Leeton, Australia

So I've now started my third week at this farming thing. And it's quite funny how it took me and Nikki over a week to realize that we've been sleeping with one of our windows open the whole time. No wonder it felt like sleeping in an igloo the last few nights. So for the last week I've done nothing but desuckering, which I getting a bit tired of to be honest. And my legs, and back as well. The people and the atmosphere around here are as good as always thought. 

Last Thursday we threw a big Halloweenparty (as big you can make it by 13 people), which turned out to be great fun. Everyone was involved, even the two German girls who's never gives any effort to talk to everyone, showed up for a bit. Everyone dressed up. Spend the night with beer pong, chatting and randome drinking games which was good fun, even if getting up at 7 the next morning desuckering wasn't as funny .. 

That following weekend my dearest friend Cornelia came and visit me here in Leeton. she was on a roadtrip with the tree other girls I met in Bali, and they kindly decided to go 10 hours off road to come visit me. (That was probably not the main reason but I'd like to believe that). I met them straight after work on Saturday to show them the very highlights of Leeton and the fruitshack. They wasn't to impressive to put it in a nice way.  We went together to the bar that night, together with Katharina, one of the German girls I work with and I German guy who's just here for one night sorting some papers out. He's done his 88 days on this farm already to get he's second year visa , but unlucky for him the immigration didn't believe that he's done it properly so he had to come back to get some papers signed. To top it all he accidently drove over a kangaroo on he's way here which pretty much crached he's car, or he's bosses car who wasn't too happy about it. We all felt a bit sorry for him that day. Anyway, other than nice beer for once it wasn't too much happening at the bar (obviously, I'm still in Leeton), which made us drive back to shack sharing a few beers with Tom and Stina instead. I got a nice sleep in the next day, as it was my first day off since I got here. Even if my mother woke my up calling on Skype. Hihi. After a nice breakfast together with my Swedish friends we drove to Griffith, which is the bigger city next to Leeton where Cornelia and one of the other girls where catching a train down to Melbourne cup the same evening. We spend the day shopping which was well needed for me since Tom was about to leave in a week and planned to bring his hoodie with him. We got some shopping done following by a fabulous picnick in the park, a nap in the sun perforce saying foodbye to my lovely friends again. 

That following week I continued with the every day desuckering. It was getting ridiculously hot in the afternoon, up to 40 degrees so we had to take off earlier every day. We finally finished the field early Thursday morning, but by the time we were about to drive back from the field Katarina managed to drive into the very only ditch in the field which made the car get entire stuck. We all tried to push it while Kat was hanging on the gas but nothing could move it in that stage. To top it all, millions of big ants were crowling up our legs as we were pushing the car which made Linda and Kristina, the two other German girls screaming, jumping up and down at the same time as we where pushing. We didn't do very well. And Katharina was out of stage worrying about her car at the same time as we all was laughing finding this whole situation hilarious. When we finally realized that there's no way to move this car by our own we contacted Michael for help. He called our farmer who send us his neighbor to our rescue. 

After our adventurous car situation we still returned to the shack really early, before Stina even started her work that day. She's kind of cheating her way to get her second year visa by working at a cafe, owned by a farmer who agreed to sign her off anyway. 

Around midday more and more people dropped in as it was way to hot to be working in the sun. That's when we all decided to spend the very sunny day by the Leeton pool. As it was too many of us to fit in Katharinas car, the new German girls who just arrived to the shack took the bike there while Tom and Nikki was walking. Turned out to be a one hour walk there thought so on the way back we stopped by Stinas work to get a lift back to the shack. The pool was great fun, I brought my waterproof camera with me as well which turned out to be a good laught and by the end of the day I had about 240 pictures from about the last couple of hours. This picture is of me, Nikki and Katharina. 

That night Michael took us kangaroos potting again, as a last wish from Tom before he was leaving that Saturday. We only got the spot of around 5 of them this time, but got to see them jump over the fence which was quite cool. After a while we gave up and drove to the river insteead were we all sat under an amazing sky of stars, drinking champagne and sharing good stories. Such a nice end of a perfect day. 

