Next Chapter: Farm Life!

The last blog entry was far too long ago, to be precise 27 days. We have been on the farm in the middle of Australia, near the city of Alice Springs, for that long. On Sunday, March 15th, the time had finally come: we had covered a distance of almost 4,000 km within two and a half weeks since we found the job on Facebook in Margaret River, had a phone call with the nice lady, and accepted the job on the same day. We didn't know exactly what we were getting into, where exactly the farm was or how remote it was (we were only given the name of a town), who lived there, how big it was, and how the people there lived. But the woman sounded very nice, open-minded, and trustworthy, and described the farm and the tasks in great detail, making it clear that she was looking for responsible employees who would be treated like family members and would in turn handle everything accordingly. We were convinced by what she said, curious about what she described to us, and accepted the job offer. It was still a risk because although we still had enough money, it was slowly dwindling the more distance we covered. Roughly calculated, the 4,000 km cost us 750 AUD (= 450 EUR) for gasoline alone. After a very relaxed night at the hostel in Tennant Creek without mosquitoes and with a pleasant temperature thanks to the air conditioning, our journey finally led us to the farm! When we arrived, we saw a woman in a pretty floral dress, flip flops, and a mosquito net over her hat watering the flowers in the front yard. When she saw our van, she smiled happily and came towards us. We thought it was a nice welcome and were relieved that we hadn't gotten involved with some strange, dilapidated ghost farm, but rather that which we had hoped for: a nice family on an Australian farm who would give us a glimpse into a completely different life for a few months. Her name is Anita, and she showed us a parking spot for our van right next to the bungalow where we would be living. Yay! Finally, a fridge, stove, running water, shower, and air conditioning again! It wasn't fancy, but simple and clean, and we had everything we needed (even more than we know now, after months in the van 😊). Then she showed us the horses, the supermarket, and the family's house. We met her husband, Matthew, two of their three sons, and two other backpackers. Both backpackers are from Europe, one of them even from Switzerland. We all sat together in the kitchen and talked until Moritz and I settled into the bungalow in the evening. 'Tea' is served at 7 p.m., Anita said. 'Tea?' 'Dinner!', she explained. In Australia, dinner is called 'Tea'. Monday to Friday evening, we are invited to have dinner with them. On the weekends, we take care of ourselves. Our first day of work started on Monday morning at 7:30. Sarah got an insight into Anita's daily work routine, which she was supposed to take over. It starts with feeding the horses. As it finally rained a lot after several weeks of drought on a weekend in January, everything was very green, and so the 8 horses could roam freely and eat grass. Otherwise, they would all get a hay bale in the morning. Only two horses, Indie and Martin, get hay bales, as they are the only ones in the paddock since Martin is a young 1.5-year-old stallion and is not allowed with the mares. We then went to the small supermarket, where Anita showed me how the food is stored and how to operate the cash register. The customers are exclusively Aboriginal people from the nearby community (that's what the small villages with the government-built houses for them are called). Moritz was instructed by Matthew, along with the other backpacker, in cattle mustering. The cows had to be systematically separated, which was done by driving them away from each other and opening and closing the gates at the right time. Then the cows were loaded onto a truck to be transported to a pasture. After the one-hour lunch break with delicious sandwiches, Sarah also got an insight into cattle mustering. We even all drove together in a huge road train with three trailers, on which the cows were loaded. When we arrived at the pasture, the back door was opened, and the cows jumped out. Unfortunately, some of them fell down because they were too weak (it broke my heart). But they stood up and continued running. (Thank goodness) Matthew said that the cows are currently weak but in a few weeks, I wouldn't recognize them because they will be so fat 😃 The first day of work and the following days were very informative, and we learned a lot about life on the farm. We get along well with the family and the other backpackers and are very happy to have ended up here. We can imagine working and living here for the next 3 to 6 months 😊