of which I have a huge collection). Lazy Sunday’s with Adam are the best; you know the ones where you lounge around on the sofa day all watching rubbish on TV and spending the entire day in your PJ’s... very satisfactory I must say and good for the soul!

So I figure that anyone writing a blog must have reasons and motivations for doing so and I guess that you are probably wondering what mine are. Firstly, I love to write, you can be so expressive and I personally find it far easier to express myself via the written word rather than vocally. Secondly, this last year has been tough and thirdly, as I mentioned right at the start of this blog, it’s about new beginnings.


Why has this last year been tough?

I am, as we all are, affected by the lives of the people around us that we love and care about and for me this last year has seen a lot of illness, death, tragedy and general unhappiness involving the people I hold dear and it all takes a toll no matter how strong you are.

Then from a personal perspective I have been dealing with my own inner demons. I always knew I was a little bit different and thought that quite frankly I may have been wired up wrong. Sometime over a year ago I was put on antidepressants to deal with a condition my doctors thought was premenstrual dysphoric disorder, loopy hormones basically. Anyway as it transpires a year down the line that the diagnosis was completely wrong and my hormones are just fine and dandy (well as much as they can be for a girl lol) and in fact I fit somewhere along the bipolar disorder spectrum and the medication I was taking to combat my supposed hormone issues was in fact making my condition much worse. Between the morbid sadness, hyperactive madness and periods (small as they were lol) of complete normality it’s been an eventful, entertaining and somewhat taxing year and very much so for those around me, dealing with the consequences. I have been living with Adam for over 6 months now and he truly has been my rock, the strains and events are nothing but testament to the strength of our relationship and without making you want to grab a bucket, Adam is wonderful and I love him dearly and I can testify that bipolar is definitely a test of character… and I don't mean mine!!

A few months ago I wasn’t very well and the bipolar was affecting me (not that at this point I knew it was bipolar as the diagnosis has only just been made a month ago) and my memory which in turn was affecting my work and I ended up losing the temporary PA job I had secured when I moved to Colchester 6 months beforehand as I was forgetting things and making mistakes. I had never ever been bad at my job before and it was quite simply soul destroying. With much support and encouragement from Adam, along with my fantastic family and friends I went to see the doctor, who referred me to a specialist, who made a diagnosis and treatment began. 1 month on and I am feeling pretty chipper and well on the road to recovery.

In between being fired and being diagnosed I had landed myself a fantastic new job in London with a great company and this gave me a confidence boost I really needed. However once the diagnosis was made and treatment started I began to struggle again as the medication is pretty powerful stuff, so I made the choice to give up my job and have spent a few weeks letting the medication do its thing. It was over this period that Adam and I decided to embark on our Australian Adventure!! So there we have it… the new beginnings!

It all feels a little bit like a personal victory to me as there really is life after mental illness lol. I know there is still such taboo surrounding the subject and it’s totally unsolicited and only down to a lack of education.

My blog is not about the bipolar though, just some of the motivation behind it.

We are now counting down the days until we go (11 more sleeps) and I am going to be blogging you running up to our departure, about all the preparation and exciting things happening before we go and then I will be religiously blogging while I’m away about all the exciting things going on! Yippee I can’t wait!!

Over and out for now… the first instalment of the days in the life of a fruit loop hehehe