DreamTrip

          Day26
10:00 Drove to Footscray (10km) for cheap petrol, but when we got there, we realised it was more expensive than were we where. After filling up half the tank as everywhere was expensive, we drove back to Port Melbourne & Leon had a dip in the sea.
We realised we had nothing to do all day. At all. We did call to enquire about harvest jobs, however the office was closed till Tuesday (Monday Labor Day). We bought mixed grill & Souvlaki at Coles, & decided to spend a long time just cooking, filling up the Souvlaki with salad & attempting at cooking chips on a bbq. Delicious. Ending with white milk cookies.
16:30 Left from the BBQ area in Sandridge Beach, & drove to the City Centre for Moomba Festival! A long weekend with lots of entertainment all around the city. Met up with Marek. Amazing atmosphere. Street art, face painting, food stalls, games such as huge chequers, waterwaking, fun rides, bumping cars, bmx competitions, live performances, toy stalls & winning prizes at Alexandra Gardens. The sun shone brightly! We took a tour around Federation Square too where the entertainment continued, then around 21:45 huge fireworks lit up the sky right infront of the moon, celebrating & ending the day. We drove back through traffic & busy roads around 23:00 to Perc White Reserve, our usual Port Melbourne spot to spend the night underneath a full moon and next to the Beach.
          Day27
Weather finally opened up. Washed clothes & arranged the front right bulb of the car, then chilled in the sun all afternoon. Bought food from Coles & cooked Mongolian Lamb & rice in Souvlaki’s. Amazing. Highlight of these past two days was food.
17:00 went to Coles again & bought Mini Choc Ice Creams for $4. Had to eat all 6 or they would melt! We drove to the Centre, chilled at Federation Square & at 19:30 made our way to Flinders Lane, AC/DC Lane, for “Higgo’s Heavy Cherry/Desecrator” gig at Cherry Bar. A fund-raising gig selling raffles for a chance to win a fridge (yeah you read that correctly lol) signed by metal artists who played at Soundwave in order for the Australian band Desecrator to tour Europe & have fundings (such as Rob Halford, Corey Taylor, band members from Fear Factory, Exodus, Lamb of God). We got a free shot of jager at entrance ($15) & got to see Harlott, Decimatus, Party Vibez & Desecrator, all formed in Melbourne. 23:30 the gig ended, we then walked to the car, & drove back down to Perc White Reserve for a good night’s sleep.
          Day28
Sun :) Tried calling for harvest work, provided 3 numbers but 1 was already filled in. We left & went to a Laundry next to Middle Park to wash the clothes & duvets. $10 for two washes & $5 for a dry. We then went to Coles, went back to Perc White Reserve & cooked Chicken Korma with salad in Souvlaki’s. 17:00 Continued finding work, & the other job was taken aswell. Its more difficult than we thought finding work in farms. After attempting to call 5 others, & none replied, we made our way over the Westgate Freeway Bridge & arrived at Williamstown for a different place to sleep – Warmies Boat Ramp. Upon arriving & finding it quite peaceful, we drove to Hobsons Bay to refill our water bottles, then back to Warmies at 21:00 to relax after a hard day and stressful day!
          Day29
A month since we left. Beautiful sunny weather. Called National Harvest, and provided a number for prickly pears pickers. Called Meredith who advised us positions are still available. After some arrangements, we agreed to give it a try. 11:45 left to Footscray to go to Big W, to buy some cotton tops and shorts. Around 14:00ate Sushi Mix ($10) & Grilled Chicken ($9.95). We called Meredith again to confirm time arriving (still abit sceptic if it’s a scam or not), then left at 15:44. After driving a total of 232km, with pitstops to refill our water, we arrived at Glenrowan at 18:45, & passed the white gate into a field filled with prickly pears, an old shed, and a friendly Collie (later named Jack). After meeting Meredith and information filled in, we confirmed we were safe to say we have a job for the next 3weeks (hopefully!). $2.50 per box filled, hours 6am till 12pm weather permitting (apparently goes up to 32degrees in the afternoon). Boiler suits on top of cotton clothes (our sweat will be boiling!), hats, glasses, safety shoes & gloves. $25 per person per week for accomodation unpowered in the car (includes common bathroom, kitchen, & laundry). We drove a 10km to Coles buying some food for the coming days to place in fridge, & drove back to Lizio’s Farm. Pitch black, 28 degrees (21:30) & stars everywhere. Beautiful. We have limited 3g, & reception, so these past few days might be quiet, & if you don’t hear from us hopefully we will still be alive & not eaten by the spiders everywhere!
