Tree farm Work- just outside melbourne

the only good thing about my having to get dropped off at work 40 min early is the sun rises. so pretty.
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just pictures for now :)/ work in progress........

I arrived at Emerlad backpackers and ... well its a working hostel what can I say? the showers are frezing (but since I arrived I have figured to not to use it after work when everyone else is and not when anyones in the kitchen cooking.... yep its pretty much always cold) and I did scam the only real mattress in our room- the rest were just thin... pellow type things. and the tv room has a small heater (which is out of propane at the moment so its been  cold)

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um.... I arrived thur- knowing Id have to wait till mon to get a job- it poured (as it has ALOT since I got here) and I was glad I wasnt working. then I got a job- and guess what my title is STRIPPER. great eh?! Ill tell you that all I do is take leaves off trees. yep. 16$ h and thats it. its actually been a huge highlight of my time here in oz. Im working with Randi whos from regina and a bunch of chicks from the hostel and aussie guys and I love it, simple.

Welcome to emerald backpackers- guess where- emerald (its 45min outside of Melbourne, easy enough to get to by train to Belgrave and then bus to emerald then a short hike down to the backpackers)

this is what happens in the shed (Im not involved)
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There are about 50 beds and for a working hostel it’s alright- I guess. The TV room is outside in a portable the kitchen has potential to get really crowed. The mattresses are the ones that are not real with springs just like a thick pillow. Kind of annoying until I stole a really good nice one. I love that no one’s there to harp about how no one washes their pots and pans- kind of annoying that no one’s around EVER if you want to talk to a “boss” but......

THE WORST PART the showers really sucked and it was a game to try and find out when no one was in the shower so that you could have a decently warm shower. I did get it a bit but .... not the highlight of my time.

yep us stripping
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Mika is my Japanese roomy and I love her. Such a nice chick and can be so funny, it was a joy to share a room with her- even if she did have her group of friends and her boyfriend.

Then in the TV room I had Andy and matt (originally from South Africa) both from England. And they were great fun in the evenings to watch TV with.

Then at my job I got sent with Randi A CANADIAN from Regina, sk and so much fun, I kept a pretty low key and didn’t get to know too many other people. I had books to read, TV to watch and work.... life was pretty good.

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Now the job- they have good jobs- well ok gotta clarify good. They are like plants flowers or trees but majority of the year there is work because it’s always something in season. And the area seems to be the Mecca for nurseries and..... the hostel seemed to have connections.

So I got sent to a tree farm. And I got a job as a STRIPPER yep that was my job title (and it was a great joke- come on ME getting called a stripper? You gotta find that funny) so my “job” consisted of taking the leaves off the trees. Yep that was/is it. But because of the people it was pretty awesome- even the week- ish that it rained it was all good fun.

Randi from sask (Uof R)
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So yeah the hostel charged is 6$ a day for transport, plus rent- which was a bit expensive... But they had the work and that’s what I needed.

The trees are/were saplings, usually only like 4-6 feet tall we did have a couple of rows of kiwis that were like 1 inch tall and buggers cause you were bent over but then we had the other extreme that were 9-12 feet tall. Why were we doing this? Good question- the story that I got was that..... They were going to be sold and stripen the leaves would kind of put them in a semi state of hibernation. Plus they were very confused and not loosing this leaves fast enough, therefore needed some help. After we stripped them the tractor would get under the roots and pull them up then the boys would knock the dirt off of the roots and they be loaded on to the trailer. After that I’m not sure- the roots were cut they were sorted into size and quality and bundled together and re put into some soil.

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The guys I was working with were all pretty much oozy, the girls were from the hostel or were backpackers that had left the backpackers. German, Korea, France, Japan, Canada, that’s pretty much it. The boys kegan (who was apparently on neighbours as a 4 year old kid-and if you don’t know what neighbours is then you’d better get with it) , (boss) Russ, grame, ryan (who reminded me so much of mark), ben, Dave, puge, and blue (DID U KNOW? That if you have red hair your nice name is blue? It’s like an opposite thing- like if you’re fat your called slim??? I’d never heard the blue thing before and for most of the time I never knew that the guys name was Christian- he did not like me when I did find out that his name was Christian because Id call him it and he was not used to that)

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So yeah the boys loved Randi and Ben was an ass about bugging us about Canada and how things we’re/ are different and how we live in igloos and our police ride around on horses. It was all in good fun and I don’t really have any stories par say but at the same time the whole time was one great story even when it was raining. Attitude was everything and the attitude of our group- especially talking with Randi about Canada and travels- it was like meeting your kindred spirit, good person to meet (but she left to go back home same time as I left for falls).

the clouds/fog :) so pretty except this meant it was going to rain.
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The 18^th it started raining- and I have found Alberta mud and it wasn’t very much fun- thank god for a good company that had rain jackets boots and pants for us to wear- the pictures of the girls are great because third boys l-xl jackets and theses girls are small Asian girls.