First Week

So how is life in Australia? Well, to be honest, my first week here wasn’t much different from Germany since I spent most of my days working with Mark’s horses.

In the mornings I started grooming and riding Salsa and Shrek, and after that I drove over to Geoff’s place to ride the other three. Salsa and Shrek are very nice horses and I enjoy riding them a lot. The other three horses are so terribly ridden they feel like a four year old horse that’s being ridden for the first time, even though they’re all around 9. They’re all from Germany and have been trained there, but after a couple of years of hillbilly riding, they seem to have forgotten it all. It’s physically painful to ride them, my back was killing me for a couple of days.

Driving to the other yard was a bit of an adventure for me. It’s not just the driving on the wrong side of the road (even though I ended up driving on the right [as opposed to left] side and when a car came up in my direction in the same lane I was like “This is weird, it looks like that person is driving in my lane…oh shit!”). Whenever I want to blink I wipe the windshield instead because the thingies are also on the “wrong” side. The adventurous part, however, are the gravel roads. They are real, legitimate roads but you’re driving on dirt which is fine when the weather is nice, but it was stormy and rainy all week, so I just crept along there, having visions of how I would end up dead on an Australian gravel road in my first week. Also, it’s amazing to me how Mark can complain that German roads are so narrow, when Australian roads are even worse. They’ve got speed signs up, for example you’re allowed to drive 80 at a steep hill with a tight turn. 80! At my most courageous, I drive 40 there. How people survive doing 80, I do not know.

As mentioned above, the weather was nasty. It is winter here, and apparently the wettest winter in history. I now know why. Out of 7 days, we had one day of sunshine with only a couple of small showers. The rest of the week, we had storm, torrential rain, hail, thunder and lightning and even a power-out. Wow, I know. I wear at least 5 shirts on top of each other day and night because it is so cold and Australian houses are not made for this kind of weather. At least we got some beautiful rainbows and the sunrise is always very nice.

Since Belinda and Mark were in Canada for a wedding and the kids stayed with his parents, I was also responsible for the dogs and chickens and I had the house all to myself, which was great. Both dogs are really old, super nice and funny. I let them sleep in my room because it was the warmest in the house and also because in Australia, people don’t lock their doors and I’m a big old scaredy cat. I had to man up twice because there were big, ugly spiders in my room and it was either kill them or sleep on the sofa, and who knows, maybe there would have been spiders on the sofa, too, so I opted for the killing. Please note that when I say big, I mean as big as the biggest you will ever see in Germany. It was disgusting, but I got the job done. In the feed room, me and the English groom came across a spider the size of a small mouse, and that thing was furry. I decided that I would let Debbie be the brave one and dispose of the spider, while I ran to the other side of the yard and only came back when the spider had been removed. Yeah, I’m curious as to what my reaction will be should I ever encounter a huntsman spider…

Now that I’m going into my second week here, things will get more exciting soon. Whenever Mark or Belinda drive down to Adelaide next, I’ll grab my backpack and start the travel part of my Australian experience. The (rough) plan is to spend a couple of days in Adelaide, enjoy the city, go to the beach, go to Kangaroo Island and try to see some dolphins and whales, while they’re still in the area. After that I’ll do Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane. I’ll travel by Greyhound, because it is affordable and I can actually see the country (as opposed to if I were to fly) without having to worry about the driving myself. Besides the tourist/sightseeing aspect of it all, I hope I’ll get some writing done as well because there should be no lack of inspiration.

So the next entry will probably be up when I’m in Adelaide, I’m just not quite sure when that will be exactly, but it’s definitely going to happen soon.

Journey - Part II

The trip Singapore – Adelaide was just as smooth as the first part of the trip, and this time the flight was even better. There were kids on the plane who made some noise during the flight (specifically, cheering on Alvin and the Chipmunks) and when we were flying over the Australian desert, it got a bit bumpy, which had to be at a time when I would have liked to go to the bathroom, of course. But the great thing was that the flight was not fully booked, and I got four seats in a row to myself. So after dinner, I was able to stretch out and sleep without being crammed into a half sitting, half lying position. Of course I was still on a plane and it isn’t the same as sleeping in a bed, but it is as close as you can get to a good night’s rest. We arrived in Adelaide early in the morning, and were treated to a glorious view of the city lights and the ocean while the sun was rising.

