favorite places

Over the time, I found some favourite places up here I‘ like to share with you. One them is the bench under the humming tree you see in the picture. I call it humming tree, because it is in full bloom and humming with bees and other insect that luckily only feel attracted to the blossoms and nothing else. Usually, in the afternoon and the work is done, the horses fed and the others have left, I sit under this tree in the warm afternoon sun, have a coffee and read. You can still see the horses in the paddy from there. On colder days I light up the oven, put blankets on the floor in front of it and enjoy the warmth of the fire. There is nothing more comfy, and the cat comes, gets cuddly and eventually falls asleep in my lap.





The next lookout is Evans Lookout in Blackheath, right up the valley. Here you see some pictures. There are Waratahs growing along the way, the huge red flowers that are the national flower of New South Wales, the federal state we’re in. I love to go there when the sun goes down, sometimes I pass by there on the way back to the valley. Yesterday I had to bring a customer back to the Youth Hostel in Katoomba where I sneaked into the net for a while. On the way back there was a huge rainbow spanning over the Great Western Highway. It actually spanned over the valley too, so I went to the Lookout and took some pictures. If you have a close look you can see the rainbow.


On the tracks out there my favorite spot is where you cross the creek. There are two creek crossings, one is very steep and rocky, the other is softer with the rock carved by the water. On a hot summer day it is nice and cool down there and the horses get to drink. On the 4hr track the track leads through a clearing where a lot of heath is growing. Now in springtime it is blooming and the area is spotted with white and deep purple blossoms.
In Katoomba I love the many cafes. There is one with a really nice fire place and an elderly gay waiter who likes to chat. The café I mostly hang out is called Fresh, the operat carbon neutral and have awesome sandwiches and cute baristas. The owner does not like it that much if people with computers hang out there. Another atmospheric place is the Common Ground Café, run by some spiritual community, all the girls and women working there have long hair and wear skirts, but are suepr friendly and make quite fancy sandwiches (last time I had a Thai Tofu Sate Sandwich, yummy).

matblog

I have been asked, how the food is over here. Actually, the assortment in the supermarket is not that different, although you have more Indian and Asian ready to cook sauces. Fruits and veggies are a little bit cheaper than what I am used to, a lot fresher and you get a wider range of products. Milk and orange juice comes in canisters, which is a pretty american thing but great! A local speciality though are meatpies. Kathy often brings some for lunch, being a flaky pastry filled with any kind of meat and usually some veggies, it is a very greasy thing to eat with. Especially for you, I took a picture of the last one I ate (you can find on my hips now).

this weekend

What´s to come this weekend? Woken from my Dörnröschenschlaf on the farm, I am discovering the nightlife of the area. Lucky me that this weekend is the Rhododendron Festival up at Blackheath, which according to hearsay involves more alcohol than blooming bushes. Tomorrow there is a concert of Catherine Britt, an obviously (according to wikipedia) famous Australian country singer who just got back from her US tour. And guess what, she is playing a gig in Katoomba (or K-Town how it is also called)! So we are gonna go and get the real country feeling, not that I don’t get enough of that… ;-) yyyiiiiiiihhhhhhaaaaa!

Norman Lindsay

I had another day off and decided to explore the Blue Mountains in direction of Sydney and eventually find somewhere to go shopping. I should not get that far.
Commencing the Great Western Highway past Katoomba, it got hotter and hotter in my non-airconditioned car. The signs marking the towns along the way promised a lot more than these villages could actually hold. The Jewel or the Heart of the Mountains, the First Settlement or the Original Blue Mountains Town turned out describe in euphemisms invented by tourist boards.
In Faulconbridge, the sign announcing the Norman Lindsay gallery rang a bell, I had briefly read about this in the Lonely Planet. Having been deprived of art* for a while I spontaneously decided to go. The museum and gallery are housed in the cottage he actually lived in till his dead in the 1990s. Norman Lindsay is supposed to be a very famous painter of Australia and the pride of his hometown. Well, his paintings are no doubt impressing, of a inspired by historical topics and ancient Greek mythology. To me it looked more like Jugendstil gone Mystery. Remarkable were the not so much so many nudes, but the lack of variety in their depiction. The boobs in picture were usually all of the same size and shape, as were more confusingly the eyes which gave most pictures a cartoonesque look. I left bemused and irritated.





