In the middle of nowhere

Hey dear ones!

Once again, it has been several days since my last report, mainly due to the lack of a decent internet connection lately. This may happen more often in the future, so I apologize in advance.

A lot has happened since my last report...

Surprisingly, my seventh and final night at Base Hostel Sydney turned into a fairly extensive party night, as we found out that the (later found out to be extremely generous) New Zealander from our room would have his birthday the next day and of course we generously agreed to celebrate with him. Truly selfless of us, I know...

However, the next morning I still had to get up early and check out, as I had to be at Central Station at 10 o'clock, from where I took the Greyhound to the capital of Australia. Canberra is just as boring as advertised. Of course, you know that Canberra is not Sydney, but from a capital - quasi of a whole continent - you subconsciously expect a little more.

In addition, an extremely heavy storm took away the opportunity for me to do anything this afternoon, so I spent the rest of the day at the YHA, had dinner and went to bed. The next day I checked out again and got on the next Greyhound bus to Holbrook.

The aim of this whole action was to find the farm of my parents' acquaintances, which is located between Holbrook and Culcairn. I finally succeeded in this through questioning, hitchhiking and so on. (I do not want to go into detail here to make sure that my mom will still let me go out into the big wide world alone in the future, haha). Okay, that sounds worse than it was, but in Germany I probably would never have gotten into a car with a guy who looks similar...

Anyway, in the end everything went well. Unharmed (but a few dollars poorer) I arrived at the farm, whose owners quickly recognized me, despite the fact that my parents had been there over 20 years ago.

Immediately I was welcomed in Australian style like a family member and was provided with everything from my own room to my own car, everything your heart desires.

On the day of my arrival, 650 young male cattle were delivered to the farm; the next day the Local Land Service took blood samples from all of them, as Australia still has a big problem with "Illegal Dumping". This means that both private individuals and companies simply dispose of their electronic waste or general waste in the landscape. When the cattle then lick batteries or similar things, or even eat them, they die relatively quickly.

The blood sampling action was supposed to show if and how many of the herd carried any toxins. (At least that's how I understood it all).

Fortunately, I couldn't really help with that, so I spent half the day racing over meadows with the quad or "my" jeep. Life can hardly show itself from a more brilliant side.

Meanwhile, I am with my "host parents" (or rather grandparents) in their second residence in Wagga Wagga - here I also managed to get a (mild!) Australian sunburn for the first time yesterday, but it stings like hell. It will teach me a lesson. Hopefully...

I will stop my stories here for now, otherwise today's post will definitely be too long.

Best regards and wishes to all of you and until next time!

Take care :)

- Pauline