australia – Page 13 – One Chance to See the World

Eight days left: I’m going to miss the locals

Everyone I have met here has been lovely. There are of course exceptions, a few bad apples and the odd crazy person, but overall I have felt welcomed here.

This seemingly contradicts this post I published not too long ago, with some rather horrible posters asking backpackers to leave. But this was a one off, and I haven’t met anyone that seems to have a bad word to say about us. Not to mention the businesses that are getting plenty of backpacker money.

I remember my first farm job here in Ayr. I worked picking Achacha’s, the farm seen in this post. It was a great job. Tiring, but I realised after other farmwork that this was a great place to work. The farmers, Shane and Craig, are great. Scary at first glance, but great people to get to know. After finishing on the farm, we went back to Shane’s house for a BBQ and lots of beer. The family didn’t hold back on the food, even providing honey made from the achacha fruit.

It also reminds me of my very recent trip to see Sugar Cane burning that I documented in this post. Another time a farmer went out of his way to call us and made sure we didn’t miss out.

I am going to post about another adventure soon, as I am travelling south for two days with my current farmer and team. He has a house that is accessible by boat (or via car when the tides are out) and we are going to do a bunch of leisure activities as well as a few jobs around the house. It’s going to be fun.

Locals are a great addition to any experience. I would say it is one of the most important things to do on any trip, talk to those that live there. They know the place better than anyone, as well as the lesser known places that shouldn’t be missed. They don’t have to help make our experience a memorable one, but because so many want to, I will remember them throughout my travels.

Nine days left: I’m going to miss the simple life :(

I love small towns. People say hello as I walk by. Shopkeepers remember me. I could be waiting to cross the road and a car will stop right there to let me cross without a crossing in sight. What’s the rush? No traffic jams, no rush hours, no long journeys home. Everything is calm.

Not that I would want to move back to a small town, not yet anyway. The chilled life isn’t one I would recommend for young people due to the lack of opportunities. But for those that like this kind of life, good for you. I can see why.

It is nice to experience one again. I’m currently working around the corner from my hostel, behind the hospital which has greatly reduced my stress of potentially being bitten by a venomous snake. We leave for work at 6.10am and get there at 6.20am, enough time to drink our coffee from the flask before our 6.30am start. Half the journey is through the farm itself and into the shed.

I would complain about the early start and freezing cold weather (yep, even the tropical north has cold winter weather), but the sunrise makes up for this.

After work, we have little to do but socialise with our fellow backpackers and choose between the five pubs and restaurants that grace the towns main street. There is nothing but the main street.

This is the Main Street in Ayr. Autocorrect keeps changing ‘main street’ to capitals thinking it is the actual name of the street so I have given up. This is where most of the fun happens… Not exactly the Vegas Strip though!

This makes it easy to find friends… if they aren’t in the hostel, I can probably guess where they are in two or three guesses. It also makes it very hard to find alone time, such as this present moment as I enjoy a pint and some loaded pork fries. I took this shot below to show you this beautiful dog, a rescued dog in fact.

As I’m typing, regulars are coming in. I have been finishing early this week on my current farm as we have picked all the pumpkins we can, now we are cleaning up the farm and preparing it for the end of season. This is being spread over the week to give us more farmwork days, instead of us working overtime and doing it in 2-3 days. The regulars coming in are the same ones I’ve seen everytime I’ve been in here. Older regulars that I assume are locals and have been for a very long time. It makes me think. Have they lived here all their lives? This is one of the reasons I left my country to travel.

I remember my home village and know that I will see the same people going into the same shops and pubs when I head back home as I did when I was growing up. It freaks me out a little. Life is too short and the world is too big for me to stay in one place. I won’t be travelling forever, but if I had one piece of advice for young people today, it is travel. There is more opportunity now than there ever was. Make the most of it.

But there is something about experiencing this small town life that I have enjoyed. It is all the good stuff that this kind of laid-back lifestyle provides. The friendliness of the locals. The ablility to walk down the street without bumping into a thousand people on the way. The chance that when you do bump into someone it is someone you already know. It hasn’t been enough for me to want to relocate to a small town permanently, but it is something I have enjoyed whilst I complete my farmwork.

Small towns have a different kind of beauty and I am glad to experience one again, I am just pleased it isn’t for too long.

Ten days to go: I’m starting to feel free!

Good afternoon world! It is 14.43 as I type my first words into this blank page and I do it feeling pretty damn good.

You know that feeling when you’re working on a Friday? It’s the same work, it just feels better knowing the weekend is just around the corner. That’s how I feel today knowing that I have ten days left of my 88 days of farmwork.

