From the Tomato Jungle and a new Homebase

The water is pounding down on me and I run my fingertips through my hair. I can feel the muscles in my shoulders getting stronger, smelling like tomatoes and sweat. Yellow plant dust is coming off my body and staining the shower.

A feeling of relaxation washes over me and before I can enjoy the warm water on my skin, it's already time to go 'home'. Another workday is over. The sun will soon disappear on the fiery red horizon. Five o'clock in the evening.

We have been at it for three weeks now. After returning to Renmark from Melbourne and the 'Groovin the Moo' festival in Adelaide, we ventured west on the highway.

Finding this job was not easy-going. We filled out and signed countless forms, took aptitude and drug tests, and invested in new work clothes. And then we were finally members of the monkey gang in the Tomato Jungle at Sundrop in Port Augusta.

We spend the majority of our day in the glasshouses of the farm. Among five-meter-high tomato trees, we fight to be the fastest picker, clipper, leaf remover, or sweeper for 7-9 hours, trying to avoid snakes or spiders as much as possible.

Yes, I was actually a bit perplexed when the team leader on our first day of work beheaded a brown snake (the most venomous snake in Australia) with a spade in a delicate situation.

So they really do exist.

After living in our wild Lutzi for the first two weeks, we moved to a caravan park not far from the farm this week. Specifically, we moved into an old wooden railway carriage that was painted red several decades ago. Our new home base for the coming months. A small oasis smelling of an antique shop.

However, due to our daily work routine, we haven't seen much of the small town on the tip of the sea, about 300 km northwest of Adelaide. Port Augusta is also known as the gateway to the Outback. Located with red desert sand and dry bush landscapes at the foot of the Flinders Ranges, it is just under 500 km to Coober Pedy, an underground city that you pass on the way to Alice Springs.

Anyway, I've already fallen a tiny bit in love with this part of Mama Earth in southern Australia and I'm excited to see what else there is to experience besides breathtaking sunrises over the mountainous skyline, starry nights in the 5-zillion-star Hotel Motel, and breakfast at Kangaroo's.

One thing is clear, the time we spend working outweighs everything else, so there won't be much to report for now. But on weekends, we go on explorations and I will bundle everything I experience and report back. Until then, I will keep you entertained with a little photo feed on Instagram.

🤙🏼