WWOOFin Away

Hello all, so Im on chill mode these days, just workin at this caravan park doin odds and ends for some really cool people. This is the WWOOFing that I was talking about. The jobs are fairly easy (choppin wood, general maintainence) easy enough stuff. They let me stay in there caravan that they rent out, its a cool set up, works well. The park is very quiet, there a few people that come and go for a night or two, sometimes younger folk but mainly the older crowd. There are however three French kids backpacking and WWOOFing as well. So they stay in tents and use their van. They nice and we do dinners together here and there but they work alot, I've noticed that there are lot of Euro backpackers doing a working holiday type thing! They work in restaurants in Apollo Bay, which is where I am staying, about 3K from the center of town. My place is litterally twenty steps from the beach! I surf everyday in the afternoon and its soooo fun to play in the ocean! I've missed it living in Antarctica and Colorado! Surfing is very hard it kicks your butt! For the most part its safe as long as you dont let the board smack you but fortunately i have not had that happen to me yet, knock on wood! This place reminds me of Northern California, the highway that Apollo Bay is on is HWY 1 so stands to reason that it very much looks like HWY 1 in Nor Cal. A bit more tropical though, and its a lot warmer water! Overall, I've been really relaxing, reading my book (Hullucinating Foucallt),very good book and just kicking back on the beach making good camp dinners and enjoying the company of the nice hosts! The time to leave is one week so I have a bit more before the next stop, which is Canberra for two nights for a concert(Gomez) then off to Brisbane where I rent a car and go to Byron Bay for lots o' music! So for now time to keep chillin! Enjoy the pics of this place, Skenes Creek! Till the next time! Love ya'll

Off and Running with 30 years behind me!!!

The days have crazy been let me tell ya! So far Ive been in New Zealand for a little bit. I was in Auckland but only for a few days. I stayed with Tom my old college roommate and his fiance. We had a great time, we camped out at the beach and surfed,we also went mountain bike riding! Then just we chilled when they were not working. After hangin with them for ten days I was off to Australia to hang with two of my mates from the ice, Jesse and Jeff. We rented a car and drove from Sydney to the Blue Mountains then down to Melbourne on the coastal road then down the Great Ocean Road then up the Grampian National Park. The whole time we camped out at the coolest and most oddest of places at times. I celebrated my 30th BD with them on the road as well! We were on the beach at Apollo Bay. We ate simple food camp food and had a really nice bottle of wine! It really was nice and peaceful for a BD celebration. Especially my 30th, it would have been nice to be back home in Colorado to celebrate it with the family and friends but hey this is a sacrifice that I can handle! On our road trip we saw kangaroo's, koala's, wallaby's, wombats, and many many colorful birds, oh and I cannot forget the snake that we saw that is one of the most deadly snakes in the world. The time so far has been magical, we really had a good time together, no problems or arguements, just easy travelin. But that is over now and the fellas are gone their own way to Tasmania for Jeff and back to the USA for Jesse. For me it is a big step, I am going to be doing this program for two weeks called WWOOFing (Willing Workers Of Organic Farmers), basically what I do is I joined up for 50$ and they gave me this book that has all these hosts that have farms and what not, I then contact them via email or by phone and see if it works out to come and work for them doing general maintanence, gardening, even babysitting if needed, I then work for 4-6 hrs a day then in exchange I receive food and housing!! The places I am looking at are near the ocean so that on my off time I can surf and play in the ocean but really in the end I just want to have a fun experience!! Alright I actually now need to go and try and contact these folks so time to run but I love ya'll and miss ya!! The pics that are here are from the trip so far! First is actually the last night in McMurdo I had this season! Then comes New Zealand surfing, Auckland, The Blue Mountains, Sydney(The Sydney Bridge and Opera House) , the road to Melbourne, many animals(Kangaroo's,Emu's, and a Koala and The Great Ocean Road!!!! Enjoy, and I'll talk to you later!!!! Till the next time!

So small not here, I spoke with a man about working at a farm stay at Apollo Bay where I had my BD!!! I'll be there for about 2 weeks then begins the music madness! First, off I see a band in Canberra for a night, Gomez, very big these days!! Then off to the very huge festival called the Blues and Roots Festival, I think I spoke about it earlier but nonetheless huge, Ben Harper, Bonnie Raitt, Bela Fleck and many more! So it should be a very good show!!! We shall see!! Anyhoo, the next couple of weeks should be very good, back to work as they say, but first two days of surfing all day and night!!! Yes, I'll be a pro in no time! Ciao again ya'll