Whilst on the topic of feeling free, the below and featured image was taken from #justaviation on Instagram of a wheelchair user refusing to give in to physical limitations. I found it not too long ago and found it to be both motivating and fitting for my post.

I will no longer be stuck in this hostel that I rely on for work, and no longer stuck in this small town that I cannot leave for more than a day or two if I expect to keep my bed, my job and my second-year visa hopes alive. Not that I hate this place, in fact I have loved the experience and I know I will remember it for a long time. I have made great friends that I will see again outside of Ayr, whether in Australia or the UK. I have learned a lot and gained many valuable experiences. I am sure throughout my travels this will be one of the most memorable experiences.

Now, my ten days of work might not be within the next ten days. It depends on how many days off I have inbetween. It could take up to two weeks at this current rate- maybe less, maybe more. Considering I have been here since March, I am not complaining about it taking slightly longer!!

I’m going to spend my last ten days highlighting the best (and worst) of my experiences here and I do hope you enjoy them.

See you all in the comments, and I will have a new blog post for you tomorrow.

Sugar cane burning is incredible!

Yesterday was a day off, which didn’t amount to anything other than a hangover after a quarter- final World Cup win over Sweden in the early hours, so I spent the day resting and trying to wrap my pounding head around England being in a semi- final.

Hangovers have never felt so good.

Later that day, my friend was phoned by his farmer asking if he wanted to see a sugar cane burning. This is something that happens this time of year. It is quite a sight, even from a distance. It is beautiful to see so many fires from so many sugar cane farms, from dawn til dusk. The flames are visible even from a distance.

At 5.15pm, we jumped in a mini bus that the hostel kindly let us use and headed to the farm. Sadly, they started the fire earlier than scheduled as the wind changed direction pretty quickly, but the seven of us that made our way there were not disappointed. Here is what we saw as we approached the field.

The fire was intense. Even from a distance you could really feel it. By the time it was directly opposite, it was almost enough to make us back away.

I didn’t know how quickly these fires burned the sugar cane. It travelled up the field incredibly fast and to the height of a multi storey building. What was just as impressive was how fast it burned out. As soon as the fire reached the end of the field, the fire diminished and the roar of the fire stopped immeditely. It was like blowing out a match. Small fires continued to burn outside of the field where the farmer was igniting it, but the large fire was no concern. Campfire sized fires looked like they could be put out by stomping on them compared to the blaze before it.

17 days to go. I’m glad I’m still experiencing different things whilst I’m here and I hope to squeeze a little bit more out of Ayr whilst whilst I can.

Have you ever seen a sugar cane burning before? If you get the chance, do it!

The English finally have an excuse to celebrate the Fourth of July! (Is beer acceptable at 6am?)

Many of my followers will already know that I am English. More often than not I describe myself as British (I’m half Scottish and prefer to say British the majority of the time) however I was born in northern England and when we compete in the World Cup, I’m a very proud Englishman. That is until we go out on penalties, almost tradition in recent decades.

That was until today.

This morning at 4am, July 4th on Australia’s east coast, a bunch of us woke up from our early alarms (to the inevitable anger of those that had work later than morning) and headed to the pool room to watch our nation play on the hostels only television. We played Colombia, a strong team from a football-mad continent. That is never a walk in the park.

It was tense. We looked like we were heading for the win until (there is always an until) Colombia suddenly came to life in the dying minutes. 1-1 led to extra time and then penalties. I grabbed a beer at this point, the time wasn’t a factor considering how on edge I was. My friend on a Facebook status described my situation very well when he posted to his news feed that he was ‘shaking like a shitting dog’ towards the end. It is as accurate as it was funny.

And then we won. I’m still processing this. We really came out victorious on penalties?! This is something I have never witnessed in my life so far, despite plenty of shootouts.

So here I am in the picture, celebrating with a cheap beer at 6am.

Who says the English can’t celebrate Fourth of July? 😉

I had two more, one with a friend before he dashed to do his days farmwork before I stopped and realised it wasn’t even 8am. I went for a stroll to burn off the energy I had built up and went to a lovely local cafe for breakfast and watched the highlights of the game.

Work tomorrow, another day closer to completing farmwork. But for now, a moment of celebration on a great achievement. I hope everyone is having a great day, I hope my American followers are having a great Independence Day.

It’s great the English can finally celebrate with you!

I’m 29! How to survive a birthday away from home

I’m clinging onto my twenties as best as I can. To think that I’m 30 next year sounds crazy to me, but I also thought the same thing when I turned ten. ‘You’re in double digits now!’, I still remember my mum saying this and was strange. I felt so old. Then I was legally allowed to drink at 18. Then I turned 20 and I was in my twenties. I’m sure in ‘old age’ I will look back at 30 like I do now thinking of my previous milestones. Youth is relative.