The next day the most of us had an day off, mainly because there wasn't any work who needed to be done. I walked down to and around town for a while, visit Stina at her work where I met up with Tom, Nikki and English Sarah as well. As it was Tom and Sarah's last day which they obviously was quite sad about, we bought a bottle of champagne for the walk back and shared things we wouldn't miss about fruitshack. To make them feel better about leaving. 

 - like the fact that you're not allowed to drink from glass bottles (the reason we bought the champagne for the road) 

 -  desuckering 

- the uncomfortable beds

- the fact that you have to take a shit with people standing just outside the door

- eating cold pasta for lunch in the middle of a field

- all the fucking bugs. flies, Mosquitos, spiders, cockroaches that literally is everywhere

- the fact that you have to walk outside every time you have to go to the toilet

- getting up at 6 every morning 

- Sandra's alarmclock that never wakes her up 

- the wifi going on and off whenever it feels like to 

- the sometimes ridicously low hourly salary 

  .. To name a few

That ningt we had a goodbye party for Tom and Sarah. As fun as always with games such as picking up boxes using only your mouth and nothing but your feet allowes to touch the ground. Laughing and chatting the night away. Sarah and especially Tom has been at the shack longer than any else of us, and it definitely won't be the same without them. We all had a tearful goodbye the next morning as we were heading to work and the got ready for the train back to Sydney before Sarah's flying home and Tom got a flight to New Zealand. May our path cross in the future. 

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So before I'm about to end another massive post (this blog is ending up like a novel), I have to give my father all my best greetings for his birthday. All my thoughts with you (even if I'm quite sure you're not reading this anyway) enjoy your day and your year as a 57 year old. Love you

Leeton, Australia

So Instead of beeing a backpacker I ended up as a fruitpacker at a farm in soutwest NSW, Australia. I was just about to miss my flight from Brisbane as I accidently took the train to the airport in the wrong direction which made me end up at the opposite end of town. By the time I finally brought myself back to the central to switch to the right train I arrived to the airport just a few seconds befor my check in counter closed. This is why I shouldn't be left alone when I have to handle locations. I planned to spend the night at Sydney's domestic airport as I arrived quite late and was about to catch the train early in the morning, but unfortunately the airport closes at 11pm which was when the staff threw me out. I met an amarican girl on the street and we went together to find the fabled McHostel, the nearby McDonald's who are happy to let backpackers spent the night there. Maybe 'happy' isn't the right way to describe it, but at least they didn't complained when we crached at their chairs. 

After quite slepless night I managed to find the right train in the morning, and after a good 8 hours ride I found myself in this tiny little local town, surrounded by nothing but fields. I got picked up by the hostel host and local farmer Michael who drove me back to 'Fruitshack' where I was about to spend the following two months farming. 

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Fruitshack is the hostel, or the shack obviously, where all the backpackers who's working in the area is staying. Including me there was 13 of us. All here by the same reason - to get our second year visa signed. As I still haven't build up my backpack properly I wasn't at all prepeard for the cold here as the night could get really chilled. I didn't even had a pair of long pants, or hoodies which made me freeze my fucking ass of during the night even if a got 4 blankets for myself. I got to borrow a hoodie from English Tom which been my lifesavers the last week. And a pair of trousers from Stina, the Swedish girl I spoke over the phone with before I got here.

That first evening for me Michael took us Kangaroo spotting. Which is when we all went into the bus above, got driven throught the forest with a big spotlight to catch the sight of some real Kangarooes. We didn't see one, ore two but 34 of them jumping around the forest that night. A good start at the shack for me. 

My first working day the next morning was terrible, if a got a chance to kill myself I probably would. It was that bad. I got placed to desuckering 23 rows of grape trees. by myself, with no music or anything. I was tired, as I didn't got any proper sleep during the last few nights. It was hot, my back started to hurt after 5 minutes. During that day I promised myself to be on the first train back to Sydney if I ever got placed at the same position again. 

As soon as I got back to the shack and to the people, my minds did changed a bit. We had a goodbye party for the French guy as he was leaving the following Monday after 5 month in the shack. Good fun, and a great start for me to get to know the others, with drinking games and chatting the hours away. 