*Art is used up here in its wider context. There are a lot of “art” galleries and shops selling arts and crafts, but that is generally pretty trashy bullshit I would not consider art in its original sense.

bullshitting

The other day it was really cold up here, too cold to go horse riding. WE had no more bookings and still some time to kill so we did some funny stuff with the poor horsies… (though compared to what we used to do back in the days it was kinderkram) 
In the picture you see Lizzy, Tom, a friend of hers, and me standing on the horses. The big grey one is Renegade, which I usually ride. He is a bit moody but quite fast although he gets cranky when he has to wait for the slower group. He hates standing still then and if I don’t let him go he starts going sideways and stumping the ground which I think is funny and makes an impression on the customers. I did not gain so much weight, I was wearing two thick pullovers because still having the flu I felt really cold.

outings

wow, finally a weekend not at home in front of the telly! Lucky me that I got the car, this weekend we made good use of it. Friday night we headed over to Lithgow, another mountain town still further away from Sydney. I felt really ld, because Lizzy and me went there with Anthony and his 19stomething friends who turned out to be really typical country kids with the only aim to get drunk and hit someone. At least, I practiced driving since it was up to me to drive us home.
Saturday we went out to Katoomba, and I got to understand the Lonely Planets praise of it. Though it was still pretty cold, there were people on the streets, the pubs and restaurants were crowede with locals and tourists alike. First we went to the RSL, some kind of club (I inquired but did not fully understand the sense of it), but it had cheap beer and a live band playing. After that we went to the only "nightclub" here, where we danced untill the early morning. It was funny, but I might had enjoyed it a lot more if i was 19 too. Nevertheless it was fun and Shane and Anthony, our cowboys turned out to be awful dancers (literally). Working today was hard, but we all managed. Hopefully I get the day off tomorrow, it looks as if it's gonna rain, then you'll get some more pictures! Promise!

a car, a flu and time for coffee

While the weekend turned out to be busy, this week started with bad weather and the spread of flu among the people working at Werriberri. The weather conditions deteriorated, making it impossible to work (so I have my 2nd day off in a row, always decided spontaneously in the early morning). Last night it started raining down in the valley, the sound of rain leaking through the roof woke me up at around 3h in the morning. In the higher mountains, it actually snowed! And this is spring, we already had over 30°C! Anyway, not the best weather to cure a cold, especially when you do not have proper heating in the bedroom and live in a house that is falling apart.
But, good news: Kathy bought a car, some 20years old Toyota Corona in vanilla yellow. So I spent the past days driving around in it, though I did not go very far. I ended up on the wrong of the street twice, but luckily discovered my mistake quickly. Mostly I go to the various mountain towns here, I just love the eerie atmosphere which is emphasized by the cold and foggy weather. I sit in cafes, drink coffee usually fail to resist the sweet temptations, unfortunately, internetaccess is in most of them limited which already killed some posts and emails, or I spent hours in all these antique stores that basically sell crap, but it is amazing to get lost in them and look at the “pre-loved” items. Yet, I didn’t buy anything. I finally found the book I have been searching for: Raimund Gaita, “Romulus, my father”. It is the autobiography of one of Australia’s most renown moral philosopher. His father was actually from Yugoslavia and he himself was born in Dortmund. (They made a movie out of it starring Franka Potente as his mother, but I could not get hold of the movie yet).
Btw, I decided to stay here in the Blue Mountains till December, because if I work for 3months in agriculture I can obtain another year’s visa ;-). Kathy agreed to ‘bullshit’ (her word) a bit, and I am officially a “vwoof” now, a volunteer working in organic farming. I hope though I can get a few days in a row off and go down to Melbourne, at least since the weather is still so bad.
Warm regards from the cold blue mountains!
xj

Horse Farm Diaries #4: a roomate (post from last week)

