Farm life, the final chapter

 To complete my 88 days of farm work I traded dusty Merbein for green Byron Bay. With just 14 days left to go I opted for Wwoofing instead of paid work. Wwoofing stands for Willing Workers On Organic Farms and pretty much means you work for food and board. I found a farm only 10 minutes outside of Byron Bay situated on a hill overlooking cape Byron called Hayters Hill. The view was stunning. On one side you have lush green rolling hills as far as the eye can see and on the other side you could see Byron Bay with its beaches, the lighthouse and the deep blue Pacific Ocean beyond that stretched out to meet the light blue of the sky at the horizon. 

I stayed with Julie and Owen. A lovely couple that raise cattle and grow pecans. They were both very nice people and again I experienced Australian hospitality, which is great. It was not hard to like these people from the moment I met them. Julie has the most heartwarming smile which makes you feel at ease right away.

I found two friends in their dogs Annie and Penny. Staffordshire terrier and a little fluffy bastard. Annie has the habit of showing her affection by licking your legs. She will just keep going till she hits bone or until you push her away. And the noises she makes are just hilarious. It is not barking or howling but something in between, like she is being strangled. That is how she wakes up all the dogs in the neighborhood from the back of the pickup truck (ute) as we drive past.

Although all the businesses are separate they run it as a family business with their sons. 2 of their 3 sons live on the hills next to theirs. One raises chickens for the eggs and the other has a butcher shop and keeps some pigs. So most of Julie and Owen’s cattle ends up in their sons butcher shop. This joint effort is called ‘Hayters Hill Farm’ and the products are sold on local markets in the area.  

The work that I did was very divers although the first two and last two days were a bit monotonous. To keep all the cattle on their property miles of electric fence lines the land. But if grass grows too tall and touches the wire it will lose power and the cows are free to maraud the country side. So with a brush cutter I set out so mow the grass underneath the fence. That same brush cutter I used to clear the base of around 850 pecan trees of tall grass before we could start harvesting. In those few days I brush cut more them most people will do in their entire lives and although I’ve become an expert now I would be very pleased if I don’t ever have do that again.

But besides that I trimmed hedges, moved cattle form paddock to paddock, built an enclosure for pigs, moved 3 day old piglets, water proofed a roof, built an electric fence and picked up pecans using a giant vacuum cleaner.

It was again a nice outdoor farm experience, this time with more animals involved which I enjoyed. And although I had a great time I am glad that it is over. No more farm work, no more work for no pay. Time to apply for my second year visa and move back to Cairns to live in the tropics and teach scuba diving again. back to the life love.