          Day30
Alarm set off at 04.45, snoozing till 05.15. We dressed up for our first day at work. By 06:00 we reported to the shed, ate bfast (bread with ham) and started dressing: boiler suit, apron, gloves, plastic cover over the arms, another pair of gloves, head cover, protective glasses and hats. We could barely walk! We wore our baskets and sharpened our knives, & waited till dusk.
We got driven through a field of prickly pears, & once we arrived at the starting point, we were advised which ones to pick & not, cutting through spider webs & passing through huge spiders, & getting prickles everywhere. It was us, another couple (Ozzy and Sweden) & a German bloke.
By noon stopped picking. After 5 hours of hard work, we only managed to fill 13 boxes between us. We were given ice lollies, ate 3 each. $2.50 per box would mean $16.25 each one of us. Not good. We cooked Tortellini with Pork & Capsicums with white sauce. More ice lollies. And prickles everywhere. Painful. Annoying. Hands, fingers, back & chin! We sorted out the food & utensils compartment, & gave ourselves a very good outdoor scrub! After some consideration & calculations, we realised it was not worthit even if we picked double the boxes. We had a sudden change of plan & destination, advised we were leaving (apparently alot of people dont stay more than a couple of days), another ice lolly for the way & by 18.35 we hit the road. We did not last even 24hours. We were told it was easy to pick, however it was the end of season, so even if we stayed the remaining 3weeks, we would get kicked out, and stil not much to pick! We could say shortest job ever. We stopped at Ironbark Rest Area in Childtern, had a good talk with a retired man (from Perth) travelling around Ozzy, re-living what they did 45years ago. 20:00 Sunburnt, everywhere hurts and 31degrees. Already tucked in bed like young children after a hectic schoolday. Around 22:00, we ate a sandwich & stared at the amazingly lit sky full of stars. Have a prickly night! :(
          Day31
Trains passing by on our right, & trailers on the highway to our left. Still quiet sleeping on the side of Hume Freeway. Making coffee & eating donuts (bought from Coles x6 for 0.50c!), we made our way at 10:20 to Albury with barely any petrol & a 36km drive to the petrol station.
10:38 Welcome to New South Wales. 31degrees. We fed the car 75.69litres ($93.78) at with a discount we found saving $3. We then drove to Albury Information Centre, enquired about the surrounds, went to the free Library Museum, drove through Dean Street & past the Botanical Gardens and up the Monument Hill Reserve with a viewing point. We then went to Noreuil Park next to the Murray River, cooked Tortellini with Pork & Korma Sauce amongst 50 white parrots & survived an hour without being stung by the annoying big bees.
16:20 We walked around the park, all the way to Oddies Creek, seeing numerous dogs running around & playing, then went to the Twilight Market at 18:00 held only on Thursdays. Everything locally hand-made: dresses, sauces, woollen clothes, wooden items, chillis... Had a Tropical Crust at Boost (Australian Dr.Juice), then drove off a rough 45km to Woomargama Rest Area.