Still no car and my second day off turned into a sudden workday, which deprived me off the chance to go to Sydney and search for a car there. But it gave me the pleasure of a 4hrs ride with experienced riders from England and the chance to discover yet another creek I had not seen before. Lizzy took yet another German girl for a ride, there are heaps of German tourists up here, and usually Kathy lets me do all the rides with them. Maybe she thinks I am homesick or something, but it actually does no good to my developing skills in Australian vernacular. I got used to Anthony’s way of speaking and people start wondering where I am from because they cannot place my accent. Anthony actually brought not only beer to the fridge (grocery shopping in a car is much more comfortable), but also music to the place. Finally someone to do all the men’s jobs around the house: chucking the wood and lighting the fire, killing spiders and repairing the leaking tub. I haven’t shown you pictures of the actual house I live in because it is, to speak frankly, a shithole that is falling apart. It is pretty dirty, it smells for horses everywhere, there is horsehair around and the floors are actually sandy. I tried to sweep the floors with a broom since there is no vacuum cleaner, but it lasted not even half a day. At least I disinfected the kitchen and it is an excellent training for my immune system. Anyway, the tub in the bathtub was leaking, and by leaking I mean the water was actually running, which is not good when you are on tank water. So we had to switch of the pump the last two days to save water. I felt reminded of the good ol’ days in Münster when our bathroom was being renovated. But then, working with dirty horses all day it sucks not being able to wash your hand properly. To my relief, Anthony fixed it today, and I took a long refreshing shower.
Now I am sitting – clean and smelling nicely- This is my favorite place and I spend most this afternoon here in the sun, trying to regenerate the tan on my legs. Lizzy and I closed early since we had no more rides in the afternoon, got an ice-cream at the nearby Tearooms up the road, the only outpost of civilization I can walk to. Then we watched Anthony ride Jack, the 8year old quarter mix he broke in yesterday for the second time. Of course we did not do this exclusively out of interest, but since the horse is quite old for being broken in we expected a lot of buckling and eventually Anthony falling off since he deprived us of this satisfaction yesterday. Neither did he do it today. Nevertheless I filmed it and will try to upload it the next time I get a faster internet connection. Pretty cowboy-ish.
The evening activities are very limited and I am getting ever more bored. Last night’s highlight was catching a horse, Jack, who showed up on the other side of the fence of his paddock. Eventually we discovered that some gates were left open, but it was an exciting search in the pitch-dark night. The usual activities are limited to cooking, eating and watching movies.
It is Friday today, and it seems it is yet another weekend spent at home to come. My hope to get out of here to some nice rural pub with tough guys and lots of beer died when Anthony announced that Hilary, a girl that also works here, is coming over tonight. Since she has a boyfriend (the one that got “food-poisoned” after our beer-tasting session), I have to be the “Anstandswauwau”, which will eventually lead to getting fat fast food and watching yet another movie. Yay.

horse farm diary #3

Hello there everybody!
It’s a day off again and I am seizing the time to get connected (and buy some real cowgirl boots and a kariertes Flanelhemd). Unfortunately, since I don’t have a car, I am not really mobile here so all I do in my spare time is reading and trying to get to the net. Therefore my next goal is to get a car.
Kathy offered to help me since her partner is a mechanic and they might wanna buy the car from me when I leave. So we had a look at a few pretty rotten cars that actually did not even deserve to be called so. I’d prefer a stationwagon so that I could sleep in it in case I need to, but they are not that easy to find. But still, better to look for here in the blue mountains then in busy Sydney where cars would be still a lot more expansive. I learned a lot about the pronunciation of foreign car brands. For example a “Subaru” is emphazised on the last syllable and therefore sounds like “schubidu”. Funny, though.
So what happened in these last past days? Not that much. Kathy’s son Anthony came back home from the northern Territory where he worked on cattle stations. He does not get along too well with his mum, that’s how I got a roommate, finally one with a car. For our first big grocery shopping tour we went to Aldi! Yes, there is Aldi down here! But there were not that many German products, except for the Christmas stuff. It is only a little bit more than two months to got till Christmas, but I am not in the mood for it at all. Though the weather has not been as I’d liked it to be, it is getting spring here. The nights are still pretty cold up here, and the days were rainy and foggy. On Tuesday, it was raining in the morning, so we closed and took a day off. We went to Bathurst, a small town which is some 100km away from here on the other side of the Blue Mountains, but promised to offer some change to the by now well known mountain towns around here. We were in 4, the two girls that also work at the farm, Kathy’s son and me. It turned out that Bathurst is not any more exciting than the rest, so we went Bowling (I did not lose!), to McDonalds and to the movies. So far so bring, but on the way back Anthony remembered that there is a racing track for stockcars, there has actually been a race there last weekend, and so went on the track. You could actually drive on it like on an ordinary road! No entrance fee or anything like that. Unfortunately, we did not have the cars to speed up a bit, but it was fun though. Photos will follow ;-)
Now it´s time for car hunting! Since we are not busy tomorrow, I’m gonna post some photos then.
Take care!
xxxxj

