We did it. 88 days complete and the feeling is unreal. On our last day, we were sent home early so said our goodbyes, headed straight to the beach, cracked open a beer, ran into the sea, and celebrated our mission complete! Those 4 months have been an experience we will be talking about for years. The highs of meeting some awesome people from all walks of life and from across the world, to securing an hourly paid weeding job for the majority of our time there. And of course the lows of getting up at 4.30am, barely taking any days off, back-breaking & mind-numbingly boring work and feeling dirty and smelly the majority of the time, we are so proud of ourselves to come through the other end without giving up.
We celebrated that week with some epic lay-ins. Up at 7.30/8am was a blessing! We made so much progress on the van which is slowly becoming our soon to be home on wheels. We took a trip to Mount Lofty where we stayed for a night which was my treat to Tom for getting me through farm work (and for driving our 2 hour commute every single day). It wasn’t quite the 5 star we were expecting, and the weather turned pretty chilly up in the hills, but it a was a lovely relaxed getaway which we thoroughly deserved.
That Friday we went to the Laneway Music festival which I had brought Tom tickets for at Christmas. It was crazy hot and so nice to let our hair down and have some drinks. The music was definitely more Tom’s cup of tea than mine but still enjoyed the atmosphere.
My lovely family including my Auntie Michelle, Uncle Kevin and cousins Chloe and Kacey arrived on this day too, and although they weren’t expecting to see us until the following morning, we decided to leave the festival early to surprise them.
It felt bizarre having our family here across the other side of the world but knew they would absolutely love the place! After a week with us in Adelaide, they headed off to Brisbane to pick up their Britz campervan and start their road trip down South. Safe to say they had an awesome time.
Tom, just after a week of finishing at the farm went back to work for his old company ‘BuyDirectOnline.com.au’ to keep earning some money for our big trip coming up. I have been picking up some work here and there with a recruitment agency, including a day at the Adelaide Oval as an events steward and a reception job at a Community Housing Council.
We have managed to squeeze in a road trip to Melbourne since then with a friend of mine Tash who also came to visit from the UK. Despite hitting a kangaroo which jumped out on the road on our first night, it was quite the adventure. We stopped at Murray Bridge, Kingston and Mount Gambier to see the idyllic Blue Lake and sinkhole, we had some tea and then spent our night camped up on the side of a road in Port Fairy with Tash sleeping on the front seats.
We then dodged the rain to enjoy the Great Ocean Road, we saw 9 of the ‘12 apostles’ and some amazing coastline along the way before arriving in Melbourne that second evening.
Tash had booked a hostel for her stay but Tom and I went with an open mind to find somewhere close by to park our van and camp up for free. We ended up staying in St Kilda close to Tash’s hostel on a nice residential street near the Botanic Gardens. We slept well in our now insulated van and a few more home comforts around us. We relied on the public toilets in the Botanic gardens when we needed the bathroom and spent $13 to go for a swim in the St Kilda Salt Water Sea Baths so we could go for a morning swim and use their showers!
We did a lot of exploring, traming and walking so we could see as much of Melbourne as we could. I Have been before with my family a couple of years ago, but it was a first for Tom and Tash. We were fortunate enough to be there for the White Night festival which saw thousands of people in the city enjoy bright lights and an array of musicians playing from up high on the building’s balconies. We saw a cool Ministry of Entertainment catwalk and an unexpected firework display across the river.
Tash then caught a flight to Brisbane to meet her cousin and continue her onwards travels, whilst Tom and I were on the road that Sunday morning to drive 8 hours straight home, ready for work the next day. It was a great experience and another test run for us, with more lessons learnt along the way.
My family then joined us for their final week in Australia after their epic road trip before heading back to the UK into the SNOW! Whilst we’ve been having a heatwave of 30-40 degree days, it’s hit -7 degrees at home – brrrrrrrr.
We are now March 9th – 6 weeks on from applying for our second-year visa and we have just been asked by the immigration department to provide evidence of our farm work in order for them to make a decision. Since our first-year visa expired on the 13th February we are currently on a bridging visa and my anxiety levels have been growing and growing. A headache just never ends, but luckily we are fortunate enough to have a few exciting events coming up to take our minds off the agonising wait including my brothers 30th birthday next week which will all be revealed when the word is out in our next post…
Gemma.