I'm in Melbourne!!!

I just got into Melbourne and I thought I'd check my email while I kill time to check into my hostel. I have some catching up to do!

Wed-Thurs, Jan. 14 - 15 - very hot days, did some newspaper and sawdust/woodchip work around garden as well as the banners.

Fri Jan 16 - finished laying the sawdust and continued on Rys' banner. We went to the Goulburn Club for dinner and live music. The band was pretty good and we listened to them while sitting out on the balcony. The band had to compete with some teenagers in the park across the street who were practicing their bagpipes. They were good. On our way home, we saw 2 roos next to the driveway! I only saw the shadow of one staring at us then saw 2 of them hopping away into the darkness. It was cool to finally see roos in the wild!

Sat Jan 17 - Allison and I were going into town to look for fruits to make jam and preserves when we stumbled on a cricket match in the park. Allison explained to me how the game works and I won't get into it here since I still don't understand all of it. But at least now I have more of an idea of what it is and it is not like baseball at all.

For dinner, Rys made kangaroo stirfry using the garden veggies. Mmmm, it was delicious! The roo meat tasted and looked like beef. Much better than the sausages!

Sun Jan 18 - I went to the poultry auction in the morning. I didn't realize how many different varieties of chickens and ducks there are! It was in a big garage type area with cages along the walls and in aisles. There were roosters crowing, chickens clucking, birds chirping. People crowd around and the auction begins. It's so noisy that you can easily end up buying the wrong thing! Rys bought a dozen Guinea Fowl eggs (they are weird looking small turkeys with white faces that look painted on. I think they look like theatre actors or the Phantom of the Opera). Then he accidently bought a brown female Mallard duck when he wanted another type of bird. Well, since I went with him to the auction, the duck was named after me! So now we have a duck named Nellie! The eggs were put under the Silkie chickens to hatch and Nellie was put into the yard with the other white ducks. Poor Nellie is having a hard time fitting in right now. It should take time. Allison and Rys want her to have babies since coloured babies are worth more than white ones.

Allison's coworker and his family came to visit. He has 3 adorable little children! They were having fun riding the scooter and mini motorbike around! Later in the evening, Manu the new wwoofer came.

Mon Jan 19 - I showed Manu around the farm and how to feed the animals. He is from France and wanted to practice his english. Then we weeded some of the garden.

Tues. Jan 20 - I shadowed Manu to make sure he was feeding the animals the right amount of food then we helped Allison rearrange the eggs under the 2 silkie chickens. They had 2 kinds of eggs beneath them and we wanted the silkie eggs under one and Guinea Fowl eggs under the other. After that, we helped her peel nectarines for preserves.

Sasha came over and she and Allison took me to town for lunch before taking me to the train station. The train broke down so I had to wait for replacement buses to take me to Canberra. I was supposed to leave at 2:50pm but ended up leaving at 4pm. Without fail, it stormed in Canberra! It always rains when I'm there! I killed time by having dinner at a Chinese restaurant called Happy's Restaurant. I ordered a fried dim sim (aussie invention of battered and fried meatball) and a combo chow mein. It was good.

I took the midnight bus (8hrs) to Melbourne and here I am! I can't wait to start my day and explore!