In contrast to America, Australian customs was very relaxed and didn’t take very long. And even my luggage had made it there alright. Security was really funny. I did not have to go to a scanner. Instead, me and a couple of other passengers were asked to stand in a line and then they brought out a beagle (yes, dog!) who sniffed us and our luggage. He spent some extra time with me because I had my riding gear in the bag and I think he must have liked the smell of it, but of course I couldn’t say so because I had ticked the waver box saying that I had not been in contact with farm animals for the last month (bad girl). He didn’t bark or anything, so we were unleashed onto Australia. I had about 45 minutes left before Mark was going to pick me up, so I had the chance to go wash my face and brush my teeth, which is a good thing to do after 25 hours of traveling. I even managed to get Mark some coffee. Of course I hadn’t thought about how I was going to get two suitcases and the coffee to the pickup area without spilling the coffee, but somehow I made it.

Flaxley is located some 45 minutes from Adelaide in the Adelaide Hills and I got a first glimpse at the country this way. Mark’s place is pretty cool, lots of space for the horses and cattle, and huge, huge trees in the turnouts. The birds are quite fancy here, they have got cockatoos and parrots living on the property. There are also kangaroos around, but unfortunately I haven’t seen those yet.

My first day in Australia became quite exhausting, because after we got to Austin’s Peak and Mark showed me around, I had to change and go ride some horses at his friend’s place. The first one was alright, even though she was not well ridden, but when I was riding the second one, I had one of those jet lag lows and thought I was going to start crying, everything just shut down for a while. I didn’t cry, though, and after I got some juice and green tea, I was better again. Mark then rode his own horses while I was on pole duty. The rest of the day is a bit blurry to me, but I spent some time with the other girls and got to know the stable routine, helping with the feeding etc.

Later that day, I spent some time entertaining Mark’s kids while he and Belinda were packing their stuff for Canada. For that night, I was Imogen’s favorite new toy. We went to town to grab dinner and then me and the girls drove back home while Mark and Belinda dropped off the kids at Mark’s parents’ place for the week. My first night was okay, but I woke up every couple of hours and at four, my night was over.

Journey - Part I

Since I only had a little less than three weeks to prepare for my trip, the last couple of days in Germany were a bit stressful, because there was so much to do and a million things needed to be sorted out. Packing went rather well, considering my track record...I'm sure I brought twice as much as I will need and I probably left some things behind that I will need at some point. So far, the trip has gone as planned. We got to the airport in time and the flight from Frankfurt to Singapore was perfectly timed. Since it was a red-eye, lights were out most of the trip -> no reading (without keeping up everyone around me). I watched "Morning Glory", a light comedy and not overly exciting, but Rachel McAdams is in it, which saved it for me. To help me fall asleep, I watched some episodes of Glee that I had already watched before. Towards the end of the flight, I tried watching "The Avengers" and "Battleship", but both movies made me sleepy again, so I listened to music instead.
I had an aisle seat, because I figured with a bladder as small as mine, this way I wouldn't have to climb over two people to get to the bathroom. Unfortunately, the people sitting next to me (a couple) had to pee even more often than me and always at very inconvenient times, like when everyone had their food in front of them. Also, the woman was really anxious during take-off and landing, and I was torn between being amused and annoyed by the whimpering. But, looking at the bigger picture, I got quite lucky with the flight. There were no small children in sight and most of the passengers were fellow work and travel/working holiday people. The only time my nerves got tested was when a girl across the aisle started puking into the bag. Thank god I only noticed when she was almost done, because seeing that would have made me vomit, too.
When we arrived in Singapore, the weather was nice at around 30°. An hour later, the airport was swallowed by clouds and the rain was pouring down like there was no tomorrow. My six hour stay in Singapore was bearable because of the free wifi and my books. Right now I'm a bit worried about my luggage, hoping it will get to Adelaide, because most of the other passengers went on to Sydney. I'm also starting to feel the jet-lag kick in. It's 7pm local time, so 1pm German time. I'm not even tired per se, more dizzy and I feel like I'm gonna pass out. Trying to fix this with granola bars and lots of water. For my flight to Adelaide (also red-eye -> no lights), I hope I'm gonna be able to sleep most of the time.