With each birthday I experience, I try not to freak out about getting older and try to remember that I have had another year on earth. Another year allowing me to keep enjoying experiences, friendships, love and learning. Should I really freak out about reaching the big 3-0? It’s an age people sadly don’t always reach. I have seen this myself.

So this post isn’t really about learning to deal with having a birthday away from friends and family. It’s more that we should cherish the opportunities to travel and make the most of another year as best as we can. I wish I could be with my family right now, but I will see them soon anyway. I’m more focused on them saving up to see me out here in Australia later in the year. A holiday we can all enjoy together in a destination they have always wanted to visit makes up for not being there for my birthday. I personally would prefer to have that kind of experience. At the end of the day, a birthday is just a day. Memories and experiences are much more important to me.

But I had a great day! My roommates surprised me with a nice cake, a crate of beer and a very fun night. I read all the lovely messages from backpackers in a lovely card, beer pong commenced and I tried to order McDonalds through the drive-thru at 4am and pretended I was in a car.

It didn’t work.

But it was a joint celebration for only having 20 days of farmwork left. I’m almost in my teens, it’s nice that despite counting the years going by, I can count down to something.

I hope you all had a great weekend.

25 days left, but I have been told to leave Ayr…

It happened a few weeks back on a Sunday in this very small farming town. Something that changed the mood and even made it onto international news sites, but not a claim to fame Ayr needs. Every little town wants to be placed on the map, but why anyone would want to be seen in a negative light is beyond me.

I was walking to Coles (a major Australian supermarket) from my hostel. A few minutes walk and because there is so little to do in Ayr, it is a trip I make everyday. It’s what we do in the working hostel. Make sure you don’t get enough food in for a couple of days because, well, how would we kill time after work? It sounds crazy, but it’s true.

I was walking down the street to the supermarket, it’s a straight road until you get to the car park. It’s a quick left at a building with blacked out windows, what this building is in not sure. I’m not even sure if it is occupied.

Area in question. Who new this little area of the world would make headlines?

This is the poster in question. Warning, strong language.

There was in fact another poster a few steps up, however I don’t think it was appropriate to upload here. It was much more racist and I would probably have to blank out the majority of the poster. The funny thing is the choice of wording here. ‘Ayr is a backpacker free-zone.’

It really isn’t.

Ayr is a farming town like many others in rural Australia, heavily relying on backpackers to keep the industry moving. I assume the reason I have to do the 88 days of farm work to obtain a second year visa is due to a shortage of young people willing to work away from the cities. I don’t blame them, it really is something you have to have a passion for. If all the backpackers left Ayr overnight, they would be pretty screwed here. Most locals know this.

You can read a little more about this in articles over here at the relatively local SBS and the UK’s Daily Mail Online.

Also, if I’m not of ‘Northern European descent’ I’m not welcome here. Well, I’m a backpacker of Northern European descent. So being British allows me to stay, but being a backpacker cancels it out. Confused? Yeah, me too.

The Mail Online article above is interesting as it talks of the backpackers that hit back at the posters. Also, the locals that disagree with such discrimination. I have to say, the locals have been lovely since I’ve been here. The hatred in the posters is not seen in the town.

Don’t get me wrong, backpackers can be a troublesome bunch. I see working hostels as like being back at university. Young people working hard and partying hard. We are loud on the weekends when everyone meets for the bars to let off some steam generated by a week of long farm days. I can also see how much money goes into these bars, restaurants and hostels from the backpackers. It is a cycle that cannot afford to have a small minority of people breaking it up.

What are your thoughts on this? are you a backpacker or live in an area that is popular with them? Love them or hate them, they will never be as bad as the people that are capable of creating such hateful posters.

They will be happy I’m sure to know that I only have 25 days left.

I needed a break from farmwork

The thing with small farming towns is, there isn’t much opportunity to escape. So when I had the chance to escape for the day, I did.

The guy to the right of the picture is James. He knew that the couple you can see sitting on the sand were having a couples night away in Townsville (the nearest city to Ayr), so we decided to get a coach up that day and book a hostel.

The couple you can see are Stephen and Kayleigh, two Glaswegians. We left them to do their thing during the day, we snuck up on them later in the evening in a nightclub thanks to Jade and Lewis, to Londoners that went up for a couples getaway that day too. We told them that we were heading up as we booked it whilst they were still in our hostel waiting for their coach ride. This is how we found out what nightclub to surprise them at. This picture was the following day, when we spotted them on the beach recovering from a mild hangover. We had a quick chat and again left them to their own devices.

Townsville is a nice city. It is fairly small, roughly 168,000 with nice beaches. There are a few bars and restaurants to choose from, I would recommend it as a city to visit if you visit Magnetic Island whilst there. This is the island you can see in the image above and below.

