What am I doing in Aussie?!

Hi again from Down Under!

I forgot to do something really important last time.  Thank you! to everyone who help me get to Australia.  Special thanks to San and Rob, Nina and Mike, Candy and Doan for providing me with all the basics I needed.  Thanks to Stephanie and Megan for being good sports about all of this. Thanks to all my family, friends, and coworkers for their support.

Some of you may not know what I'm doing in Australia.  In fifth grade, I wrote a research report about kangaroos.  Since then, I've wanted to visit Australia.  Reading The Thorn Birds, assessing market potential in Australia for a fictional underwater camera as a Marketing class project, watching Meryl Streep in A Cry in the Dark, studying Pacific Rim markets while getting my MBA, and watching the Sydney 2000 Olympics all reinforced that dream.

So I'm doing it.  I'm spending a year in Australia, hoping to travel to most of its 6 states and 2 territories. (Australia is the size of the continental United States but has only 22 million people who live mostly along the east and south coasts of the country.)  I want to see those kangaroos, koalas, and kookaburras.  Maybe the freshwater crocs and salties from afar.  I don't want to see the poisonous snakes and spiders.  Actually, I'm really ok with not seeing ANY snakes and spiders.   Oh, Cyn....

I've been interested in gardening for a long time and more recently, in the burgeoning green and organic movements. Australia is a leader in permaculture which is an ecological design system for sustainability. It teaches how to build natural homes (straw bale), grow your own food, restore landscapes and ecosystems, catch rainwater, etc.  Boy, I'm gonna learn so much this year!

World Wide Organization for Organic Farming's Australian branch is Willing Workers on Organic Farms (WWOOF).   I paid AU$60 (Au$1 = US$1.04; first time in history AU$ stronger than US$) for a book of Hosts who list how big their property is, where they are, available recreation and nearby attractions, the work they need done, accommodations, veggie or mixed diet, mostly no smoking, min/max stay. Some are organic or use permaculture or bio-dynamic principles. Some are regular lot homes, homes with small acreage, small farms, or larger places.  Most  have chooks (chickens), many have horses, some have cows, sheep, or goats. Some allow children, some welcome "mature age" wwoofers. Is that me?! Huh!!

Wwoofers work 4 - 6 hours a day for room and board.  We apply to hosts with a modified form letter that explains who we are, nationality and visa type, English and other language ability, why we chose them, what our interests and skills are, when we're available, etc.  Then we sit and wait.  I applied to 7-8 hosts before I got my first acceptance.  I got 3 responses that said they wanted me after the new year. I've got a laptop (invaluable) but I have to wait for an email that may never come.   I'm gonna need a phone or phone card so I can get responses from hosts more quickly.

Well, I haven't made it to a beach yet. But I've seen lots of water.  Australia's 9 year drought broke about 3 weeks ago, one week before I got here.  Well, let me tell you, the rain is making up for lost time.  It has rained every day since Sunday, October 31.   Excuse me, 31 October.  The weather is very changeable, sometimes it only rains 10 or 20 minutes.  Yesterday, it was gorgeous in the morning and early afternoon.  Then the sky got dark quickly and all hail broke loose!

Marble sized hail the diameter of a penny for about 10 minutes. Torrents of rain for the next few hours. Apparently I'm currently in the lushest part of southern Australia, about 180 km (uh, 110 miles) south of Sydney, where the drought didn't have much effect and I saw flooding.


Temps in the 60s and 70s have been cooler than normal.  It's supposed to hit 28*C (low 80s) this week. (Celsius seems so imprecise.)  Because of the earth's position, the sun does seem hotter than in the northern hemisphere.

More soon! Have a fair dinkum day!  

Cyn