Turned out that I was placed doing the exact same thing the next day, but this time together with Tom, my roommate Scottish Nikki, and the French guy. And it actually turned out to be a good laught this time since we all in the same situation, chatting to each other, supporting and helping each other out. Company make such a different. We decided to head down to one of the only bars that night to get some real good beers before the French guy was about to leave us. Also because you can't have glass bottles of beer at the shack meaning that your stuck with the cans bottles which isn't even half as good as the ones you could get at the bar. 

Sunday night Michael organised a outdoor cinema for us, where we all sat watching a movie with popcorn, champagne and blankets. Such a nice end of the week. 

 Me and Nikki went back to the same field doing the same desuckering thing the next few days as well. Two days I got placed doing some lemonpacking, which was all about putting lemons in a box, and sorting bad ones out. I got told that I was lucky getting that kind of work since that is the best paid one  and not as fysical hard. Basically, the work here is pretty shit, badpaidonce. But I considered that the experience you got, and the people you meet are worth so much more than any money in the world.

Also, before I finish this massive post, I want to give my mother the best congratulations on her birthday today. I miss you lots and I hope you having a splendid time back home with all your children around but me. Wish I was there only for that moment. you've  been in my thoughts all day, love you mom :) 

Brisbane, Australia

The thing I miss most about having travel company, is having someone to help me make decisions. I'm terrible at decisions. But since I'm only an hour from Brisbane I finally decided to go there for the weekend. Mainly to meet my friends Cara and Kehla who me, Anna and Beccy had a marvoulus time together with in Laos. I tried to catch the suburb to Kehlas from the trainstation, but ended up at the wrong one as I was suppose to take the bus, not the subway. Her boyfriend, kindly enought, came to pick me up at this stop I happend to get myself to, in an area they didn't even knew existed before.  Kehla live together with her boyfriend Lou, ia shared house within walking distance to the city centre, south bank and west end, and were happy to give their spare bedroom to me for a couple of days. Cara came by by the evening and the four of us had a couple of beers together before driving to Lou's brothers 26th birthday party. I haven't been at a real party for ages so It was great fun. And the girls are so amazing that it's impossible not having a good time around them. As it still was my first night in town they wanted to show me the good places for a night out. So we did end up at the bar in the end, down at 'the valley' which is on of the biggest bar areas. Didn't stay for too long thought before catching a cab back home. 

As both Kehla and Louey, but especially Cara, get the worst hangovers none of them where able to move from bed the next day. So I took myself to the inner city, mainly to find me a charger for my phone. I had to look for ages thought since none of the bigger phone shops got a charger that old (lol).   When I was done with my mission I had a little walk around King George and City Hall before spending a few hours at the Internet cafe applying for work. 

I tried to find my way by walking back to the city centre the next day since I couldn't afford paying every time. It was a beautiful walk, over the bridge from Soutbank and throught the botanical garden and didn't took me more than 20 minutes. I met up with Cara later and we went for a drink at the West end, which is the other 'bar area'. A little more chilled out and not as packed with nightclubs as 'the valley'.  Kehla was suppose to meet us as well but got stuck as work. 

I ended up staying way longer than the weekend in Brisbane. Kehla either got work or uni during the days, and Cara either got work or a hangover to bad to get out of bed. After a few days in I got called for a jobintervju for work in a nightclub, allthought  they didn't started hiring people until November and I'm not In a position where I can wait until then and maybe get a job. That said, I got a call from a farmer the very same day who offered me a position at his farm, about 6 hours inland from Sydney. A quite far and expensive way from here, which made me feel quite sceptic. I've heard a lot of horror stories about farmwork. Backpackers who are working their ass off and don't even earn enought to cover their accommodation, or didn't get any job while they're there even if they got promised to, This farmer understood my worry and an hour later I got called up by a Swedish girl working at the farm at the moment, who told me all about it which made me feel a lot better.  While I was thinking about my situation, Kehla took me for a private city tour, since she didn't had uni until 5. Cara felt to sick to come with. We walked down the south bank, where they got a 'fake'beach, a rainforest and a buddhatemple in the middle of the city. Brilliant, and with the river and the big city as a view in the backround. Throught the south bank we got ourselves to the library and museum and within walking distance to the West end, where we met up Louey for coffee. As this was about to be my last night in Brisbane I called Cara to come over that evening. She brought her boyfriend  and together with Kehla, Louey and one of their housemates we all had a few beers together at their Veranda and the local bar, where Lou use to work. We chatted for hours, laughed, shared good old Laos stories, realized how much we missed Anna and Beccy and drank beer for hours before going to sleep. 

