Tasmania - The Holiday Isle

Looks like England - rolling lush green hills.

Feels like England - ten degrees!

Tour starts tomorrow morning - will write a longer post then.

Nic

xxx

The City of Sydney

Well - what can I say? Sydney is superb! It's my last day today, for tomorrow morning I'm catching a plane to Hobart, and I've had some good times here.

Although I haven't done much 'culture' stuff or any proper sightseeing, I've learnt the city by just walking around and taking in the city air and grabbing cups of discounted coffee (thank you Starbucks) occassionally sitting down on a bench and reading a book. Yesterday, for example, I was sitting on a bench in front of the Sydney Opera House with my book and then talking to Lionel. There's something liberating about it. I've gone to cafes and sat for over an hour with my notebook and the bible (again, the nickname for my Lonely Planet guide to Australia) figuring out my plans for the next month.

I've noticed, also, the contrast between the state captials. Melbourne was all go-go-go, and had an industrial feel to it. Canberra was pretty, small and had a suit-wearing thing for the people in it. Sydney is a mix between the old and the new. You walk down one street, where the Queen Victoria Building and the Town Hall is and the next thing you see is some bloody great big sky scrapers. The harbours are beautiful - though Sydney Harbour Bridge is a lot smaller then you would imagine - and I could sit there for hours, again reading.

Oh, and if anyone comes here - go to the Botanic Gardens - they're the best ones yet.

So Nic is now travelling on her own and has (sort of) figured out an itinerary for the next five weeks, and thought you might be interested to know where I am and where I'm going...

MAY: -

27th - Flying from Sydney to Hobart at a ridiculus hour in the morning.
28th, 29th, 30th - 3-day tour around Tasmania, including walking up Mount Cradle.
31st - A day in Hobart.

JUNE: -

1st - Flying to Cairns via three planes. *groan*
2nd, 3rd, 4th - Good times in Cairns (maybe including Bungy Jumping and a Rainforest tour)
5th - Flying to Darwin and meeting Lionel.
6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th - Good times in Darwin :) (and happy birthday Mum!)
12th - Flying to Cairns and getting a bus to Mission Beach.

13th - 4th - Sort of a haze at the moment. I'm buying a hop on hop off bus ticket for me to go from Cairns to Brisbane - so these three weeks will be filled with good beach times.

5th - Arriving back in England, jet-lagged and in love with Australia.

Hopefully this helps those curious minds out there :)

I have less then five minutes remaining on the internet now - so got to go...

Nic
xxx

VIC and ACT

Two more states down - get in!

So, since my last post myself and Jenny have conquered the grand state of Victoria. We arrived in melbourne after a rather uncomfortable overnight bus from Adelaide in which two fellow backpackers in front of us reclined their seats all the way so my lanky legs got cramped and therefore I was not able to sleep very well. I was bitter about this for several days, as you are meant to look after your fellow backpacker...

Anyway, from the first few moments I was in Melbourne I loved it, it's a fantastic city. We checked into our hostel and wandered the city after booking two tours for the next few days. We pondered into a few museums and stood on gold ingots, rode trams, ate and longed for McCafe back in England...

Tours now - firstly we had a day on a coach down the Great Ocean Road, which is simply AMAZING. It was typically British weather; rainy, stormy and unpredictable but it only made it feel so much better. True nature, as it were. Myself and Jenny got extremely wet as we viewed the Twelve Apostles (though there are only seven now since many have fallen down) which are limestone stacks in the sea. We rekindled our love of OK! magazine and bought postcards and generally had just an brilliant day.

Another tour was Wilson's Promontory with a true bushman as our guide, named Andy. We made friends with a Canadian called Julie too and walked to the summit of Mount Oberon and then trailed the walk to Squeaky Beach. Simply beautiful.

On our other free day in Melbourne we went to the MCG and become true Melbourne Demons supporters, as Jenny lost her voice from calling the Western Bulldog players some rude names and I bought myself a Melbourne Demons beanie, which can be seen if you check out my pictures on facebook.

Next we hit Canberra, which compared to the busy and big city of Melbourne was actually really quiet. But it had some cool stuff. We hired bikes and I remembered how to ride one after so many months of driving. We cycled to the Australian War Memorial which was very interesting. I took the free tour whilst Jenny went to research her family history and then we met up and walked to the summit of Mount Ainslie. The view was the whole of Canberra, a sight definitley to be seen. Next we attempted to cylce round Lake Burley Griffin but got somewhat lost and ended up on two freeways and had to get out the bible (the nickanme of my lonley planet guide to Australia) to find our way back before the sun went down. In the end we worked out we cycled 16k, so there's the benefit.

