To Perth via Frankland River

We take the car ferry to Melbourne. The night was stormy and we didn't sleep much. The huge ship was tossed back and forth like a water balloon by the waves. Water was dripping from the ceiling, turning the floor into a water slide. The gigantic waves kept crashing against the windows, making it almost impossible for me to sleep. I managed to sleep for a short while around 4 am, and by 6 am we were already in Melbourne. After Tasmania, we can barely stand the morning traffic of the big city. We hurry to get out of the city as fast as possible. We head 600 km north to a small town called Leeton. It's pretty crazy to drive 600 km in a row, in Tassie that's almost impossible. The vastness of Australia immediately reveals itself to us without mercy and without makeup. Other travelers we meet on breaks smile at us and say things like "oh, you're almost there."

In Leeton, we stay for a week to visit Clement and Anael, Flou's school friends. They have a huge apartment where we even get our own room. We enjoy the week together with good food and lots of French. In Leeton, we bought a roof rack and a jerry can because now we're going to experience the real vastness of Australia.

We set off towards Perth, which is about 3500 km away from us. From Leeton, we pass Adelaide and head back to the southern coast, from there we drive straight west. The houses become fewer and the cities get smaller. We sleep in our car, mostly in roadside rest areas. We're not the only ones daring to travel the long roads. Since there are hardly any mountains in the southwest, the horizon is as far away as you would normally expect from the sea. The meadows get darker and there are hardly any forests left. Here and there, trees can be found, and dried-up bushes are blown across the road like in Western movies. Then suddenly the GPS says 1198 km straight ahead! We're heading into what's known as the Deadzone. Signs warn us to bring enough water and gasoline. Every 500 km, there's a roadhouse that offers everything you could need in the outback. Along the roadside, there are abandoned cars with no tires, broken windows, and painted graffiti. We see many kangaroos when the sun sets, still relatively early, at 6 pm. We change states and gain two hours in a day due to the time difference. After two days of driving, my cell phone unexpectedly has reception again, and soon we drive into the first small town after the Deadzone. Everything seems a bit deserted, but the few people we meet are very polite and helpful. They show us the way to a free shower and recommend campsites. After a very refreshing shower, we decide to continue driving to Albany, the next largest city, which is still about 500 km away from Perth. We stay at a campground there for three nights to let the 3000 km sink in. The campground is okay, but unfortunately, we don't have a closed kitchen, so it's very cold for cooking in the evenings. The rain seems to follow us, making it a bit uncomfortable. Sometimes the sun briefly appears and it immediately becomes warm. The few rays of sun feel good and give us new energy. We immediately start looking for work. We go to the markets on weekends and ask farmers personally if they need workers. A nice lady finally gives us some numbers of different wineries. The first one, Alkoomi Vines, that we call immediately invites us and the same day we make our way to Frankland River, a small village between Albany and Perth.

Aaaaaaaa

We meet the manager and can start working the next day. We are allowed to prune the grapevines. The smaller branches that come off the main stem need to be pruned back to two, sometimes three buds. We are paid per plant, and it turns out to be quite difficult to earn the minimum wage. We work with an electric pruning shear, which allows us to work faster, but we still have little chance. After only three days, I go home annoyed at 12 pm. Our manager sees that and kindly offers me an hourly paid job, which I gladly accept. From now on, I still prune but on smaller plants. Sometimes I have to twist the branches around the wires or check on the very small baby plants. I work a lot alone, and it's much more fun for me. Flou struggles with the big plants and, in my opinion, does a pretty good job. We live in a container with a private bathroom right on the winery. It's a very good accommodation, but we can't wait to get back on the road. I work six days a week and Flo works five. On weekends, we wash clothes and bake bread. At the end of our time at Alkoomi Vines, Flo gets to work in the bottling line, a small factory for bottling wine. After five good weeks of work, we set off to finally arrive in Perth. It was nice at the winery. On Fridays, we often received wine bottles as gifts, and we were allowed to participate in a wine tasting, but we are drawn to warmer areas, as it has rained a lot in Frankland River. We eagerly await Pierre (Flou's little brother), who arrives on July 12th, and our big road trip to Darwin!