As you might have concluded from our last post, David and I were not too keen to restart another WWOOFing experience right away - we needed a little break and some time for ourselves - so Josephine led us directly into another new experience here in Australia: big cities!
Brisbane was waiting for us and although we ended up spending only four days there, we enjoyed ourselves and the city enormously! Can you imagine us two, after about two months out there in nature, in the outback, in nation parks, on campgrounds, suddenly in the middle of thousands of cars, people in suits and cravats, skyscrapers, and, of course, for all how know the story: Starbucks!!! We actually were in heaven! I never thought that I would love to be in a city so much one day, but Brisbane just captured our hearts directly.
The city is very beautiful and although Australia's third biggest with about 1.5 million inhabitants, it succeeds in maintaining a wonderfully laid-back charm. We figured that part of it is due to the beautiful old and traditional Queenslander houses built out of wood with large verandas, balconies and windows. Then there is the river and the marinas and wharfts built alongside, the huge park areas, and the numerous little cafes, shops and restaurants. Truly, we both found that Australians are quite right in voting Brisbane the most agreeable Australian town with the highest standard of living! We could have stayed there much much longer.
But then, we had an appointment with our next WWOOFing experience, this time with the following constellation:
The farm:
Tandem is situated about 200km South West of Brisbane, and includes large stretches of local forest (eucalyptus), a very beautiful damn, large vegetable gardens and wonderful flower and fruit gardens (the spring pictures from the former post were all taken there), as well as some chicken - once again very stupid -, several European and Australian ducks, and two dogs, Buca, a very beautiful fellow, and Aubrey, my favorite because he was so terribly funny that we could never stop laughing about all the incredible stupid things he did. Oh and of course, there was the hugest shed you can
imagine that had all kinds of surprises waiting for us, and our dear little bungalow, where we slept.
The hosts:
Bob and Marry were an elderly couple who had bought this beautiful place to live their passions and enjoy the pleasures of life together. Bob is originally Dutch but has been living in Australia forever and ever, Mary pure Australian, and both have travelled extensively and know the world, other cultures and people. Right now they live with their nephew
Fred, who has been helping them out a little since a difficult knee operation of Bob. Fred is a really nice fellow, first a little quiet and shy, but a lot of fun and very agreeable to be with on the long run.
The WWOOFers: us again, but a lot less enthusiastic about the concept of WWOOFing and a little scared of what might be waiting
for us this time!
The result: We spent the most wonderful time on this beautiful farm and with those most amazing and enriching people! The week we spent there will definitely figure among the best weeks of our whole travel experience and I am pretty sure that some of the experiences we made will follow us through life and still have some influence on us later on!
We definitely are the most grateful to Bob and Mary and we do hope to see them again, either in Europe or in Australia or wherever our ways may cross each other again.
What can I tell you? This was true WWOOFing, the real experience of what life is like on a farm and close to nature, including tons of interesting work, many many learning experiences, the pleasures of quiet life, interesting conversation, and the joy of good food, drink, and good books.
Already our first task, making honey, was the most interesting and resulted in the fact that David definitely wants to have bees himself one day now. It is incredible how much honey you can actually find in honeycombs! We first thought that with the 24 frames we had, we would not get more than 1-2 glasses of honey. But after having spun them around and around so that the honey just flies out (and sticks to everything and everywhere...), we ended up with about 40 liters of honey! And you know what? I, who usually never eat honey, just couldn't get enough of this one. It was soooo good! Of course, we ate so much while duing the honey, that we ended up all sick... :)
Other works included taking care of the vegetable gardens and other flowers, putting up protective screens around those gardens, building a wind protection for the chickens around their shed, planting trees (did not somebody clever say that once in your life you should plant a tree??) and protecting them against the chicken, taking out old fences and cleaning up fields, and (sorry Suse) cutting of the heads of some ducks, plucking and cleaning them and putting them in the freezer. Well, I have to admitt, the last work was not the nicest one but it was definitely interesting and seemed very natural and in line with the spirit of self-sufficiency.
Bod and Mary were very relaxed regarding the work loads per day and so most of the time, we worked about four hours a day and spent the afternoons exploring the region, eg. the forests of the farm, Bold Rock National Park, the cute little town of Stanthorpe, or we got ourselves organized a little, eg. getting a new registration for Josephine. Once in a while, it would also happen that we just got too involved in interesting discussions while having lunch so that we ended up spending half the afternoon chatting with Bob and Mary and afterwards David enjoyed the large choice of comics and bandes desinees that Bob has collected over the years and I was sur to find some interesting book
in the extensive library of the two! Sometimes, however, we enjoyed work so much that we just kept going throughout the day. It is very satisfactory to do useful work, to be able to see the result at the end of the day and to learn a lot while doing so. Hihi, for example, I learned to drive a tractor, which is a lot of fun. As I said, Bob's shed provided tons of surprises for us, so we also spent some time watching him do his own beers and alcohol (very, very tasty) in there or studying the worm farm they had.
Of course, work was not everything at Tandem, as Bob and Mary are convinced that you should work to live and not live to work. The first wonderful surprise I had was on the first morning of work, when at around 11 o'clock Mary called us to enjoy some morning tea! Don't you think that's a wonderful habit, to take some tea and cake around 11 am every morning while sitting in the sun and watching the birds? Ha, I found that the nicest thing on earth! And of course, Mary knew how to make wonderful tea and bake the most declicious fruit cakes and biscuits!
