On to the next thing

We’ve both been working hard for the last month. I have been packing oranges while Sebastian has been building a giant shade house to grow plants in an aquaculture format. I’m still not quite sure what that means. So far what I have figured out is that the plants grow in fertilised water with no soil, but I can’t get my mind around that futuristic technology. What I do know is that he’s been doing some back breaking heavy lifting, lying on his back and bolting things above his head for hours on end, painting with tar (if you wondered, no, it doesn’t ever come off the bed sheets!) and getting eaten alive by mosquitoes.

Meanwhile I have been surrounded by huge hot machines and sweating out my entire body weight. I’ve mostly been grading oranges for either juice or fruit, and packing fruit by hand. Hand packing is a lot of fun (!) where you get covered in the wax they spray on the fruit, and stickers which don’t stay stuck.

We’ve lived in a great little place called Myalbangera Outstation which is a big share house. There’s a lot of people there we love. My girlfriends, Jana and Hannah, Tim, Jana’s boyfriend (he and Seb have a bit of a bromance!) Andy from Essex, and our little brood of kittens. There’s 10 teeny ones, with 2 mommas who share feeding and cleaning duties; it’s really quite remarkable. One mother will stay with the kittens while the other goes off and does her own thing, then they switch places. They are wild cats so live in the lavender bushes near the deck. I love coming home from work and having a cuddle as the sun sets.

It’s getting really hot again – we’re reaching mid to high 30s most days. It’s pretty humid too. And that means bugs. Thousands of them. The little black thunderbugs are nothing compared to the buggers we get here. They are small enough to slip through the flyscreen on the windows, and the gaps between the door, and they head to the light in their millions. The kitchen gets it worst, as we’re cooking you find bugs on your plate before you can dish up, your drink is never safe, and you’re more likely than ever to throw your whole meal on the floor as you swing it around trying to get the bugs away from you. It’s great. Really.

So it’s getting warmer, work has finished, it’s almost Christmas, and that means only one thing. MY MOMMA IS ON HER WAY! Well technically she leaves the UK the day after tomorrow, but she will be with me the day after that. And I cannot wait! It’s definitely not enough to see your best friend once a year.

It’s going to be a crazy ride, where she gets to meet Sebastian, and his parents! And they get to meet me for the first time. And my mom. I’ll let you know how it all goes down…

Myalbangera Outstation

It was a bit of a challenge to fit all of our stuff in the roof box, but we did it. And we set off on our 1250km, 17hour journey from Federal to Yenda.

We stopped very little but couldn't resist pulling in to see Wollomombi Falls, the second tallest waterfall in Australia.

We drove through a patch of land that was severely flooded, fields and fields under maybe 2 or 3 feet of water. And with the water came the bugs. We drove to bodies hitting the windscreen like hailstones. The windscreen wipers were completely ineffective so we could barely see. We had to stop at the first gas station and use the windscreen cleaner before we could see again! 

We finally arrived at 10:30pm. So we are on a farm. Again.

Myalbangera Outstation. It's more a big share house than a working hostel. The people are really great - mostly French, and German. There's only one other English person, and he grew up in the village next door to my cousins! It's a big wooden building with a deck running all the way around so you can sit and stare at the nothing-ness that surrounds you. 

I have started work in a Pack House, packing oranges on a MUCH larger scale than at the Fruitshack. When I was packing mandarins there we would do around 20 bins a day with 6 of us working. Here there are about 15 or 20 people and we'll do 40 bins before lunch.

I'm a grader. At station 1 the oranges get tipped from the bins and roll up onto the conveyor belt where I will pull out the mouldy and rotten ones.

Then they go on to station 2 where the fruit is split into those going to the store and those being squished for juice. 

The fruit for juicing goes into a big truck and off to the juicing factory, while the oranges for the stores carry on along the belt and either drop into the big cardboard bins or are packed by hand.

On my very first day we ran a load of lemons that had been sat in the shed for 2 months. There weren't mouldy ones as such, there was just mush. There were 4 of us just dragging handfuls of slush from the belt. The machine got clogged up and stopped about 4 times, and wouldn't start again until we had hosed it down. 

Every time a bin was tipped onto the belt a green haze wafted up, so we all looked great in our masks! Plus the ear protectors we always wear because the machine is so loud.

The Supermoon was incredible from the Outstation!

But we get oranges just as big at the pack house!

The Longest Transformation In History...

It's been over a month, but the car is finally [almost] finished, so we are leaving the farm!! I had no idea it would take so long to fit out, thought we'd only be here for a couple of days, a week tops.

But here it is in pictures. The longest transformation in history...

To create a false floor with storage space underneath we had to first construct supports to take our weight and hold the board in place. We anchored these to bolt holes already in the floor of the car, which meant we had to get the measurements exact to the mm as there was no room for error.

Then we cut a big sheet of plywood for the back, chopped out pockets for the back corners and drilled holes for dowels to hold it them in place.. 

We constructed a support board for the front which screwed into the bolt holes for the seats. That was one of the biggest challenges, bending 4 individual pieces of steel to exactly the right angle. 