There seems to be plenty to do on the island after a short ferry ride; water sports, fort walks, boat tours, private tours, amazing sunsets, fun hostels, off roading, not to mention the cute animals to be encountered. I cannot endorse this island too much as I haven’t been, but maybe in the near future. I’ve heard good things from the people that have visited.

But back to the mainland. It was nice to hear so many Australian accents and less backpackers. It shouldn’t be a surprise to hear Aussie accents in Australia, but it sometimes is. I guess the good thing about the smaller cities in Oz is that they aren’t as popular for tourists. There is more of a chance to speak to some locals.

Despite being a small city, it felt like New York compared to Ayr. And it felt good!

Speak to you all soon.

Farm Work Day 53: I got injured picking pumpkins (disgusting finger warning)

Whilst the watermelons are not quite ready to pick, I’ve been picking pumpkins to afford my weekly rent at the hostel and to tick off more of the 88 days I need to do to obtain a second year visa. This was going well until one pumpkin decided to ruin my day altogether causing me to jump around and swear like a madman. I ended up here after my shift, it thankfully happened only 30 minutes before finishing picking.

What happened was this. The gloves I was provided to pick with worked well, but are prone to wear and tear with the spiky stems of the pumpkins. They are also terribly itchy when walking through the vines, one of the more frustrating factors to deal with at on this particular farm.

My middle finger became exposed through the glove throughout the day, and towards the end I realised the benefit of having gloves to wear when working. As I picked a pumpkin, I didn’t see another one right next to it under some dense vines. As I hurriedly bent down to pick it (it is important to keep up with the trailer as all the fruit needs adding to a conveyor belt to be placed in large cardboard bins) I scraped my finger down the skin of the hidden one. This resulted in pumpkin skin- very hard and tough skin may I add- being jammed under my fingernail. This detached a portion of my fingernail from the skin underneath, causing quite a bit of pain.

It isn’t so bad, but for those that are easily grossed out, look away now. This was my finger the following day.

You can see the green skin underneath my nail (yep, it’s green, I always though it was orange!) and the white skin is from Benedine soaked onto my finger underneath a bandaid. The nurses spent a good 30 minutes trying to get the pumpkin out by jamming some tweezers under my nail, all to no avail… It would simply break up when trying to pull out. The most painful part was the bill afterwards. I didn’t get a Medicare card, so this ‘Level C Surgery’ cost me $80!

Lesson, get a Medicare card, and avoid farmwork if possible.

35 DAYS TO GO!!

The difference between a hobby and a job

I have been working on a watermelon farm, ten to twelve hours a day, 5 days a week. I am lucky however, the reason we had last weekend off was due to a big event in Ayr (the annual races) and this weekend off because the watermelons aren’t quite there yet. I start again tomorrow. I wanted to write today because I have a big chunk of free time. I have no excuse not to. I know I don’t have to, but if I want to become a full time blogger or writer, I need to write when I can. I need to now my diary is free and I am not ready to collapse in exhaustion.

I am getting regular notifications on my post The Waves of Motivation and the Reason I Can Blog Daily from readers, and this post in particular is one I need to reflect on the most. I have recently received the 246th like on this post and the 86th comment between myself and the great community I have here. The reason I have so much feedback on this post compared to others is obvious to me. For one, it is a post that you and I can read and take something from. It is self help for me, but my readers can also find value in it. But more than that, it is about how frequently I was blogging and engaging with the community here. It would not have anywhere close to this number if I had no one to read it. It is all about being motivated enough to write and get posts out there regularly. Something I haven’t done recently.

I have been working hard each day, but this is an excuse I have given myself to justify not blogging as frequently. People work much longer hours than me and make it work. In fact, a few hundred words daily isn’t even particularly difficult. Picking watermelons is much harder.

Blogging is currently a hobby for me. The sad thing about this is that more often than not, hobbies cannot be prioritised due to work. Work that we prefer to not be doing but pay the bills. Because we cannot be fired from our hobbies, we don’t often put in as much effort. How crazy is that? The things we want to do for a living, we often don’t give our all.

I think this is tragic. For me, I constantly remind myself that once I’m no longer travelling Australia, I’ll have to make a choice. Do I go back to a job I don’t particularly want because I haven’t spent enough time working on the things I love doing, or do I work hard now and hopefully open new doors in the near future? It should be a no brainier.

And I wouldn’t even class this as work. As the saying goes, if you have a job you enjoy, you will never work a day in your life. And blogging isn’t work to me, even if I spend as much time here as I do in a job that pays. Maybe my hobby will free me from work in the future, and I hope yours will too.