Big Question Marks

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Southbound we go

Daisy's got a new pair of shoes (snazzy new Bridgestones, that foxy lass) and she's itching to get on the road. I guess we are a little, too-- though country life has been swell, we are excited to get to the big city, where there aren't so many creepy critters!

We finally finished up the last of our work at Cherry Park (yes, I know I said that before, but there was more) yesterday... and in just a few days of weeding and putting mulch on cute little cherry tree saplings, we've totally destroyed our work clothes and gardening gloves, acquired ourselves achy and sunburnt backs, and had our nerves shattered by creatures hiding in the pine mulch. Anyone heard of the wolf spider? It's something that only existed in wildlife books for us till last week-- it's a giant, hairy spider that, if it bites you, is thought to sometimes cause necrosis-- translation: the spider injects digestive juices into the bite and your arm (or whatever was bitten) rots off painfully over time. Without a cure, no less. Ew! Wolfie's death came promptly a la the shovel, needless to say. Adrian also encountered a killer giant blue centipede, and thanks to his gloves it didn't get him. [WATCH OUR VIDEO HERE] We also uncovered a pile of lizard eggs, and one big bird egg, which we were hoping it didn't belong to a magpie-- those things are vicious! Let's just say we're pretty stoked to be finished the orchard work.

But it's not all doom and gloom... Stanthorpe's been good to us. Our boss took us all out for a fantastic night out on the town Friday night, we've found a pretty awesome pizza place in town, and we've relaxed lately by feeding the birds-- gorgeous king parrots and crimson rosellas flock outside our house-- and the cows, who are now so loyal they sleep by our cottage. We've even spotted the big lizard that lives in our roof, and we're expert firestarters, thanks to our wood stove.

Apparently it's a 24 hour drive to Melbourne (this country is so big!) so we'll do the trip over a few days. We haven't even seen a movie in ages, so we're very excited to check out Into The Wild (anyone seen it?) and have some good restaurant grub along the way. We're also planning to spend some time cruising around Sydney Harbour on the ferry-- it's hard to believe we've been in Oz for 10 months and haven't visited Sydney yet! And then it'll be off to Melbourne, for our third time, though this time hopefully to stay, to visit friends, get proper jobs, shop, eat, drink, and go to all the live concerts we can handle! (We just hope nobody notices our farmers' tans.) We're thinking of you in Ontario, all snowed in... one more week till "Chrissy", as they call it here!

3 comments:

Freebird Productions said...

Yeaye!!! I'm the first comment in your blog!!! Booh to wolf spiders, looks creepy!!! Is that a pic of Adrian ending one's life? Que Malo!!!! Not too much exciting on our end these days, just getting ready for Christmas and hanging with friiends while attempting to save more money for the next leg of the trip... hooray!!!! We're off to Patagonia in a month! Take care and miss you guys SOOOO MUCH! ( I want to feed the parrots with you...)

Anonymous said...

There's silverfish in my bathroom... one the size of my pink finger (and I have long fingers, mind you). While it won't make my arm fall off or paralyze me, I can certainly sympathize with living in the "Land of the Bugs". Get home safety, and for god's sake, SQUISH SQUISH!

Anonymous said...

Happy Holidays guys!

T & F are coming down to visit F's parents for a month. Maybe you can 'copy back' your position Dragon Force, and link up with them for a bit.

Anyways, really good bloggin' and adventuring this year, see you in the next!

V