Everyone has adjusted to farm life amazingly quickly. Everyone has a different job everyday: Milkers are out of the house by 5am and heading down to heard the cows in and then begin the process of milking 300 cows before breakfast. The cows walk onto a giant rotating circular platform and the “Cups On” milker uses suction to attach 4 cups to the cow which milk her as she rotates around the circle. Cups On takes a few tries to get used to because the cows aren’t always too pleased and try to kick you off. Plus theres the added difficulty factor of the explosions of manure shooting towards you (and ALL over you) as the cows rotate around… definitely adds to the experience! The other milker is the Cups Off Milker and their job is to spray the cows utters with iodine at the end of the rotation so they dont get any infections. After all the cows have been milked everything must be cleaned with the funnest hoses of all time: GIANT power hoses that require quite a bit of strength to keep from blowing you backward. And then 9 am is breakfast time! Then 2pm its time to do it all again! Woohoo! Other jobs include Calf Feeders – feeding the baby calves, SO CUTE!!! Grubbers – AKA Weeders but the tool is a cross between a pick ax and a hoe and is called a grubber. House Work – Cooking meals, cleaning, dishes, etc. And the last job is Misc. and is whatever needs to be done. Yesterday I was on misc. and we rounded up all the sheep from all over the beautiful land, we hiked through fields, jungles, and caves; up, down, and arounds hills and mountains. However besides that we didnt actually have to do any work seeing as the dogs are GENIUSES and round up all the sheep on their own. The scenery is heavenly and it was an amazing experience seeing so much of the land.
There are a billion natural wonders in this country and everytime we see one I feel like it can’t be topped and then it is! Two nights ago we ventured to a natural glow worm cave. All I could think of was ET’s planet and kept on exclaiming to no one in particular, “This is so MAGICAL!” Today I went for a walk along a natural river through the farm and ended up atop a lush green mountain top looking over the brightest hills, valleys, and jungles I could have ever imagined! Everything is SO GREEN!! Then a few of us found our way to a nearby waterfall that must have been nearly 150 ft tall and probably half as wide; it was so incredibly beautiful! After admiring from afar for a few minutes we hiked through pits of mud and rock to get to the base where we climbed onto giant rocks and the mist alone drenched us in seconds. Words cannot describe the amount of beauty and fun we had.
Farm life has introduced us to many other exciting things. Daniel and Claire and their son Mike and their long time Australian WOOFers Ella and Emma have been so welcoming and so willing to teach and so understanding when we screw up. They always enjoy a good chat and are just the loveliest people. Other groovy experiences include sheep sheering! (SO MUCH harder than it looks! its all in the legs!) and the slaughtering of a lamb for dinner! We have had a fantastic first few days here and are so happy in this beautiful place.
-Andrea
PS DEAR EVERYONE I KNOW AND LOVE: I MISS YOU AND I CANT WAIT UNTIL I CAN SHARE THESE MEMORIES WITH YOU IN PERSON! Mama- I look up at the beautiful bright moon and hum Wish You Were Here and think of you every night, I miss you! Daddy- I have told SO many stories about you while on this trip, more than about anyone, guess I’m just proud to be yours, I love you. Rachel-I have quoted so many frickin things on this trip and everytime everyone gives me those blank looks I have to say, my sister would get it…. (“WHY IS EVERYTHING SO DARK?!”) Christian- I miss your hugs more than you can possibly imagine! Even more than that I miss our talks like the nightime porch roof ones and your honesty, I love you. I love you so much family! Till next time!