19:15 Getting our bed ready before we hit a local pub, we got called over by this old Aussy dude named Bob Gibson (Gibby), an 83 year old writer, poet, & ex crook capturer who was telling us of his 30years sickness in his ears & hearing just screeches & how usually the illness gets to people, however kept saying he was a fighter since of young age. Even though we were being attacked by mosquitoes, we enjoyed a 45min talk, & hearing stories of how he tried to capture 2 murderers with a rifle, how they tried sending him to a home & tried to escape & how he spent the day going out to get groceries. He kept saying it was nice talking to someone as he lives on his own but prefers it, how he is trying to beat his old aged body but is still very sick, to keep on smiling & if we are leaving early in the morning to show us pictures & his written stories. After thanking us for sharing his stories, opening up & making him look up at the stars as it was so dark & he was still outside, we hit the local bar called 'Woomargama Village Hotel Motel' close by the Rest Area, drank VB, Carlton Draught & a Soy Honey Chicken Packet, & went back to the car at 21:15.
Getting close to the car, we saw a picture he stuck on the door of 21year old Gibby and a picture of his parents. We felt so glad & happy we made his day & especially of the fact when he told us he will never forget us especially as we come from a long distance away after showing him where Malta was!
          Day32
Early morning, and after a call to National Harvest, we drove down to Woomargama National Park down Tunnel Road, and all away around to get to Holbrook through Jingellic. A beautiful scenic drive, passing huge mountains, trees & cows.
11:40- Arrived at Holbrook. Population 1,400. We visited the information centre who basically said there was nothing to do apart from a huge submarine just around the corner. A woman came up to us asking if we were Maltese, and said that she and her husband were, and they were on their way to Melbourne for a wedding. After climbing onto the huge submarine (Hmas Otway), we drove to a mechanic to confirm some 4wd noises, then went to Holbrook Market & bought a Grilled Ready Cooked Chicken & Chocolate Milk & devoured it at a close-by garden. Taking out the map & pinpointing stops in the scorching sun, we then made our way along the Hume Freeway again. We drove 64km to Tarcutta, a rest stop, refreshed ourselves with cold shower, & drove another 35km through Snowy Mountains & to Adelong, population 1,300. We arrived at Adelong Falls Gold Mill Ruins (1900) & did a rough 1km walk called "Campsie Lower Loop Walk". One thing we can say - Ozzies looove stairs & steps!
17:50 Left Adelong. Hit the Snowy Mountains Freeway again to Tumut. We drove around the town, then drove 27km up North to a City called Gundagai. We made our way to Hungry Jacks (Ozzy Burger King) and bought Chicken Supreme with small fries & Coke and purple Fanta (with refills $6.40 each) & Cookie Ice Cream ($2).
20:05 Made our way to sleep at Morley's Creek, a beautiful small greenery between a lake & cows, peaceful surroundings with Slow Magic playing in the car background till we get the back of the car sorted & sleep in what already looks like a promising beautiful town.
          Day33
9am, walked Sheridan Street & made our way to the Tourist Information who basically gave us a list of things to see however all had some entrance fees. We decided to go to the Library with free wifi & charging points. We then bought from the opposite Woolworths, & on spending $20 we got 5 free Disney/Pixar Dominos to play with! We went to Yarri Park/Anzac Park, cooked an amazing 14:00 BBQ 'Bfast' with 145g Corn, 420g Baked Beans, 800g bbq meat, 240g Bacon & x8 Frankfurters. After a full stomach, went to watch some horses being raced, but with the entrance fee being $10 per person, we decided to skip. 28degrees. Sunny & not a single cloud. We went to wash the car at Top End $4, then washed & dried some laundry for another $8 at Coin Laundrette.
Gundagai is a beautiful town village, almost all built in 1800's. Majority of stores being established in 1860's, which give it a nice old look to all the surroundings. There's a pole showing the years the place flooded, worse being back in 3rd July 1853, 41ft 4" with 79 drowned & township destroyed. A wrought iron truss bridge, the Prince Alfred Bridge, was built in 1865 across the Murrumbidgee River, which gives the country town along with people wearing shirts & cowboy hats a unique feeling. The town's famous icon is "Dog on a Tuckerbox" (also a statue), & this place is famous for poets & writers' break & motivation, which we can see why.
