Echidna and Kangaroo

 G'Day

Yay!  I made it to Kangaroo Valley on Monday.  It turns out that the bus I'm taking is the school bus.  I paid $5.40 for my 18km as the crow flies trip.  But we had stops at Cambewarra Public School, another school, Bomaderry High School and several bus stops after I got on.  And we had to wait for another bus that was late.  So I recognized the main roundabout 3 times and the ride took 40 minutes. But it was fun seeing the kids.

 I'm having a g'day!  I'm at my second wwoofing job.  Aniela of Galeria Aniela (check out her website) calls her wwoofers "angels" because we do work that otherwise would not get done.  She's very welcoming, practical, and clear.  We're getting along wonderfully.  I've  got a very  comfortable room on the opposite end of the house/gallery with a bathroom, fridge, microwave, toaster, tea kettle.  She asked me for a grocery list and got everything and more.  We're gonna share dinner duties.  We eat dinner 5-6 ish and I'm free after we do dishes.  She's not concerned about how many hours I work.  Just that I get the work done.  I get Sundays off, free!  I'm gonna walk into the village this Sunday, 2 km (?) away; it seemed further.  The Galeria is open to the public Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, 11-4.  

My primary job is picking berries!  Fun!  She's got about 15 bushes that are 5' -7' tall, multi-trunked, large thin blueberry-leafed bushes but the berries are burgundy and fruit earlier than blueberries.  They taste like blueberry too.  I'd do some research but there's no wifi here.  Mud brick walls, too thick.  They are ripe now and must be picked soon.  I picked 3 kilos (6.6 lbs) Tuesday and 9 kilos Thursday.  Probably ate 1/2 lb/day too. Yummy! 

I also repotted purple orchid tree and other seedlings.  On Wednesday, I reorganized and cleaned out the greenhouse.  You know me!  I love to organize.  We are both happy with the results.

While I was in the greenhouse on Tuesday, I heard a slow scurrying.  I wasn't concerned; it was slow;  probably one of the cats; not a rat.  It was an echidna!  I wasn't making much noise while I was repotting so I guess I didn't scare him.  I went to get my camera.  When I got back, I couldn't see him.  Almost an hour later, I heard scurrying 3' to my right.  He'd been asleep there the whole time!  He very briefly curled into a ball a couple times when I got within 3'of him but then waddled along the side of the greenhouse and pushed back under the shade cloth.  Echidna are Australian marsupials in the same family as platypuses.  They look like short-spined porcupine.  Soon after, Aniela called to me; she saw the echidna.  She'd never seen it so close up before.  She was very surprised when I said I had already seen it.

We also saw kangaroo that Tuesday.  I said, "Kangaroos in Kangaroo Valley."  Aniela said that she doesn't see them often as we both were taking pictures of them.  I must be good luck.  She was also surprised that her female cat came right up to me and rolled of her back to get scratched while we were being introduced. 

I'm so glad to be here.  That's what I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving.  That and that I have lots of family and friends who support what I do, even when it sounds outlandish.  Please have a slice of turkey (white meat) and cranberry sauce, mash potatoes and lots of gravy, some veggies, and a small slice of pumpkin pie for me!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Cyn