Wwoofing Australia

I am sad. I am sad my wwoofing friend Ashley left today, I am sad I am leaving the farm I have been at for 2 months and I am sad bc I am watching the news about some African village that doesn't have clean water or a school. Which makes me understand why everything comes to an end. If the good times didn't end then people living with nothing wouldn't end either.

Back to Tamworth tomorrow. Going back to watch another of my Aussie families house while they go visit their son. Looking forward to seeing them again but will be alone for 9 days to finish out my trip. Thinking about going through the 2,845 emails and cleaning that up....but I really doubt it.

My mother didn't just like to celebrate your birthday for a day but the whole month was dedicated to you. Now that I am older and not at home it is a lot to ask and I have also been known to my friends as a birthdayzilla. I did beat the system this year though, my birthday was 36 hours. My Aussie bday 1/2 day ahead and then my American bday....pretty awesome.

Either I am really special or the world is filled with amazing people. My family here surprised me with a dinner out, bottle of champagne, cake, candles and singing. As this was all happening I kept thinking about the moment I booked my flight not having a clue about what was to come and knowing there is no way to have planned or predicted this all. So that was awesome and now I am 27 which I kind of like the sound of. I have worked hard for these numbers, they didn't come easily. There was a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get this far. I may not be the cool aunt I thought I was going to be but at least I am not crazy aunt Kate either.

Life is pretty good in Aussieland. It is the weekend and I have 5 horses to ride. The ONLY thing I didn't get for my bday that I wanted was a horse.....maybe next year. HINT HINT!

On a positive note, I am a proud auntie! My sister had baby Joe on September 17th, he was a small 9 lbs and 14 oz. As most of you know my sister and me are very different. She has light hair, I have dark. She is short and I am tall. She has an extremely high pain tolerance and I have no pain tolerance at all. She will probably take this opportunity but I will beat her to it to tell the story of the time I laid in the middle of Walmart bc I stubbed my toe. I just want to give props to my sister for her natural at home birth. She is not only the coolest but now the toughest.

Since taking the title of aunt my perspective has completely changed. I used to think babies all looked the same and didn't understand why people even bothered to send pictures. Now I can't stop and no one is safe from a daily photo of Joe. The only thing I haven't come to terms with is the fact that I have this responsibility to help prepare this child for something I haven't figured out yet.

It is all so very exciting. My sister has never looked so gorgeous, Loren even tests drives the strollers and my parents I have never seen look so proud.

The only disappointment I can think of is he is isn't chubby with freckles and red hair like my sister always said she wanted her child to look like.

I love you sissy! I am so proud of you!

I am fuming and utterly speechless. NOTHING makes me more mad than ignorant people. I had a disagreement with another male wwoofer (my German friend wants to make sure you all know it isn't her) here who believes that homosexuals should not be allowed to adopt. I change my mind, I am not mad I am actually extremely sad. What makes me so sad is when I think my most favorite couple in the world and them not being able to experience something as wonderful as raising a child. It is self righteous and dehumanizing to think you can take an experience like that away from someone.

I guess the only thing I can do at this point is not put the same kind of nonacceptance he has of others onto him.

I now know what it would be like to win the lottery. After leaving the "tree house" in the woods, snakes and sleeping outside I landed in a mansion on the beach. The second wwoofing farm I had booked for the second half of August ended up being a vacation. The new family had 50 acres overlooking Byron Bay coast and the house was gorgeous. They were former models and now have a business and a 8 year old daughter. Instead of clearing land on a push mower while dodging pythons I was helping prepare for parties and babysitting the daughter. This was all while having a pillow top mattress with a bedroom that overlooked the ocean. It was definitely a learning experience living with the family that moved away from Byron Bay to get away from the "yuppies" to moving right in with the "yuppies". I would have to say I am somewhere in between. I want a sealed house and a compost...can't there be some happy medium?

NOW I am back south in a town called Hunter Valley, 2 hours west of Sydney and 2 hours east of Tamworth. Hunter Valley would be the Napa Valley of Australia. I landed here a week ago and know 2 months won't be long enough. There are 2 other wwoofers, Birte who is 25 from Germany and Phil who is 50 from Tasmania (it is a small island in Australia). This is Birte's 2nd time at the farm and has now been here a total of 5 months. We have become fast friends and haven't stopped talking since she picked me up from the train station. It is so nice to have a girl my age and today we are off to the beach! The farm here has 6 horses which 5 of them are ridable. Birte is as keen as I am about riding so we go everyday after work. They have 10 km of riding trails here with a riding arena. The family is awesome too. The husband Eden is Australian but is 100 percent Lebanese. The wife is British and whose father was a spy during the WWII. Pretty amazing people I have come across along the way. Everyone has a story.

I wouldn't let myself leave for the beach without writing but more is to come. I promise I won't wait this long to write again, but if you haven't heard from me, most likely I am farming in Australia.

xo