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Monday 23 September 2013

Farming in Victoria for my Second Aussie Visa

I'm writing this post from my new home- a sheep farm in rural Victoria, where I am slowly become a sheep mustering master! Coming from a city-loving girl like myself this could seem unpredictable, but the best things in life always are!

As I've previously mentioned, backpackers on a working holiday visa need to do 88 collected days or 3 months straight of 'specified work' in a regional postcode to be able to spend another year in this fabulous country.

I found a lovely farm willing to take me on as a volunteer for 3 months in exchange for food, drink and accommodation (like WOOFing) near Hamilton in western Victoria (3314- on the postcode list yay!), around 3.5 hours from Melbourne.

Having minimal farming experience in the past, my experiences so far have been a real learning curve! 


So far I've been;
  • Mustering (gathering) sheep into 'mobs' (groups) 
  • Droving sheep (moving) from one paddock to another on my trusty quad bike
  • Drafting (separating) the ewes from the lambs as they run down a 'race' (metal runway)
  • Repairing wire fences
  • Driving the Utes all over the farm
  • Bottle-feeding gorgeous little orphan lambs
  • Preparing hay paddocks ready for mowing
  • Testing stock water quality for salt levels
  • Weighing lambs for selling to Aussie supermarkets
  • Assisting with lamb marking- which includes a 5-in-1 vaccination, ear tagging, and castrating their tails and boy-bits with elastic bands (elasticators!)
It's been Spring weather so far so a bit of everything, though as it comes into summer I'll be ditching my very attractive waterproof trousers, jacket and gumboots in favour of a sun hat, t-shirt and shorts ready to get a farmers' tan :)

Here are some pics of my farm life so far...

George and Junior before I started fattening them up :)

Fencing in progress

Ready for Drafting

Little lamb being marked

New best friends- quad bike and Bindy

Feeding my babies

Daunting approaching mob!

Happy as Larry

Canola Field

New gum boots and fleece :)

Chooks!

Lamb kicked me!

Chasing a wild Emu

Queen of the mowers


Watch this space for more updates from life on the farm, and a blog post re-capping my month spent travelling around Oz and Indo with Mum!

Tuesday 10 September 2013

Travelling in your Twenties... and Forays into Tarot

There is an epidemic among 20-something year olds.

It seems that my friends and I feel like we have everything, and yet nothing at the same time. 

Our generation on the whole are fairly independent, well educated, have the opportunity to travel or work abroad, to chase good jobs, to get on the property ladder, to date Mr Right, have beautiful babies, to eat, drink and be merrier than an elf drinking mulled wine yet still look hot in our disco pants. The problem is- we want it all before the dreaded 3-0.

--- THIS ARTICLE in Cosmo caused many a discussion around Cairns lagoon, there are some interesting comments on the matter HERE, and in this TED talk on The Defining Decade' ---

I, like many of my travelling cohorts here in Australia, often mention starting our so-called 'real life' when we're done with travelling. We're forever brain-storming (sorry- thought-showering) 'What To Do With Our Lives' and the merits of everything from being a pilot to a pole dancer have been pondered. Do I try and do 3 months of farm work to stay another year in Australia, go home and do a Masters course, apply for jobs or internships in a place I'd love to explore further, do a ski season or a stint on a cruise ship, or move to Bali and become a masseuse?!



It's a blessing and a curse; being of the generation who have the world at their feet, but want to walk all paths, including the road less traveled, to an idyllic ideal destination too hazy yet to make out. 

I even read Po Bronson's anecdotal 'What Should I Do With My Life', which only really made me realise that people face this dilemma at all points in their life.

Turning to Tarot...
The other day while I was weighing up my options at the Cairns Night Market T-shirt stall I ran part-time, a tarot card reader I've befriended offered me a free reading. I was skeptical at first, but I came out of it feeling far better about my past choices, present situation and future decisions. Here's what happened...

My reader shuffled the cards and explained what each card in turn would mean when he pulled it from the pack. He placed 7 Osho (Indian guru) tarot cards into a V position representing the wings of a bird; the top wing being my female energies like intuitions of the heart and the bottom being male representing action. 

Cynics- beware- an open mind is required for the rest of this post too!

The first two cards are read together and reveal how I came into this life from previous ones- I thankfully got 'Moment to Moment' and 'Turning In'.  My reader told me I naturally live in the moment, listen to my heart and am very independent. Sounds about right to me- he also said that I love people but don't need them- apparently if we need others then we are dependant, but if we build on our relationship with ourselves and become our own best friend then we can't feel broken by disastrous relationships with others. 



My next feminine card was 'The Fool'. I instantly thought this was a negative thing but he almost applauded my ability to step off the proverbial cliff and just trust that everything on my journey will work out OK, which it will as long as I trust my heart and rid myself of the bugs in my male energy line' 'The Mind' and 'Politics'.



Apparently my mind is too cluttered by my own thoughts and other people's advice and I need to gain clarity through meditation and focusing on being aware instead of thoughtful. I've only dabbled in meditation in the past, for example last year in Byron Bay I instructed a yoga session for a hippy chick who was staying in my tee-pee and in return she talked through an uplifting meditation (I am aware this sounds very hippy but just go with it). 

He used the example of playing netball- when we're playing we're not thinking about what will happen, we are at a heightened state of awareness so we can act when we feel we need to. If we can have the same awareness of self in every action from feeling your heart warm when a decision is right for you to savoring each bite of an apple then life is lived more fully and yet more simply, leading eventually to happiness. Simple equation, no?

My female energy line ended in 'Schizophrenia'- he said it's trusting in myself that will give me the ability to only follow my true desires and not be influenced by other people's ideas manifesting themselves in my head, like the hopes of parents, the expectations of past teachers or the comparisons we make against peers (and, let's be honest- celebrities! Half of them are younger and less intelligent than me but will be able to retire in a few years as long as they don't form a drug or Louboutin habit!)

The last card on my masculine energy side was 'Understanding', where a picture of a bird being freed from a cage and into the universe served as a metaphor for 'Super Stacey' (his words not mine) who will live in the moment, make decisions with my heart instead of my head and have a happy and fulfilled life doing whatever makes me happy.


I'm looking forward to seeing where listening to my heart will take me, and instead of waiting for my 'real life' to begin, I'm going to enjoy every moment of this wonderful one I'm already in. If that means I don't have it all by 30, then I only have more to look forward to on the run up to 40 :)

If I joined Pinterest or Instagram I'd waste half my life finding more inspirational quotes than I have time to ponder :p

As for now- I've decided to do the 3 months of farm work to qualify for my second year visa- you can expect an update on my farming life once I travel miles into the nearest town for wifi! 

Maybe all that time spend in the fields will enable me to meditate, or maybe nursing newborn lambs and driving tractors, planting veggies and learning new things will help me realise that this IS my 'Real Life'- and I love every minute of it.

Any excuse for an Oscar Wilde epigram