We fitted 4 central support bere fitted between the back board and the front support - held on with bunk bed brackets. Then 6 triangles of wood screwed to the front support gave us an extra 15cm of support for the front board. Sebastian is really tall, so though I could have easily slept just in the boot without any of these renovations, we had to make a long bed to fit him in!

The front plywood sheet is on a hinge, partly to be able to get it into the car, but also so we can easily fold it up and store it onto of the back board if we want to put the seats back up. We also have some storage space underneath. 

We've had some engine issues too. We had to replace the gas seals [whatever they are] to stop leaks. Greg's friend Huen helped us to do that. Then the radiator blew a hole. The garage/mechanics said 'maybe $200', so we said 'no thanks' and did it ourselves. We picked up a radiator for $50 from a guy we found on Gumtree who rebuilds cars, and then we (and by that I mean Sebastian mostly) replaced it. Drained the radiator fluid, pulled a lot of hoses free and wrapped them in cling wrap, pulled out different pieces and boxes and things I had no idea what they did, eventually got the fan cover off and pulled the radiator out. Putting the new one back was a bit more difficult, but we did it.

Then the worst part; The Door Hinge. 

The drivers door hinge was worn when Seb brought the car and it didn't close properly. We brought one from a car wreckers and attempted to replace it. It's only 2 bolts, but when we began we failed to realise that the bolts were at an awkward angle and the door was incredibly heavy, and the electric cable for the windows and the mirrors only had about 30cm play. We also didn't know that you usually have a hoist for the door so it can just hang while you refit it. We got the hinge out no problem but could not hold it in place for long enough to screw it back in. We tried different techniques for a couple of hours, getting hotter and hotter and more stressed with each failure. Eventually we had to walk away from it, starving and down hearted. 

When Greg came home that afternoon he came up with such a simple box and wooden plank jack system that worked perfectly. For 3 of the bolts. One hole was cross threaded. So days of worrying, visiting engineer companies and wondering how much it was going to cost us. Just by chance talking to a guy in Bolt Barn he gave us a bolt to try screwing in. Incredibly it went in straight away, and must have cleaned up the hole because the original bolt went back in without a problem after that. We brought the saviour bolt, so the whole ordeal only cost 50cent in the end!

While Seb was getting his hands dirty I was busy doing this:

And this:

To make these:

We cut flyscreen and velcroed it on the the doors. Then sealed it with silicone sealant.

And then we needed furnishings. It was a bit like shopping for our first house, deciding on colour schemes, a duvet cover and plates and bowls.

We tested the 4 wheel drive function by running the car around Greg's neighbours paddock. It's incredibly steep, with lots of trees and hills to navigate. And lots of cows who all came to check us out.

This guy got really close. He put his head down and made to gore the car, but then turned and started fighting another cow, locking heads and bucking their back legs...

And then we finished everything. We packed everything in, put the mattress up and made the bed. We had a trial night in the paddock and it was so comfortable. We're definitely going to enjoy sleeping in the car.

So we're off to see Australia. First stop, Sunshine Coast with the Didgeridrews - my aunt and uncle, cousin and husband and second cousin. Then we will make our way south ready to meet Mom at Melbourne airport on the 8th December.

Unfortunately we will have to stop back in at the farm on the way back down. We need to construct a rig to hold the gas bottle outside the car. We didn't think about it until we started packing everything up and realised we really did not want to store it inside the car. And a roof basket will not work as we want to get a top box on one side and surfboards on the other. So we'll construct a little box that will weld onto the back of the car and screw in to the tow bar. 

But for now we are off. And we'll return briefly to get that done. And see Gary again, our garden Kookaburra.

Transformers. Robots in Disguise.

Things are getting very exciting (for a change). Soon Seb and I will begin our road trip that will take us all around the country, and we've begun with the preparations. First off we brought a tent. 

It was a leeeetle bit small. 

So we brought a new one.

Plus mattress, chairs, table and stove.

But what we really want is to be able to just sleep in the car. So we are transforming it. 

When Sebastian and Max left the farm in Federal, we headed to the beautiful Bri's house for a few days, up in Kingscliff. Then we returned to the farm where Greg (the farmer) is helping us with the car. And by 'helping us' I mean he is doing all of the planning, all of the difficult stuff and telling us what we can do, then redoing it when we do it wrong... 

We are building a false floor to put the mattress on, with storage space underneath. Sound simple, yes? WRONG! It's a serious challenge. Not only do we have to cut all the wood exactly, but we have to anchor it to the car so it doesn't move around. Easier said than done when the car is wider at the back, tilts forwards, and has carpet that is higher some places than others. 

While the boys are doing all the sawing and drilling, I'm feeling pretty useless. I have no idea what I'm doing so can't add any constructive advice, and I haven't got a clue how to handle power tools. 

BUT I'm a boss when it comes to measuring!

(sometimes - we'll ignore the time 1030 became 1032 in the middle...)

There's been a lot of sparks. We are having to create all the anchors and mount points ourselves, so there's lots of beating, grinding and welding steel.

We have taken the back seats out and designed a mount to screw into the holes where they were. It's been really hard to get the angles right as it is impossible to measure so it's all guess work. 

Finally we've attempted to attach them, and incredibly it fits! We have to remove it again to cut the top to fit the board we will place on top, but that's for another day.