19:00 We headed to Hungry Jacks for a Cookies & Cream and M&M's Storm Ice Cream ($2 each) then after hitting the library again to catch up with family, drove back to Morley's Creek to sleep for the night, under the starry sky.
          Day34
After an early morning due to the heat, we made some apricot jam crackers to get us going, topped up the engine oil, then took off the Hume Highway. 11:46 arrived at the monument "Dog on the Tuckerbox" North Gundagai, chilled abit in the shade with an ice lolly, fed the car just $40 petrol (with 10% ethanol as prices are sky high)($145.4/litre or with ethanol $129.4) then left. Made our way to Young. Passed through Coolac on the Muttana Road, then rested at Wallendbeen, where there were some stalls & fresh drinking water. Very. Hot.
Made our way (27km) to Young, Cherry Capital of NSW. We drove to the Information and after getting maps and places of interest, drove to a campsite to check prices ($25/car/night or $150/car/week). After driving around to find a free campsite, we decided to go to "Young Showgrounds", a place were they train horses on harnesses to race. We cooked some Fusilli with Cacciatore Sauce, Capsicums & frankfurters, then drove to Maccas (McDonalds) for $1 ice cream cone & x2 $1 Frozen Sour Fanta. Taking a look for jobs at the newspaper, however finding nothing, we drove around the City to know where two Job Centres are located which will be open tomorrow (Monday). We pulled out some money, drove to Woolworths & bought x4 slices of Leg Ham ($1.46), x6 slices of Cheese ($1.68), 95c 110g Coleslaw, and a $1.68 Long Baguette (which later after paying, realised we forgot to pay for the bread!). Went back to the Showgrounds & devoured the huge Baguette around 20:15, then prepared for an early relaxed night in. Tomorrow,we try & job hunt!
          Day35
Drove to 4 Job Centres at 10:00, but all had no farm jobs available, so we drove to Maccas for wifi to search online whilst eating the dollar ice cream. 11.30 went to Wilders Bakery to try some of the best Cherry Pie ($6 with cream) of NSW. Veryyy good indeed! On our way out of Young, we passed the Chinamans Dam Reserve in the Lambing Flat Chinese Gardens. Standing ground for over 1200 Chinese miners who fled for their lives from rioting mobs back in 1861. It is also home for birds such as Dusky Moorhen, Eurasian Coot, Pied Cormorant, purple Swamphen, Superb Parrot. Whilst walking around the garden, we found a jingle bell clipon! (Wore it all day :) Jingle. Jingle)
12:51 Made our way to Yass, 109km drive.
Passed through Harden, Murrumburrah, Binalong, & Bowning. We stopped at the Yass Service Station for a cold shower and to stretch abit, then drove to the City Centre around 15:00. After buying from Woolworths, & visiting the Information Centre for a map, we headed to "Joe O'Connor Park" where we will be sleeping for the night, cooked some Fusilli with Chicken Cacciatore, Corn & Capsicums, & ate x6 small donuts with Apricot Jam for desert.
Walked to Centre at 20:00. No life what so ever. Everyone is shut before 8pm. Fair enough it's a Monday, but it gave an eerie feel to the town. We bought x6 Chiang Beer from BWS (Beer,Wine,Spirits) for $13, & drank them relaxed in the car, listening to some music.
