As mentioned in my previous post my week started out with some sad news but as we all know and as hard as it has it can be to realise life does indeed go on. Monday morning was the same as most mornings on the farm, that is to say it we did something new again. We took the boat in to town to the mechanic and ran a few errands. Back on the farm I had yet another new task. I had to go down to the new block of vines and pierce the irrigation pipes with a sharpened screwdriver then push little drippers in to the holes so that the plants could be irrigated in the summer. Though it was a sad day it was brightened up considerably by not sticking the screwdriver in to any part of my hand and by chatting with my big brother in the evening. It was his birthday and he had been at a wedding the night before but I phoned him and got him out of bed anyway because what else are little sisters for?
Tuesday was one of those strange days where it was very similar to the day before as I finished applying drippers to the irrigation pipes in the new block of vines. The afternoon was different again though as my host brought in his laptop and I spent the rest of the afternoon and part of the evening running scans and removing a virus that was trying to get a hold of it. I am pleased to say that I was obviously listening more than I realised in all those years of living with a techie expert as I successfully removed the virus and restored the laptop to more or less how it was before.
On Wednesday we had to take one of my hosts’ boys to his AFL game and my host attempted to explain the basic rules to me. I am still confused but I may have a better chance of understanding what’s happening the next time I happen to see a game on TV. We stopped by the shops on the way home to pick up an external hard drive so my hosts could back up their laptop and some ingredients for baking millionaire shortbread. Back at the farm we just about had time to eat lunch and pick up some fruit before my host had to make a return trip into town to collect his boy. Having the place to myself I lost no time in starting my latest attempt to make millionaire shortbread. I have never had much success with it and therefore keep trying to make it as I am determined to learn the secrets of making a good caramel filling. I had made tablet the previous week and hoped that I had some new insight in to making the caramel but it was not to be. I managed to both burn and undercook it. Also I used a too small tin making the biscuit base way too thick. On the upside the caramel though unsuccessful was my best attempt yet. With my usual gift for timing the next night I saw a masterchef where they showed how to make a good caramel, the secret is to add cream to stop it crystallising apparently. Looks like I’m not quite done with my baking nemisis yet!
Thursday was a local holiday in Bundaberg so everyone was at home and therefore we started our day later than usual. I got some sun by taking as treol down to the vines and picking up some McGuffies from the ground. Usually this variety is collected from the vines but some will drop off in the sunshine so I was just collecting these before a proper pick was done on the vines later on. My hosts have an expert who visits them about once a month to check on their vines and give recommendations. He dropped by in the afternoon and basically said that they were all looking pretty good. One of the boys had gone to a fair in town but the other decided not to go. He had a day at home playing with his game consoles which included a DS which reminded me of my own neglegted machine. I made the mistake of bringing it out and playing one of my games and that was me. I’m now hooked on Final Fantasy 3 again! In between playing my DS I painted up some of the timber that my host was going to use to make a pagoda at the back of the house. IN the evening I introduced Zack to the dog. It was good fun and event though Zack did end up in the dogs mouth he survived the experience in tact if a little soggy. The next day everyone was back at work and school so we had an industrious day of painting and building: I painted and my host built. I reckon I must have levelled up my painting skills by the end of the day as I painted a fair bit of timber however I don’t think I missed my calling in life there.
Every weekend I am instructed to lie in but I just can’t do it. Back home I used to love to lie in bed but these days I want to be up and about and doing things. Luckily this weekend though I was up and about at my usual time I was handily distracted by my DS. Eventually though it ran out of battery so I wandered outside and did some more painting. Usually Saturday is my day off but I’m not a big sunbather and I reckoned that this would help me make the most of the sunshine whilst I had it. It was an unhurried day of painting interspersed by mini DS sessions. Sunday I started off much as I had on Saturday with the addition of writing my blog. It’s become my custom to write it up on Saturday and edit and post it on the Sunday but as you all know I didn’t really have the heart for my usual post this weekend so I was soon back outside keeping busy by painting in the sunshine. I eventually ran out of things to paint and as much as I wanted to I resisted painting a cream stripe down the black cats back, yes I know I watch too many cartoons! Since I was determined to make the most of the clear blue skies and mid-twenty temperatures I grabbed a rake from the shed and raked up alpaca poo for the last time.
Monday morning and it was back to the painting. There were a few final coats to go on the last pieces of timber but it didn’t take me long and before I knew it I was sucking up poo again. Post lunch I did some fetching and carrying before remembering the poo vac was full. I made the mistake of offering to empty it and therefore spent my afternoon literally shovelling shit. It wasn’t actually that bad but afterwards I was in definite need of a shower and very glad to get one as soon as possible. Whilst washing off the poo smell my hosts previous visitor arrived back. They had been up north and popped in for a few days on their way back south. When you travel you get used to saying goodbye to people so it’s always nice to be able to say hello again. In the evening I was a bit antisocial as I decided to copy over some files from my hosts laptop on to their external hard drive. After all we all know how important it is to back up your precious photos and important files.
Finally it was my last day on the farm. As soon as I was up and dressed I put on my washing, emptied my bag out ready for re-packing and set up the laptop to finish backing up my hosts files. Then it was down to the shed to change implements on the back of the tractors:; we needed to attach a hook to one and bucket to the other as the butcher was coming to kill some cows as trhe tractors are used to move the carcasses and the nasty not for eating bits. Bad news as this was for the cows it was good news for me as I finally got to drive a proper tractor! We drove them up to the field beside the cows then headed back for a cuppa before the butcher arrived. Since I am a meat eater I decided that I would go and see the cows being killed and watch the butcher at work. He was a good shot and both cows dropped immediately however he also slit their throats to make sure they were really gone. I watched him skin and remove some of the offal but then headed back to check on laptop as there really wasn’t that much else to see. Laptop checked I took in my washing (which had kindly been hung up for me by one of the visitors whilst I was out playing with the tractors) and being me dumped it on my bed for packing later. Since I was technically there to collect fruit I headed out to do a final pick up. I did all 6 blocks of the little fruits (three sweethearts and three mysties) then headed in for lunch which was another new experience. We had pumpkin soup and it was rather very tasty and worth looking out for in future. I took my last chance to do some baking and made raspberry and white chocolate muffins before heading over to feed the chooks and take some photos of them. On our return from the cook pen the boys were home and one of them made a self saucing chocolate pudding with one of the visitors who shared the recipe for not only that pudding but a butterscotch version as well! It was at this point that I discovered that I had copied the files from the laptop on to the hard drive in the wrong format. I quick look online and a few command later and I had the drive in the right format! It did mean I had to copy all the files again but it was easy enough to set it going during Australia’s Got Talent (which I am addicted to btw) and leave it so it would backup over night. I just know that Josh’s would have been so amused at my rookie mistake but I fixed it so I am very proud of myself. And so ended my visit on a Queensland passion fruit farm. By this time it was late and I had an early start so it was off to bed. Well after I finished my packing of course, after all you didn’t think I wouldn’t leave it until the last minute did you?!
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