Louey went up early to work in the bar, and Kehla went pass there on her way to the supermarket. Apparently his manager happen to be Swedish, and they might have work available. Super excited I brought Kehla with me down to talk with the manager. I was super honest and explained my situation, and she was really sweet and would love to have me in their team. Unfourtunable they didn't had any positions to fill within two weeks which made me make the decision to catch the flight after all. She's still gonna call me within two weeks, and I promised to let Louey know when I planned to get back in Brisbane. 

Surfers paradise, Australia

As Vicky disappeared up north I felt a bit lost on my minds since the thing with doing my farmwork straight away was that I'd do it with her. I was thinking about going back to Sydney trying to find a proper job instead. In the end I ended up going further north to the gold cost and surfers paradise since a guy I met my last night in Byron offered me a free ride. I loved it in surfers, but then I've said that about every single part of Australia I've been to so far. But yeah, surfers was an amazing town on a beautiful beach.  I spent that day trying to organize my situation and called all the farmers around the south east cost. None of them could give me work and accommodation, it was either work or accommodation. Stupid. Back in the hostel I met an Irish girl, Danish girl, German boy and English boy who all just met but all planned to stay get a work in gold cost. Since I loved it at surfers and The guys where such a funny group of people, I decided to stay trying to get some work here as well. Meaning that I spent the following two days trying to find work everywhere. Internet applications, resume handout, phone calls. Two days of less successful work finding draged my minds back to farmwork again. I could never made my mind up, and a little part of me still wanted to go back to Sydney. 

During the nights all of the hostel guests gathered in the courtyard or hostel bar playing flip cup, beer pong or just chatting around. Since it's the end of Australian football season I've met a lot of groups of guys beeing on their footytrip. Like a weekend trip together with their teammates celebrating that the season is over, I guess. Those groups of guys is always the loudest group of people you see (or hear) in the bars. This weekend we got 3 different footy trip groups only in our hoste which made the evenings quite busy since the only thing they're doing is drinking beer, spending money and talking bullshit.  

Byron bay, Australia

Andrea and Vicky got a flight booked to Byron bay, where they were gonna try to find a farmjob or wwoofing, so I decided to go with them. But the day before departure they got a farmjob offered outside Cairns, which made me ending up going by myself to Byron. I did love Byron thought, as I'm not the biggest fan of huge cities, and ended up spending almost a week there. I was in the same dorm as 2 Swedish girls so we spend a lot of time together with 4 Swedish guys. I went to the gym a couple of time when I got bored of lying on the beach all day. Spent the nights in the hostels court yard, drinking goone (Their local cheap cheap wine) and chatting the night away. 

 As it was an Australian holiday that weekend every single hostel in Byron was fully booked that Saturday, which took me and the Swedish girls to a tiny town called Nimbin. I loved it there. There wasn't much to do but gosh it was beautiful. We spend the days there lying in the grass enjoying the wonderful view, or by the pool. I was thinking about staying there for a while as I got a job offered at the hostel (work for accomendation) but then I realized that I'd probably got to restless and I need some real money as well. After two nights in wonderful Nimbin we got back to Byron for one night only. I said goodbuy to Swedish as they where booked in another hostel and I was leaving the very next morning. 

Sydney, Australia

I was filled with joy and happiness when finally arriving to Sydney airport, since I've been looking forward to this moment for ages. I got myself an Australian number straight away to be able to call Vicky when arriving to Bondi. after a lot of hassel with different trains, busses and long distant walkes I finally got to Bondi beach when I realized that I forgot to save Vicky's number while beeing in Singapore. After even more of hassling I found me an Internet cafe where I could get in touch with her. I met her on the beach where we had a happy reunion moment and she introduced me to her friends, 2 Swedish girls and German Andrea she met while living in London. 

