28.01.19 - Trip to Korumburra

Today I had to check out of the hostel at 10 o'clock. But my bus to my next destination didn't leave until 3 o'clock. So I spent the time in the waiting area of the hostel because I didn't feel like walking around with all my luggage. I used the time to back up and sort out all my photos and to fill in my diary again, so the time went by pretty well.

My bus ticket to Korumburra was not expensive at all and the bus ride took about 2 hours. In Korumburra, I want to work on a farm. I made contact with the farm through a website that brings volunteers and farms together... Similar to WWOOFing, but not as expensive in terms of membership fees.

On the farm, I will work for about 3 to 5 hours a day and help with all sorts of tasks that come up, and in return I will be provided with accommodation and meals. I hope everything works out as I imagine. I would like to experience the typical Australian country life there and gain some experience in agriculture.... Maybe I can apply for a paid job there, they all wanted you to have experience so far.

In Korumburra, I was picked up by a friend of the farmer couple because they still had some things to do. The friend was very nice, but of course it was strange to make small talk with a stranger to pass the time.

Leonie, the farmer's wife, then picked me up and took me to the farm. On the way, she told me a lot about Korumburra and Gippsland (that's the name of the whole region). At the farm, she showed me the house and my room briefly, and then we already fed the calves. I'm not very thrilled about the house itself... It's quite messy... I hope I can cope with that. I planned to stay here for 3 to 4 weeks. She then showed me a few other areas of the farm until Mark, the man of the farm, joined us and said he had injured his leg in a fall and can hardly walk. So we had an exciting evening, because we then went to the hospital because he couldn't move his leg at all anymore. It was obviously embarrassing for him, he wanted to cook a nice welcome meal for me... But the plan had to be postponed. We then got take-away food from the Chinese restaurant and ate it in the hospital while waiting.

Fortunately, it didn't take long... He was then sent home with us, with the advice to rest his leg for the next few days.

We'll see how the next few days go... I'm very curious because my English is not yet good enough to understand instructions well, and things actually have to be shown to me.