Now, I'm currently aboding in Jenny's rellies place in Bulli (a suburb just outside Sydney) to which I feel very welcome. The Buchanans can only be described as a family like no other, and I'm having a chillaxing time here before starting the next leg of my trip, which consists of doing a tour around Tassie and then going up to Cairns and making my way down the coast from there, and maybe heading up to Darwin to have another sneaky peak at the city if I can fit it in.

So all is well with me - how about the rest of you?

Nic

xxx

Adelaide

I'm speaking to you all from a computer in Melbourne, however the subject of this marvellous piece is going to be Adelaide.

Yesterday, myself and a very very good friend of mine from home, Jenny, walked many kilometres to defeat the state capital of South Australia in 24 hours. We think we did this quite successfully as we shopped for necessities, saw the sights and gossiped about the past three months in which we haven't seen each other before the time where we caught our bus to Melbourne last night.

Adelaide, in conclusion, is a beautiful and quaint city. It many ways, it reminds me of Cambridge. Everywhere is a walkable distance, there are plenty of parks and the architecture is a mix between the old and the new. Furthermore, it was raining, and felt rather cold at nineteen degrees.

((Yes, nineteen degrees is COLD. I'm used to working in thirty degree heat, remember?))

We walked to the Haigh's chocolate museum, though didn't get to walk around since there was a tour in progress, but bought some chocolate frogs at a dollar each to console ourselves. Then moved onto the main shopping part of the city and window shopped and then did the walking tour in the Lonely Planet guide, walking along the river and getting attacked by black swans.

Our hostel was absolutely superb! Cheap and clean and a really nice guy called Malcolm runs it. If you ever go to Adelaide, stay at Hostel 109 on Carrington St.

Anyway, for those who want pictures go here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9306&id=1612680176&l=ec1799f0ff

Now I have to shower and then hit Melbourne city! :)

Nic

xxx

Farewell Northern Territory

It's nearing the end of my time at Buchanan Downs Station, and even my time in the Northern Territory, as from tomorrow I am making my way south to Adelaide to meet up with my best friend Jenny. There are going to be things I am going to miss here, and somethings I am definitley not going to miss, and so, I have decided to make two lists.

THINGS I AM GOING TO MISS:

• the people, to put it frankly. During the weekdays here working was fun. We got into a routine and became a unit who knew what each other was doing and what we were capable of. Even though plenty of people have passed through the gates of the station, the unit adapted and changed with it. I've learned so much from the people here, including how to cook and drive a car, which I know I would have had to probably pay for back home. It's been fun, and I'm going to miss them.
• Beef for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Toasted steak sandwichs with HP Sauce. Yum.
• Being called a useless pom everyday of my working life.
• Getting money and not having anywhere to spend it.
• Eric, the yellow Nissan.
• Lionel.
  

THINGS I WON'T MISS:

• Being so far from a pub/shop/civilisation.
• The weekends when the boss flys in and gives me bollockings.
• Having to clean the single's men's shithouse.
• Being so far away from friends and family.
• Getting up at 5am every morning.

That basically sums it up. I feel like I've changed in a way, I've gained more experience but I no more confident then when I was back home. I've been getting that friday feeling, when you know the break is coming up but it's just not coming along quick enough.

My time here wasn't what I expected. It was harder, tougher and physically enduring. But on the other hand, I don't think I would have given it up for anything.

Despite the boss being an absolute cow.

See you soon, when I'm in Adelaide, South Australia.

Nic

xxx

Bed 18, Children's Ward, Katherine Hospital

Yes, that's right folks, yours truly has spent the past five days admitted to Katherine Hospital. 'Why?' I hear you ask. Well that's a tale in itself...

It's mustering season, which is when all the cattle are pushed into the yards to be processed. Cows down one race, calves down another, weaners another etc etc. I was working on the calf cradle, which is a mechanism for catching the little buggers and clamps them in so we can brand and tag and and castrate and worm and, importantly, vaccinate them against botulism.

There is a needle on a gun for this vaccination, and after getting bollocked by my evil boss I was a bit flustered and somehow managed to jab myself with this needle. I thought nothing of it at the time. I had, in fact, jabbed myself the day before and I was fine. However, this particular jab must have gone deeper then the other, seen as that night my hand started to throb with pain and Lionel had to give me two nurofen to dull the pain and let me sleep. The next morning I told my boss that my wrist was the most painful thing I've had since I dislocated my knee and how it just couldn't move. She put me on anti-biotics and painkillers, hoping that would end the matter.

