Australian Adventures

This is an entry straight out of my daily journal from my study abroad in Australia last summer. It was one of the most remarkable days during the trip :)

DAY 8 6/28/12
        Isabelle came in and woke me up for my camera and then Megan woke us all up officially around 8. Our farmstay families were coming around 11:30 to take us all to their homes. I checked my clothes that I hung out to dry the previous day (since the dryers were full) and they were still wet :/ I left them out there as long as possible and then put them in my suitcase. We all were supposed to read our course readers in the morning but I think everyone was struggling from last night. I sat outside and tried to read but I couldn’t concentrate. I walked into the hostel and at that moment Jared called a group meeting. Buggas (Aussie term). They told us that we could all work on the ethnographic study together but write our own discussions. That was a relief. We then rushed outside because everyone was being picked up to go to their respective farmstay families. I got in Lisa’s (my farmstay mom) car with Christina, Taylor, and Allie. Lisa took us to an Antique store, Subway/grocery store, and a bunch of her friends’ places. A country store her friend owns, her friend’s farm (Sharon who had the most ADORABLE puppy), and we stopped by a little tomato stand where you just drop money in a basket using the honor system - so neat! The whole car ride was incredible because we were in a Land Rover and the scenery looked a lot like Blacksburg. We would drive through a couple little towns as well. We finally arrived at her place and it was so picturesque. There were some cattle on the side of the road and there were baby ones too. Lisa says, “They cut off their weeners.” Then we go, “They cut off their what?!” Lisa, “Baby cows! Weeners.” We all laughed and started shouting “weeeeners” It was hilarious. The cattle would run out of the way when we were driving and since we were in a Land Rover, we drove through little streams and rivers! The girls and I would give a little scream when we were coming up to cattle and then they moved away at the last second. Such daring animals. Then Lisa started telling us about all these things we can do/will do. We picked out our rooms and then we mounted 4-wheelers to tour the area. It was unbelievable.
All three of us were seriously speechless. These three phrases were cycled over and over: “This is SO cool. I can’t believe this. Holy shit this is awesome.” Lisa is quite a character. She speaks her mind and is freaking hilarious. She reminded me slightly of my technical writing teacher, Neilan. We came back and I hung up my wet clothes in the sun. Then we set out to go fishing. We grabbed some goods (beer and doritoes) and 4-wheeled to the creek. The dogs were running alongside us and the cows were too. It was literally unfathomable. We drove through a creek, some fields, and then some hills. The landscape just kept getting more and more beautiful by the second. It reminded me of one of those crazy outings on The Bachelor that never happen to real people. I felt so lucky. Riding through this area was seriously like a scene from a movie. I was on cloud nine.

       We got to the fishing spot and we threw out our lines. We didn’t use rods but rather spools of line. We sat down and Taylor kept thinking she hooked something. Stupid imaginary fish.

 Then, Allie caught an eel!! It was ginormous! And disgusting. Lisa said Aborigines ate eel and I said “Of course they do” and everyone laughed. Allie re-cast her line up on a hill and a few moments later she started screaming, “A huge ass leech is on my ass!” She started running toward us and slipped in the mud. Her and her line fell into the water as the leech clung to her buttocks. Lisa yells, “Well, it’s all gone to shit now!” One of the funniest moments of my life hands down. We helped removed the leech from her tush, which wasn’t so hard to do - leeches don’t attach themselves very strongly. Unlike ticks *shutter*. After all that excitement, Lisa decided it was time to head back. As we were driving back, we stopped along the way to burn some dead grass. This was the farmer’s way of regenerating the vegetation. This was pretty cool because we had been reading about the tactic and the Aborigines in our course. I lit fire to the grass...something I would NEVER do in America. But it was common practice and it was beneficial so I allowed myself to do it. Oh the exceptions in Australia. The topic of paralysis ticks came up and Lisa mentioned one of her mates died from one and that it’s not too uncommon. And here we are walking through tall grass...Eeek! Like I said before, Australians play the whole death thing down tremendously.

       We got back to the house and I was gonna drive the 4-wheeler(quad) while everyone else stayed, but Sharon’s husband was bogged (stuck). Lisa told us her idiot friends needed her help and we offered to assist her. We all went except for Taylor. I would have stayed back with her but Lisa said it would be a kinda dangerous outing so naturally I wanted to go. Danger in Australia seems unavoidable anyway. Before we got in the car, all us girls went to the right side instinctively and Lisa yelled at us since they drive on the right side in Australia. Whoops. We squeezed in her tow-truck looking car (with me in Christina’s lap) and had an icebox of beer on the floor. Lisa asked for a beer and kept driving while she was drinking it! She’s crazy. I love it. I love sitting on a couch at home (sorry that was random. I’m sitting on one now as I’m writing this) We were driving and it was getting super uncomfortable for us three girls so Christina went in the bed of the truck. It was super bumpy and adventurous and thrilling. I’m so glad Lori matched me up with Lisa. It’s so spontaneous and exciting. Lisa kept calling the guys idiots and such. She’s so funny. And we saw wild kangaroos! We couldn’t stop though because we were on a mission. We came up to one gate and another and another...at one point, we reached a guy at a gate, Jeff. He jumped onboard and I passed him and Christina beers from the front. It was like we picked up a fugitive and welcomed him into our posse. It was unreal. Lisa was joking that he and Christina would hit it off. She told Christina to ask if he had a farm (since her dream is to live on farmland). We came upon the rest of the blokes (look at me using Australian slang!) near a creek crossing. They looked like such goobers and immediately asked for beers.

They jumped in the back too with guns in their hands. Casual. We reached the site of the mishap and pulled up to their car. A big man was there waiting and Lisa goes, “Holy fuck, no wonder they are stuck, look at that huge ass man!” Like I said, she’s blunt as can be and I love it. We pulled them out in about 30 seconds and the guys let us have a few shots of their guns. They were just tossing ‘em around to us like no big deal. They were so casual about it, it was funny. Australian lifestyle I suppose. Basically they threw the guns into our arms and urged us to shoot. Christina went first and she aimed for a giant anthill. It was super loud...and wicked awesome. I went next and I’m glad I had experience with Jim at the shooting range in Blacksburg because I knew to expect a kick. I was scared to pull the trigger and I don’t know if I even hit the anthill because the power of the gun pushed me back a step. I just remember saying, “Holy shit” afterward and they all laughed. Lisa was pushing to leave for some reason (it seems she’s always ready to move on to the next activity) Allie shot and then we headed back. We gave Christina a hard time about Jeff and at some point our cars were side-by-side and Lisa told Jeff to jump in the back of ours. I peered into their car and all I could see were guns, beers, and goober faces. Priceless.

        We got back to the house and prepared dinner while listening to country music (eh). Then Jeff called the house to talk to Christina and she said she “let him down easy.” Evidently the joke turned into reality because he had the hots for her! We ate outside and it was a delicious meal. We had lamb with gravy(which I called chocolate cake batter gravy), potatoes, zucchini, vegetable bake, bread, and wine. It was fantastic. Lisa then forced us to watch a corny Australian movie about Aborigines – Bran Nue Dae. It was really lame haha. I then took a shower and went to bed around 11:30PM. It was a PHENOMENAL day. So many adventurous and thrilling things; I can’t wait for tomorrow. :)