In general, Bob and Mary were the best cooks I have met in quite a while. They enjoy good ingredients, good quality food, they know how to cook and they know how to enjoy their meals! For David and me, this was just paradise. I am not sure how many recepies I took away with me, but there are a few! Of course, we also did some cooking in the evenings (hihi, I made some Frisenkekse for tea) and I guess, we can be rather proud of the result, because everybody liked what we did. Most of the time, diner would start by tasting some of Bob's very good beer or with a glass of vine and we would then enjoy the meal and the interesting talk. You cannot imagine how good it feels to meet somebody who knows what is happening in the world and to discuss tons of interesting subjects! Moreover, we learned a lot regarding the Australian way of life, the development of the culture and country here, the present problems, ... it was truely enriching.
Now, imagine, after such a wonderful and satisfactory day, you sit down in front of the fireplace with a cup of tea (or a glass of vine), there is some classical music playing softly in the background, and you take up a good book. Can life be more beautiful? Well, yes, having to get up in the end, to leave the fireplace, creep back into the cold and unheated bungalow and to try and warm up your frozen bed might not be fun - but hey, we are tough, arn't we?! ;)
Truely, the time we spent WWOOFing at Tandem and in the company of Bob and Mary was wonderful. We enjoyed every second of it and we are very desperate that no other WWOOFing family in New Zealand will be able to live up to their standards now! But that's how our travel life goes, in the end, we had to leave again, new adventures, new cultures and ways-of-life, and new faces are waiting for us. But we will keep those two in mind and if ever we end up having our own little farm later on, I'll plant a Chinese vine as a reminder of them!
PS. I forgot to introduce my new friend to you!!! Imagine me taking down some old fencing. I am standing next to a large wooden post and cutting off the wire that attaches the fence to the post. I am standing quite close to the post because the cutter is not very long and I need to reach down very far. Suddenly, I raise my head and there he is right in front of me: a really large dragon about 15 cm from my face. I can proudly say that I did not scream, but the thing frightened the s. out of me! What's his business of creeping up there without making any sound and surprising me like that?!?!
Sydney here we go!! Can you imagine that? We've made it! Three months and 10.000 km later, we are here, on the other side of Australia, at the final point of our trip through this fabulous country! I can't believe it. And this city is so incredible. Sydney! It's there, as magnificent as you imagine it, spendid, grand, impressive. Yeah, that's it. The whole city just says: I am here to impress and that's what I do!
When we first got here, after another long day on the road and the awesome spectacle of a thunderstorm, the city embraced us with all its might. 4.5 million people and everything that comes along with it, from the fabulous cultural diversity and offerings to the smog, noise, and concrete forests. I have to admit, it took me two days to get used to city life again but then we benefited from the advantages as much as we could while trying to sell our dear Josephine (which we finally did three days before departure) and arranging our further travels.
The first thing you'll probably associate the impressive Sydney Opera House. And of course we went there and I did even wear my German shirt, which resulted in us having a discussion with an Australian guy for about an hour and us missing our boat for a visit of the beach... but I was brave and you can see the proof here! We even participated in a tour to get to see the inside of the opera,
which, in my opinion is a lot less expressive than the outside, excpet for the famous concert hall with the organ in it. And you know what the most difficult problem of a backpacker in a place like this is? Well, imagine THE OPERA SYDNEY and then imagine us with our old sneekers, worn out jeans, working T-Shirts, and big baggy sweaters. How the heck do you attend a performance in a place like that dressed like that?!?! But fortunately we where there at the right time, exactly when the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra had decided to visit Sydney for the first time in 162 years.
As they were very nice, they did not only perform in the opera but organized a transmission of their performance onto big screens in front of the opera where we were able to enjoy their performance for free! Can you imagine that? The skyline of Sydney in front of us, the opera behind us, above us the sky and the stars and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra playing Mozart (isn't that a nice coincidence that even if I am not in Germany or Austria I can celebrate his 250th birthday???) and Tchaikovsiki?! In the end, some of the players and the maestro even came outside and played there for us. Can you wish for a more special moment?
No, of course, this was perfect. But Sydney in general has so much to offer that we did not get bored one single minute. There all the different parks and botanical gardens, tons of museums (where we enjoyed not only an introduction to Australian painters but also a classic French movie in black and white), art wherever you go (for example a photo exhibition about contemporary Sydney life in one of the parks), festivals and concerts everywhere (for example a three day latin festival and a three day jazz festival), free concerts of bands in pubs, drumming sessions.... I guess we can say that we just lived culture and art here!
Then there were the beaches to explore and the nightlife to relish. I guess we should have shown our beautiful bodies, gone surfing all day long, gotten a sun tan so that we could figure amongst the most fashionable of people going out here at night (seriously, I have rarely seen so many artificial people in my life)... but it was simply too cold yet to enjoy those "pleasures". 
So we just went for long walks, took some creative pictures, and went out one evening to finally taste kangaroo and barramundi (local fish) and to celebrate our two-year-anniversary. Of course, we did not chose some place or another, we went to one of the beautiful marinas here, called Darling Harbour and enjoyed not only the delicious meal but also the wonderful view.
What else was Sydney for us, except a fabulous place to enjoy civilization at its best? As I said in the beginning, Sydney also represented the end of our stay here in Australia. We spent the last three months discovering this beautiful continent and now we do have to move on, unfortunately. Not that we are not looking forward to New Zealand - that would be a shame - but we have learnt to love this beautiful country (even though the mosquitos bite you even in the shower.. can you imagine where>!?!?) and, which might be even more important, we have learnt to love the people. Which way-of-life could be better than the Australian "easy-going-itude" or translated their no-worries-mentality? Even if they are way off from any other place in the world (especially Europe), we could now imagine to spend a couple of years here (keine Angst, Mama, es ist noch nichts entschieden) and we are leaving with a smiling and a crying eye! So, as the Aussies would say:
