Krambach and On

There is really no other way to put it…I’ve been seriously slacking on writing my blog! I’m sorry!

 We work quite long days here at the farm trying to get this extension done on the house. There is just loads to be done. I’ve been here now for just about two and a half weeks and I’ve really enjoyed it. I don’t do any farm work; I just work with Ted building the extension. It’s been really fascinating learning all of the skills from him…he is a very talented man. Also, seeing the progression on the project has also been a rewarding experience. When I got here we still had to knock down the existing room that we are building the extension off of. Now we have the floor down and the frame of the walls up and we’re working on getting the roof on. Today was extremely hot on the roof! The way they roof houses out here is different from the way we roof houses back in the states. They don’t use shingles to do the roofing. Instead they use long sheets of tin to cover and act as the roof. Ted told me its way less expensive and last virtually the same amount of time. Working with the tin is tricky at points because it is very sharp at the ends and if the person you are holding with isn’t on the same page as you…you can easily cut into your hand if the wrong move is made. We try and avoid that one at all cost J It’s been a really cool experience learning how to roof a house this way.  I’ve seen it done the way we do it at home just never this way and its cool to get both perspectives. Ted is a tremendous teacher and is extremely patient. He encourages me to ask questions and never seems to get frustrated if the question that I am asking might seem obvious to him. That is frustrating to me when your trying to learn and every time you ask a question someone sighs and acts like you should know it even though you have never done it before. Not Ted, that is why he’s a top bloc in my eyes J (Mind you Ted is not the Host…he is Kevin’s friend that does all the building for Kevin) I do seem to spend more time with Ted and learn an awful lot more with him. I’ve also learned how to use a bunch of new tools that I’ve never used before. That has given me some confidence in the last week when Ted gives me a measurement and I can just go cut it without him showing me how do to it. It makes things move a lot quicker. I’m going to miss Ted and the people that I have met here its really been a wonderful experience and I’m glad that this was my last host…truly a good one to end it on.

In two days I’m heading up North to Brisbane. One of my friends from Westerly is on an exchange for school up there so I’ve decided to go visit him and relax for a bit. After I spend a couple of days in Brisbane I plan to head to the Gold Coast, which is south of Brisbane just about an hour away. I’ve found a really cool hostel right on the beach where I can surf for about five straight days and just enjoy myself before I go back home. After that week and a half is up I’m flying from the Gold Coast to Sydney and I’m going to meet up with some friends that I’ve made here at the farm. We’re going to spend five days there just touring around the city and enjoying it! On the 9^th of April my flight leaves from Sydney and I begin my journey to Vienna to see my cousin Helen! I haven’t seen her in quite some years and I’m ecstatic to go visit! J I only have two days there unfortunately. I plan on making the best of it!

Then after all is said and done I’ll be back in the U.S.A where it all began. Man, time flies!

Cheers,

Morning mist

Kerry is an amazing chef!!

Jon

Australia

Hello to all!

The trip from Christchurch to Sydney was quite nice. The early flight gave me a nice jump-start on the day. I landed in Sydney and took the city rail to the center of the city where I then caught yet another train to New Castle. I went a stop to far unfortunately. I was walking around New Castle and I just new that wasn’t where I was supposed to be because there was no country link bus station, which my host Kevin told me that there was going to be. So I decided to go back to the bus station and catch a bus to bring me one stop back in the direction I came from. I asked and the teller said that I had just missed the last one. He told me that there was a bus in the area that would take me close to where I needed to go so I just decided to do that. I booked me ticket to Krambach and waited for four hours until the bus came. In the mean time I met an aboriginal woman that was really cool and she told me a lot about the area and Australia in itself. It was really cool to talk to her. 

It was about a two hour bus ride to the farm. When I got there it was around 8:30 and dark outside. The bus driver just dropped me off at the bottom of Kevin’s driveway and told me that there was usually someone there waiting with a car…but there wasn’t. I just got out my headlamp and proceeded to walk. The driveway was extremely long like most large farms. Kevin ended up picking me up half way on his dirtbike and brought me to the house.

This week has been filled with work! Kevin’s friend Ted is building an extension on the house and he needs a lot of help with that. It is really great because he is very patient and enjoys teaching me how it works. We do work long days but it is worth it in my mind. I’ve helped Kevin caught down a tree and then but it with the mill for our material on the job its really cool how self sufficient he is. I also drove a tractor for my first time yesterday and that was a pretty sweet first time experience.

Sorry that this is a short blog its just I;ve been really tired lately with all this work.

Cheers,

Jon