Thurs 19th – Sun 22nd January – On Thursday me and Katrina took the Metro and bus to Aldinga where we were picked up by the farmer Adrian. We were taken on a drive along the beach which was cool, and then taken back to the farm. We were staying in a cosy cottage that the farmer had built himself.
It was just going to be the two of us in here and we were given food to prepare our own breakfasts, but for lunch and dinner we would eat with the family and they would either come and get us or ring a bell to summon us. The food was lovely and it was the nicest food I’ve had with a WWOOF host. The farmer’s wife Robin was an excellent cook and really looked after us. On Friday we went to the local pub with Adrian and then to the beach where there were mini “caves” built into the rock where people would chill out and play music.
It was a really nice evening except when I got home I thought my camera had been stolen at the pub and woke Adrian and Robin up to tell them how upset I was, only to find the camera in my other bag – oops!
The work we had to do was really boring – picking almonds from almond trees or the floor around them. This was tedious and hard work in the sun. However in the first few days we only worked a couple of hours as Adrian took us out of work to go snorkelling at the beach or to see the Tour Down Under – which was a bike race similar to Tour de France. This was on the Saturday and was cool as we saw them pass 3 times from different locations and the atmosphere was brilliant. Robin then took us out for lunch in her daughter’s café in Willunga and it’s the first time WWOOF hosts have ever taken me out or bought food from outside. She treated us as part of the family which was nice.
Mon 23rd – Sun 29th January – Things weren’t so nice from Monday morning. Adrian yelled at us for not working hard enough (silly as he was the one taking us out of work) and things were tense from then on. We worked really hard that day and the next and he took us snorkelling again on Tuesday which we reluctantly agreed to because we didn’t like the tension between us so thought we would go to the beach with him and make amends. The day at the beach was good and we felt that the rest of the week would go well too, but he yelled at us again Weds morning, especially at me, saying we had been picking the wrong almond trees and we were wasting time and money. He was really harsh and wouldn’t accept when we said we didn’t do it on purpose. He kept blaming me for being the main instigator as Katrina was quiet and never said anything when he accused us, whereas I would speak out and apologise or try and defend our decisions. I couldn’t wait to leave. The rest of the week we did a mixture of picking almonds and sorting/bottling olives. On Thursday it was Australia Day and we thought we would do something special but due to the awkwardness we just stayed at home and weren’t invited anywhere by Adrian, but I was glad because as I was hanging up my laundry a kangaroo bounced past me and stood right in front of me! It was amazing I’d never seen a wild one so close to me, and it was staring at me for a minute. I quickly turned around to get Katrina but it had gone when I came back. A truly Aussie experience for Australia Day :)
On Saturday Robin took us to the Willunga farmer’s market and then out to a lovely lunch at a chocolate café. She then took us to 3 wineries for wine tastings which was really nice of her, and went shopping in Aldinga. On our last day, after we finished the last 4 hours of harvesting almonds we chilled out packing and cleaning up before robin made us a curry for dinner – it was my favourite chick pea and potato curry. I was so glad to be leaving this farm after all the tension with Adrian, and I was really glad Katrina stuck it out with me. In the 11 days we were there we watched all 4 seasons, plus some season 5 of ‘The Big Bang Theory’ which Katrina had never watch before – this is how much spare time we had!
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