However, by lunchtime that day, it became apparent that the anti-biotics weren't working, and so she said that if tomorrow it was no better I would hitch a lift with Lionel (who was going into Katherine that day anyway) and go to hospital. Fun times.

So I get to hospital and go to A+E and they begin to think that it's septic arthritis and even called the infectious diseases doctor in Darwin for an opinion. I get admitted and put on a drip for the anti-biotics. The first day the Doctor said I was to get transferred to Darwin to have an operation, but they decided against that and kept me in for observation as it seemed apparent that it might not be septic arthritis. 24 more hours of observation turned out to be a lot longer, as I stayed in for a further three days. Then yesterday, the Doctor said that my wrist was a lot better and that I could be discharged. I was so happy to hear that. There's nothing worse then being on your own in hospital with the threat of an operation hanging on you then being on the other side of the world and being on your own in hospital and having the threat of an operation hanging on you.

It was better at times, I had lots of phone calls - some from the expected and some from the unexpected (thank you Grandma, Georgina and Tracey :D) I spoke to Lionel for more then two hours a day, and generally really wanted to get back to work.

Unfortunately, I've not been able to do so. The Australian hospital system is very different to the one in England, and I wasn't told how to handle the Australian one. Before I went to Katherine, I was told by my boss that I can claim the bill onto Worker's Compensation, which is a well known thing here, since it's a injury sustained in the workplace. Apparently, when I was discharged I was meant to be given a form to give to my boss claiming that I am fit to work again but I wasn't given this. So now, I have to chase it up and ask them to fax it over, otherwise I'm 'unfit' for working.

It's a load of annoying things. Hmph.

Anyway, I'm on oral anti-biotics now and painkillers for the next week, and am counting down the days until I leave here (14 today) and start travelling! xD

Your arthritic buddy,

Nic

xxx

Gordons, Five Mile, Paradise, Schuberts and North, South and West Buchanan.

I last posted ages ago - right? I bet people, well one person (mentioning no names, Father) who is probably getting annoyed that I haven't. There is one simple reason for this. TIME.

I have almost none for myself, since the work here is getting intense in the lead up to mustering. It's really tiring, and most of the time I just want to sleep or get wired from caffeine so I can keep working. Today is my first day off after seven days solid physical work in the tropical sun, and if you can give me a buck for how many times I have overheated I'd be a millionaire by now.

However, we've done some fantastic work recently.

In one of the paddocks, we've placed in another trough for the cattle to drink from which is a hefty job which requires a lot of poly pipe, vehicles and muscle. On the first day when we were taking everything we needed out to the paddock (called Gordons) we had two utes with trailers, the front end loader and the truck all moving out there. A few days later the Grader was out there too. It took four people to plumb in the trough from the Turkey's Nest in Five Mile (which is a big mound with a dip in the middle for a pool of water in the next paddock. There are several of these on the station) Anyway, poly pipe fitting is the easiest thing in the world. If you played with Lego as a child, then you'll be able to do it like that *snaps fingers*

The title of this blog is all the paddock's names of which myself and two other new pommy backpackers have been sent round to check the fence lines of. One of which - North Buchanan - was where I perfected my 4x4 driving skills. The roads around the fence line were simply eroded during the wet season. It was all sand, and had produces dry canals that swooped from side to side. Checking the fence line was meant to take us three hours, we got back nearly five and a half hours later, and my hand prints are still on the steering wheel of Eric. Poor sod.

This was very similar when myself and Dan drove around Schuberts. Again, eroded fence lines and very hilly. Took us six and a half hours. And we did see a dead cow on the Northern Side with a frilled-necked lizard on top. That was a pleasant sight.

The two new backpackers are lovely guys and have made me feel better about being just a backpacker ho is here for experience, as they are too. Dan and Mark make me laugh and even help out with the cooking, and sometimes offer to do it all. They even let me watch movies on their laptop and Jeff Dunham's stand up. Makes me happy. (Ant - buy Jeff Dunham's Spark of Insanity. He's the guy who does Achmed the Terrorist)

It's strange how settled you can become. I remember my first day here, but it feels like a year ago instead of two months. I am really beginning to enjoy myself here, and that's what I intend to do, enjoy it whilst it lasts. I've given in my notice to the boss, and I leave Buchanan Downs on the morning of the 11th May, to go and meet up with Jenny in Sydney for some fun times. But part of me doesn't want it to end. I can see myself doing this for a much longer time. Then again, I have had some of the worst homesickness recently - so I know I couldn't stay out here forever. Plus, I simply just LOVE Marmite far too much.

I've got to love you and leave you now.

Nic

xxx