Day 14 - Clara's birthday and farewell from Maleny

On Sunday, September 1st, we started the day as usual with a shared breakfast at the restaurant. It was Clara's birthday and she even received a small gift package from Barbara. I was in the kitchen and had a bit more to do than usual. Not just washing dishes and chopping a few things, but also preparing desserts. Sadly, Clara's birthday didn't change Barbara's behavior towards her. I didn't witness it much in the kitchen, but even that was too much for me. Clara had told me a lot already, but what I saw and heard exceeded my imagination. The woman was truly a piece of work. Once we finished work, we went straight to Brisbane to at least make the evening enjoyable for Clara. When we arrived, we met Sean and went to Prohibition, a bar, to celebrate a bit. It was actually quite nice, but after Clara told several people how difficult it was for her to work with Barbara, she broke down in tears and was completely devastated. To make matters worse, my favorite red sweater was stolen; the evening was ruined. On Monday morning, Clara went to the hairdresser and afterwards, we met at Ribs and Rumps, a steakhouse, where we had a delicious meal. In honor of her birthday, we even received a $30 discount. In the evening, Sean came over and stayed with us, because the following day, we planned to go hiking. Before we started, Clara talked to her father on the phone, an experienced person in the hospitality industry, to hear his opinion on the whole situation. After that, the decision was made. Barbara would never see us again. With this step, everything got better again. The hike was great, we went to 'Mermaid Mountain' and then to a lake nearby. In the evening, we were invited for dinner at Robyn's, the artist we met on the first day in Brisbane. It was delicious and very nice. And a super cool house, if I may say so. Best view over Brisbane. We decided to stay one more night in the city, after all, we no longer had to go back to the hell of Bavaria. We stayed in an Airbnb with a super nice transgender person, who made an amazing chili sauce. In the morning, we drove back to Maleny to check out of our room and pack our stuff. Once that was done, we spent the night at the showgrounds in town. It was Thursday and it was time for us to start looking for jobs again to get our farm days. First, we asked at the tourist information in Maleny, but they couldn't really help us. We only knew that ginger is quite big in the area. So, we went to the next place that had something to do with ginger and asked. This was the Ginger Factory in Yandina, but it was more of a show factory with a gift shop than an actual farm. At least we got a contact there for the next farm, which Clara immediately wrote to, in addition to the 10 other things she had already contacted. We didn't have much enthusiasm on that day, but at least we had a brewery to visit on the way. Just a few minutes north of Yandina, it was, and not even open yet, as we discovered upon our arrival. Still under construction, but the brewer was there and showed us a bit of what was supposed to happen before the opening and let us taste a few beers. It's advantageous when you're a brewer yourself. We told him about the misery of finding a farm and the days we needed, and then the best thing that could happen to us happened. He told us that there was a tomato farm next door, in the huge greenhouse that we had already seen when we arrived, and we should just go and ask there. So, that's what we did. With a bit of luck, we passed through the gate at the entrance, because a few workers were leaving and told us to go in. Inside, we immediately met the supervisor, who asked us after a short conversation when we could start and if we had a car. We said immediately and yes, and he said, 'Alright, here's the contract, tomorrow morning at 6:30.' It couldn't have gone any better. In the evening, we went to Coolum Beach for a movie night at a German's place, who we had met a few weeks earlier at a brewery in Noosa. We could also spend the night in our roof tent on the property and the next morning, we got up early to start our new job, which would give us the remaining farm days and the best time in Australia so far.