Hangin Around

I keep starting blogs and don't get around to finishing them. The unfinished thoughts sit and stew and turn brown and old and disinteresting to me as I continue to move forward and experience new and exciting things. Looking back isn't as appealing. I guess those stories will have to be the ones I tell over a cup of tea around the fire with you when I get back.

Today is the last of a few days off because of rain. I'm sitting outside in Kerry's gorgeous backyard listening to the chorus of birds and the rush of the light breeze. (There are some parrots here who sound like Bob and Terry from Where The Wild Things Are!! I bet they're cousins.) It's kinda chilly in the shade with the sun already hiding behind the trees, making them vibrantly green, orange and red in the beautiful autumn afternoon.

It's crazy that it's autumn here. No summer for me this year. It definitely gets hot midday though. Yesterday I went for a run in the afternoon and enjoyed all the shades the trees provided on the road, keeping me from melting! During my run a mob of about 25 kangaroos were bounding through the bush and came out onto the road in front of me in small groups of seven to ten kangas! It was incredible to be running along with them! Of course, I couldn't keep up but it was amazing to see the wild ones so close. They were so big! Four of them hopped out and started heading straight toward me until they realized that I was a very magenta looking creature and not a kangaroo so they leapt the opposite way. They're such incredible creatures!

We just finished a lunch of fresh, delicious homemade tortillas (SO EASY!!) and leftover tostada veggies. It's hard to get some of the right ingredients out here on the farm, but we've made it work. Last night we had an exciting poker game with Jon and Karin and a friend of theirs, James, from London. I won!! I've used the money to buy tickets for me and Ben to join everyone at the Melborne International Comedy Festival Tour in Dubbo tonight. I'm looking forward to it very much! (It was so much fun!!!)

Tomorrow we'll go back to work and probably don't have more than a week left with the harvest. After that Harry will head back to his new home in the Blue Mountains (where we'll visit him later on!) and Ben and I will go off adventuring some more before he heads home. We're still coordinating our Great Barrier Reef trip and trying to get into the outback in some way. Karin's sister lives near Aires Rock and I would love to make that trip happen at some point!

I've begun to look for another job- possibly with Kerry's cousin at a macadamia nut plant(??) And I'm still figuring how I'm going to live out of a backpack for the next year. What to keep and what I could really benefit from leaving behind. I think in the name of adventure taking risks and indulging in certain things a bit is definitely beneficial. I'm officially signed up as a WWOOFer and I'm on couch surfing again. There are so many incredible resources for backpackers! Rocko was telling me Australia actually relies on them quite a bit for their harvests because it's such temporary work and farming just seems to be falling to the hands of machines for the most part. I'm very much looking forward to my WWOOF (willing workers on organic farms) experiences. I have no idea what that'll entail!

Just before this last chunk of work we had a few days off to wait for the cotton to be ready for harvest. I learned to drive a manual and love it so much better than automatic!! Ben and I have been practicing footy (Australian football (not rugby)) and we both have our favorite teams now. Mine is Hawthorne, his is Collingwood, who we saw play in Melbourne. Rock took us to see the local teams play rugby last weekend and it was fascinating to be involved with the small country town's festivities. We were sitting right next to the barbie and Rock introduced us to all the locals we came across. I even met Kerry's good friend Susie but I didn't even realize it! There was a sweet little toddler keeping me entertained when the game wasn't. We really had a great time! That same day Kerry and I met Jon and Karin at the farmer's market in the morning. Again, it was such fun to be a part of the little town and meet people who've known each other for generations. I learned a lot of colloquialisms through those interactions. Aussies are so fantastic!

I've also been taking a lot of pictures, for myself and for a photo contest I'm planning to enter on the cotton harvesting industry. (We'll see how that goes..) And I've come further than I ever have on the guitar! Hooray! I think the art of guitar, like tango, is something you can only continue to get better and better and better at. I am so enjoying the process. And damn how I miss tango. Ben led me in a teaser dance just now and it was sooo not satisfying! As soon as we get back to Sydney I'm going dancing! I'll find it, I know it's out there.

For now I'm happy enjoying the beautiful farm surrounded by nature. It's given me a lot of time to reflect and appreciate who I am and explore who I want to be. It's wonderful to be with such an incredible family to share a home, food and laughter with. I love having amazing people to connect with and learn from. It's amazing to hear what I have to say sometimes and I've really been enjoying hearing different perspectives as well (and yet, they're so similar.) It's fascinating how like attracts like~ even over long distance, obscure connections like Jon's brother's ex-girlfriend's best friend's mutual friends.