Me, Vicky and Andrea went to the beach the next day while the other Swedish girls went for job interviews since they're staying in Sydney for a while. Coming straight from Asia does makes it feel freezing cold here after 4pm thought so couldn't stay there for to long. As it was Friday we went out for a few drinks together before I was meeting up with a friend I met during my travels in Thailand, and Vicky where going on a date. I took a bus down to the city where I met my friend at a bar his friend was dj'ing at. Good fun meeting him again and lots of stories to share. 

That Saturday morning we went back to the beach since it was a lot hotter today. I got bored quite quickly and took a long walk around Bondi and down to the shopping mall to get myself some trainers and workout clothes. I'm slowly building my backpack back up. That night we started with a girly whine night in the apartment before heading out quite late. 

Vicky and her friends are the once who could easily spent 24 hours a day working on they tan, and are heading straight to the beach every morning. Since I'm getting quite tired of that life I decided to go sightseeing and met up with my Australian friend down in the city who where happy to be my private guide for the day. We went around amazing Harbour bridge, The opera house, the rocks, art museums and stuff like that. The contract of vicky and Andreas apartment expired on the 30th, which meny that they had to spend al day packing their stuff. Early next morning the apartment had to be empty. Forutnate the Swedish girls just got a contract of an apartment on the floor above where we could put our stuff during the day. 

As Andrea and Vicky had to sort their life out, and the Swedish girl went to their first day of work I started the day with heading straight to the gym. Ended up spending at least 3 hours there since it felt so good. Met up with the others at the beach later before heading out for our last dinner together. As Vicky and Andrea both had places to stay this last night at their 'not boyfriends but kind of', I couch surfed again with a guy in the city. Quite close to the airport which was perfect since I had to be there early next morning. He was really nice picking me up in Bondi that evening. We had some beers together, talking and stuff before I headed to bed. 

Singapore, Singapore

I arrived to Singapore where I got picked up by a girl from couchsurfing who nicely enough was willing to show me around the city during the day. She took me to some highlights such as the war memorial, colonoral district, little India, their 15 floor library!!! (Alice), other seights I don't remember the name of and orchard street since I really need to get some more shopping done before entering expensive Australia. A private local guide was exactly what I needed to get as much out of my short visit her as possible. And she was happy to share the historical stories as well. 

We said goodbye to each other by the evening as I was meeting up with my host for the night. Since Singapore is a lot more expensive than the rest of Asia, I decided to try some couchsurfing while I'm here. The Indian/Norwegian guy who let me sleep at his couch got a big flat at the 39th floor in the central part of Singapore. Imagine that view. Amazing. We went out for one drink, but ended up back at the balcony of their 39th floor flat, since the price to go for a beer is about the same as back home. 

I woke up quite early the next morning since all the flat mates were heading to work. I decided to hit the road as soon as it started to rain, shitloads of rain. I waited for it to stop for a while, but it seemed to continue raining all day so I went out anyway. I got myself straight to orchard street and H&M where I spent at least 3 hours trying to build my luggage back up. (Yes, I'm traveling across the world just go to the same shops as back home). Funny thing about Singapore is that they got Malls everywhere, And I really mean everywhere. Every 50th meters was a new mall, but not a single one of them got a sportshop. Which was one of the things I really needed to find.  Singapore is also one of the cleanest city I've been to and you can get a fine if you put garbidge on the ground, which is weird since I nearly couldn't find any bins. 

After my massive H&M shopping I went to Chinatown, since the rain cooled down a bit. Chinatown is really nice but a place to get lost. Especially when you'r like my who unlucky got my mothers local mind. I spent some getting lost, finding my way throughout the tine streets of Chinetown before taking the train back to little India and Burgis village, which as I mall who feels more like a market with their cheap prices and small shops. I hate shopping, it was nothing I enjoyd while the day passed by, I felt more sorry for myself. I managed to find my way by walking from Little India back to the apartment, which I'm very proud of. I spent some time with my host before he headed for football training, and went to the airport 4 hours to early. Everyone always been talking about Singapore's airport as one of the best, and that they easily could spent a whole day there. I would never spend a whole day there but a few hours was okay. Got massages and cinemas there but it was a bit to expensive for me. Spent most of the time at the free wifi and netflix, and some more shopping for my last Singaporean dollars until bording time.