horse farm diary #2

It‘s been a busy time and today is finally my second day off so time to update my blog and keep in touch with you. I am back at the Youth Hostel where it all started (because it is the only place where I can bring my computer AND can plug it in – the people in the café did not like it that much the last time and my batteries are low). So my plan for the day is to get some new jeans since I am ruining my good beloved ones, some boots and a hat – yes, a hat like all the people down here wear, just like in McLeod’s Daughters! So it actually was a preparation ;-))
My plans have changed a bit by now. Though Christmas feels still a long time away, especially with the weather getting warmer, people here start talking about it. Though my plan was to spend it in Melbourne, it seems more convenient to stay up here. There is a 4day party at Kathy’s place with a lot of beer, food, horse and motorbike riding, plus, my sister’s gonna come in January. So it might be a good idea to stay here for another 2 months and then get travelling together. Another nice surprise: Kathy’s partner is a mechanic and he knows a car for sale, some old Holden stationwagon. That might save the money for a hostel…
It is amazing how things come together right now! I still cannot believe it. Yesterday was a pretty good day, although it is freezing cold at night, the day was all sunny and warm. I had a 3hrs ride with an experienced German girl and we went for some nice canters. Finally I got to take some pictures of the scenery, look and you’ll understand that a total of 6hrs in the saddle do not actually feel like hard work .
I hope you are all fine and I’m dying to hear from you! How’s everything going? So PLEASE email (although it might take a while to answer you).
Cheers

horse farm diary

It's been a while since I got my little friend "Aspro" (how I named my computer) to connect to the www, but actually, I did not miss it that much.
I am having my first day off today, which came a bit suddenly to me. The farm is not that busy today, so my boss Kathy said I could take a day off. Unfortunately, I was already up, in horse gear and brushing the horses, so all smelly and hairy and sticky. I took the chance though and she gave me a ride to Katoomba, the small mountain town I already told you about.
So now I am sitting here in a cafe, having my first real coffee for days and a muffin for breakfast, using some unsecured W-Lan aspro found. At least, it's free :-)

The last days have gone by really quickly and I feel I need to fill you in.
I started working on Monday. Work basically means brushing horses, saddle them and then take tourists on rides through the bush. You can book rides from half an hour up to three hours, so I get to spend quite some time in the saddle; Tuesday it was 6 hrs, yesterday only 4. There are some 20 horses down at the farm and at Kathys farm, where she lives, are another 30 or so. So quite a lot, and it takes a while to get all their names right (I still don't). There also is a mare with her fowl, a cockatoo, a cat and two donkeys.
The horses spend the night out on a large pasture, we get them in in the morning, then they spend the day there in the coral waiting for tourists to arrive and in the late afternoon we put them back out again. I was amazed to find that they don't get any sort of grain [Kraftfutter], just some hay in the evening since although it is spring the grass is not plenty and short. Some horses go on rides for 6hrs a day, so think about and how much we feed our horses back home and how much they work! But many horses are quite thin, but otherwise they would not stand the heat in summer. As I said, it is still spring here, but it gets up to 30°C in daytime.
The nights are quite cold though, and since the house does not have heating, I get to light the fireplace every night. This is nice, but the house is not all dusty and it smells like horeses everywhere. In the living room there are saddles on the couches, other horse stuff and dust and hair everywhere. But you get used to that.
I start aqt 7.30h in the morning, but the day ends at 18h max, because it gets dark then. That is the strangest thing to get used to: at 7pm it is pitchdark. But I get to see a sky full of stars, which is amazing.

Yesterday I stayed over at Kathy's place and we went out on a night safari for Wombats and Kanguroos. We only got to see one wombat from far away, but it was fun to drive a 4wheel Jeep on the mountain pastures.
It is Thursday already and the weekend is gonna get pretty busy. So I hope to get to ride a lot, and hopefully have some cool people on my rides. I still don't know the tracks so well, but at least when I am out there alone with the tourists, I can make up new ways to go. I hope to get you some more photos, 'cause the landscape is really amazing out there. The wood are only gum trees, which have a white bark with camouflage patterns on it. On the ground, there are various types of bushes, among them the tee tree bush where you make the famous tee tree oil from. Wild kangaroos live there too, loads of parrots and cockatoos, some wombats (but they only get out at night), lizards and also some snakes have been spotted. Unfortunately, there are no Koalas anymore because they used to be hunted.
So far, my day off basically consisted of writing this post and getting the photos together for it. I am gonna do some groceries later on and then get back to the farm, since there is not much left to do up here.
PS: Anne got a job, in fact two jobs in a café and an ice cream parlor, and Karoline, another girl I met at the hostel in Sydney, got one too. So it obviously is not too hard to work here .
I don’t know when I get to connect to the outer world the next time, so feel free to comment but don’t expect to get answered straight away. I am happy to receive emails too!
cheers&seeya