           Day36
Very cloudy weather, & town not much more lively than the evening! After buying from Woolworths & Aldi, made our way to the park next to the Info point & made some Donuts with Apricot Marmalade for B'fast with Iced Coffee. After locating a Geocache and taking a swing in the playground, we walked along Comur Street (Main str) & walked in diversity camping & equipment shops. Around 15:00, we went to Riverside Park, cooked Rice Noodles with Garlic&Herb Sausages in Black Bean Sauce on the BBQ. Being sufficient & saving on the gas cyclinder! The place started getting active now, with children in the playground & people jogging and practising boxing. It started drizzling, & made our way next to the Info point for wifi & to charge the Laptop battery. We kept driving around for wifi to keep on looking for work, and whoever saw us must have laughed as we kept on driving from one shop to another street to get access to Gumtree. Police driving by us, and probably we looked suspicious, we therefore drove back to the park around 22:00 to get a good night's sleep. Wasn't too entertaining for a day today, however the weather didn't help much & to be honest there isn't much to do in Yass. Will probably hit the road tomorrow, however we needed a good rest before driving in the heat for a long distance again.
          Day37
A smell of fresh air & wet grass. Thunder. Rain. Made our way out of the Park around 09:30 to go to the information point, made bfast (crackers in apricot jam), and saw a Shetland Sheepdog. Went to speak to the owner, who said Celina was 11 years old but had cancer and was on her way to make a blood transfusion. She was half blind and deaf, and broke our hearts because she looked adorable. The owner kept talking to us and that he had visited Sicily but never Malta, on his trips to Asian countries & also was giving us some tips where best to try and find farm work. Hearing so much how Young is a better opportunity to work, & once we make our way to Canberra it is much difficult, at 11:44 made our way back to Young.
$40 petrol, stopping at the Yass Service Station and after driving 60km same route back as we came here, 31degrees, we arrived at 14:00. We walked in another Recruitment Agency we might have missed last time, & told us they couldn't help us as they only help physically impaired. This was the 4th agency in total here in Young who specify in aiding only physically impaired! We went to KFC & ordered Family Treat, a discount we had from Woolworths. 9 pieces, 1 large chips with herbs, 1 large potato & gravy & 4 dinner rolls for $17.95! 600ml Pepsi for $3.90 then. We did save $13.30!
After an hour, we left with our stomach full, went to Maccas for Frozen Fanta & Frozen Cola ($2) then walked all up & down Boorowa Str. maybe looking for leaflets. Incredible how every shop on the main road closes by 17:30.
Drove to Youngs Showground around 19:00, & saw the sun setting at 19:35. Too many mosquitos outside, so an early night in for sure!
          Day38
Early morning, & made our way to Woolworths buying a $0.95c orange juice & $39.90 mobile credit to call & sms locally unlimited & 4gig internet usage. Added another 11 more Disney/Pixar Dominos.
Drove to the park opposite the Info Point to make some crackers & apricot jam bfast. Walked around the Town and walked in HomeBase, Target, a camping shop, then went to Maccas for the $1 ice cone, and went to buy from SuperIGA. 1kg rice, a green & red capsicum, lamb & a small pepsi costed only $7. We then went to the Showgrounds around 14:30 & cooked a delicious rice plate with Lamb in Black bean Sauce. We chilled under the shade as it was too hot (33degrees). Tuned the guitar, & tried playing some notes!
17:20 drove to the Young & Region Twilight Farmers Market in Anderson Park, but in just 5 mins, we walked to every stall. They speciailise in goat's milk soap & scented candles, held a quail from a cage which was being sold, and heard the Australian Young Choir singing from My Fair Lady & Oliver Twist. Deciding a cone for $4 was expensive, we walked to SuperIGA again, bought a 2litre Orange Juice for $1.69, and chilled on a table next to the Market till the blazing sun setted. 19:45 drove to Maccas for some wifi, & then drove back to the Showground to sleep.
          Day39
After going around in Big W, we ended up buying a 400g Nutella and Cookies & Cream Wafers ($7) and by 11:00, dipped them as Brunch infront of Woolworths. We bought a mouse for $8 from Woolworths, then made our way to the Library to charge some camera batteries & phones & transferred all the pics onto the laptop.
14:30 made our way to Supa IGA, and went to the Showgrounds & cooked some beautiful Butter Chicken.
19:30 Sun setting, we took off to the Centre and hit a bar at "Commercial Hotel", took a Toohey's ($5) then an XXXX Gold ($4.80) outside in the Courtyard. Then at 22:00 drove our way back to the Showgrounds.
