Lift off!

First post…kind of daunting, but here we go!

Welcome to my little blog! It’s an attempt to keep a log of what I do, see, cook, eat, etc as I travel around Australia with my boyfriend, Billy, in our van, ZZ Pop. I guess I’ll jump into it with a quick review of our time from February (when we took off) to now to get up to spee – we started with a trip straight up from Melbourne to Newcastle to attend B’s sister’s wedding. Soon after we zipped up to Cessnock in the Lower Hunter Valley to do a stint of grape picking to make a little cash. Grape picking has been good to us, and seems to be one of the more profitable escapades in the fruit picking world. Plus, weather permitting, we get to work in gorgeous vineyards on rad days like this.

It hasn’t been all sunshine though, with our fair share of waterlogged, muddy days trudging through the vines, though I kinda like that too – except for the trench foot.. After getting word there was more work in Orange, we headed down there only to find out on arrival that it had been cancelled due to birds eating all the grapes and therefore our jobs. We hung around trying to seek out some other employment but there was an excess of backpackers and a limited number of jobs so it proved quite difficult. Eventually we got a gig picking apples which was thoroughly un-enjoyable as we were not given access to a tractor which meant trying to drag tonnes of apples in a wagon by hand. The pay was also very average. Rather – below average. Nevertheless, money is money and we stuck out the week of work and happily bid the job farewell. Plus we were staying at a nice free campsite at the bottom of Mt. Canabolas so there wasn’t too much expenditure going on. Picked up a day’s work on a vineyard and then decided to go and have some fun time in the Blue Mountains.

 We rolled through Bathurst, where we thought we might as well check in and see if there was any work going, though we hadn’t seen it as a work destination in the Harvest Guide book or on any websites. Little did we know, it was a hidden gem, off the scent of the bacpackers. We made a few calls and had a job lined up within minutes. So we’ve had a few days work with some lovely people here in Bathurst, and more lined up across the next week or so.

We did have a few days off as well which we used to nip over to Katoomba for a little exploring, although the weather turned a bit miserable so we had to postpone our planned bushwalks. Stayed at Glenroy historic site, which was a pretty little place by a creek, and with some much needed hot showers.

We also had a yummy lunch at a little vegan cafe in Leura called Rubyfruit Bakery which was a gorgeous little gem with lovely ladies and a to die for mint cheesecake. In my momentary lapse (hunger? excitement?) I ate my kale and olive fritatta and cheesecake before I even had a chance to take a snap. But I can assure you it was pretty and yummy. I think it’s a good excuse to go back there when we visit again on the way through to Sydney. Yay! We came back through Oberon, where we had a little go at fossicking and fount two tinsy winsy sapphires, and then saw the Big Trout. Gotta love it!

So that’s us up to speed now. We’re staying at the Bathurst Showgrounds at the moment, which is decent – power, showers at all that jazz, but as there may be a few days off work, we have heard about a free campground at Flat Rock that might be worth checking out.

So, until next time! – x