          Day40
Started off with a market just outside where we slept, known as "Gerrard & Partners Livestock & Property. Lots of items for sale dating from old vinyls, cassettes, to modern scanners, bicycles, scramblers, cages & anything you can imagine from an old garage. They started auctioning chicks & geese, then they continued their way through, but we made our way.
10:00 Bought a 2ltr Orange Juice from Woolworths. We got a call offering for a job. $100 for 2 hours modelling, needed Mon-Fri for 2 weeks. Sounded fishy, & when asked what was needed exactly, after he said nude we advised were not interested, and couldnt stop laughing after!
We drove to Lambing Flat Chinese Festival all around Young. We first went to the Lambing Flat Folk Museum at Campbell Street, but had an entrance fee, so we passed. We went to the Town Hall to "Lilian Lai Rice Paper Paintings & Lambing Flat Chinese Festival Sculpture, Wood & Big Art Exhibition" at the Town Hall. Gold coin donation, & saw several sculptures made of iron, metal, steel, wood, hebel block & barbed wire. Photography. Drawings made of acrylic, pastel, watercolours, oil & also ink on rice paper.
We made our way to Super IGA & bought 800g Rump Steak & 450g garlic bread all for $16.20! We first started cooking at Captain Cook Weir park but the bbq stopped working half way through, so we went to the opposite side of the park and found it all rusty and paying 20c! Holding the half cooked meat in a plate in Kirsten's hand with the rest in a bag, we quickly went to the Chinamans Gardens to continue cooking. Finally, we could enjoy our meal. We fed some magpies, and had some nutella with wafers, then drove to the Anderson Park.
15:15 Kung FuMartial Arts.
15:30 Classical Music with Wong Siblings (piano, harp, violin, flute, recorder, viola & cello).
Went for a walk around. We are in the year of the goat (Yang). We met a 4month old goat Nevana on a leash, then drew magpies with ink on some Chinese rice paper with the artist Lilian Lai, got our names written in Traditional Chinese Script with Mimi Kwok & confirmed that my tattoo does mean "Never Give Up"! To all those who kept teasing me it means sweet & sour :p
17:30 Chinese Culture with costumes from major dynasties, music & traditional dance. Saw a dragon dance, and a fan dance, costumes of an ambassador, well educated lady, prisoner (for operas), married woman, young scholar (winter version too), queen, wedding dress, king's son-in-law, middle/upper class, waitress, princess, & finally modern clothingwith western influences.
We learned pink is worn by scholars & means education. Red is for weddings means happy & goodluck, while white is for funerals. Phoenixes & dragons are worn only by queens/kings. They also used to wear a ring around their waist to show privacy & personal space as they were high in authority.
18:00 Kumiai-Ryu Marshall Arts System; a black belt showing us basic defence.
18:30 A 13year old, Trystan Go, singing Classical Opera.
18:45 David (Chinese) & Eva (Netherlands) playing Chinese Music on Erhu (Chinese Violin - popular in Song Dynasty 960-1279AD) & Guzheng (Chinese Harp), and Hulusi ( Chinese gourd pipe) & recorder.
We met up with one of the Kung Fu Martial Arts, & was asking us about Malta & what we specialize in & told us he never met any Maltese people! They won several awards and won best in the world in a recent year.
19:30 A beautiful vibrant 15mins of spectacular Chinese Lion Dancers all lit up with a red lit up dragon doing quite a show. The lions & dragons then come up to people and feed the dragon and dancing lions, a chinese culture, 'lucky' red envelopes containing donations of money for the following year for the Chinese Festival. We headed back to the Showgrounds around 21:00. Tried to take some photos of the beautiful starry sky, but there was too much light. It was truly a learning & unique experience, and a truly spiritual event for Young representing a Chinese day for all those workers who had found shelter here back hundreds of years ago!