A New Host

    We have been with our new host (Debra and Andrew) for a little more than a week now. They are wonderful people who are really into the spirit of Helpx which is all about learning about each other’s cultures. They frequently want to know what we call things, how we do things, and especially what we eat. They love to talk about our differences in food. We even cooked for them the other night. Becca and I made some burgers with a bit of an Australian swing to them.

       We threw together burgers that had curry powder and Worcester sauce in the meat, some cheddar in the middle, and then sautéed mushrooms and onions on top. They turned out to be pretty good, I could have added more curry though. I never knew how much Americans loved our peanut butter, but we seem to like putting it on everything, whereas here it is just another spread.

       We have been really fortunate with the wildlife here so far, we have seen tons of koalas, a couple of echidnas, and they have so many colorful birds I can’t keep track of them all. They have one of the birds as a pet, her name is Aus (pronounced oz), I say hello to her every morning when I go to feed the chickens and she often puts her claw on my outsretched finger and bobs her head, I think she likes me.

    When we first got here I was immediately struck by the photographs on the walls. They are diverse, some birds, other landscapes, many of people, and they are all taken by Debra and Andrew. The ones of people are often of nude models. I come to find out a lot of these nude models are actually helpxers like us. They each wanted to have a photoshoot and almost all of them opted to be naked. Now there is a cultural difference for you, us Americans can’t even imagine stripping down in front of someone to go swimming in the daylight let alone smile at a camera. Of course the pictures are not compulsory to stay here but if we are interested we can have one done, we don’t even have to take our clothes off, that’s optional as well.

     
  We are planning the next leg of our trip and have been emailing hosts from New Zealand left and right. We even got an email back from one of the hosts that has a seal colony just down the beach. If we go there I don’t know how I will get a seal on a plane but I will figure out a way.

If any of you are interested in where I am here is a link to the address

A Brief Travel Update

We left Tassie yesterday. I was ready to go though. We had a wonderful time exploring the island. That's what you do there, not much of an option is given to visitors. We spent time in the bush looking for local wildlife, watching birds, trying to snap pictures of penguins, and enjoying time with the locals.

Our last morning I woke up early due to thirst, too many glasses of wine and bowls of curry will do that to you I guess. Anne had all of the locals over the night previous, she "Supplied the venue, and visitors provided the menu", as she put it. Upwards of twenty people arrived, many of them had hosted travelers like us. Most of them used another website called HelpX, which is much more popular than workaway over here. Since hearing that I think we are going to be switching to using that now.

The next host we are headed to is located in Marlo but we took a night to stay in Melbourne. We rented a room for 80 dollars in a hostel above a pub in Chinatown and spent yesterday wandering about the city. It is just that, a city, it of course has it's landmarks, but all in all we were ready to hop on the train this morning. A bit of an adventure getting there though, the tram would have cost us upwards of 30 dollars each because you need to buy a pass for at least a week so we decided to hoof it.

I threw Becca's duffle bag on my back and my backpack on my front and trudged in the rain for 30 minutes with about 60 pounds weighing down on my knees, shoulders, feet, of course it was uphill both ways. We arrived at the train station an hour early and met our host there. He has just come back from a vacation in Bali. He actually was there with a German couple he had hosted for three months. We are going to be working for 4 hours a day, finishing at 11:00 or so. That will be a relief since we had been working 6 - 8 hours with Anne.

We will miss our first stop no doubt. I wrote in the guestbook that it is easy to get lost in the homey mysteriousness of Tasmania, and we certainly had. Unlucky for us we were found by our second host, and I wished that whoever the next person was that read my entry would remain lost, never to be found again.

Night Tour at the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary

Tasmanian Devil - Gets their name for the horrible sounds they make as they fight over the pieces of wallaby they have just ripped out of your grasp. Seem to prefer a good fight over a good meal. 

Koala Bear - Sleep 20 hours a day, only thing you see them do is yawn and scratch themselves, despite it being 7:30 at night.
 
 Albino Wallaby - Kinda cute. 
 
Large Kangaroos - Jump right up to you and will eat the bag of pellets if you aren't paying attention. They live in "mobs" have one head male who boxes his way to the top and the females can put a pregnancy on hold for almost a year. 

Tawny Frogmouth - Often mistaken as owls, hunt at night, bash bugs (and wallaby chunks) against hard objects to kill them. They don't bite hard so when you feed them it's ok if your finger gets in the way of the wallaby bits.  Albino Possum - His name is fidget, will climb on your shoulder to eat his food. He is not shy, he is soft, he looks more lemur than possum. Needs to be in a sanctuary otherwise will be hunted easily without it's camouflage. 

Spotty Quoll - Will remind you of the small dinosaurs from jurassic park because the only thing you usually see of them is the ferns shaking before they leap on their prey (wallaby chunks shoved in the fence). They are distant relatives of the Tassy Devil and will make the same noises when their is food to argue over. 

Black Cockatoo - It even has a little bit of yellow.  White Cockatoo - Has a green mohawk. Is over ninety. Doesn't like men. Named Fred. Offers men a stick to grab through fence then chomps you when you get too close. He offers you a stick, you laugh because you know the trick.

 Potteroo - Very small wallaby, your girlfriend tells you it reminds her of a chinchilla. Incredibily shy, incredibly fast, is a fungivore. It's poop helps the rainforests grow. 
 
Wombat - Strong. Has hard cartilidge over his rump, coarse fur which is packed with dirt. His name is Ben and he is a teenager which means he bites, as all teenagers do. You give him a good scratch on his back and he seems happy, try and pick him up and he pulls away stronger than your fingers can grasp.

 Bettong - Cousin of the potterroo. They look like identical siblings. Lots of them, most Tasmanians don't know they even exist. 

Sugar Glider - Quasi flying chipmunks. Will dive whole bodied into food dish or hang from any of your body parts to be sure to get their share of the food. They don't fly unless they need to so you don't get to see them do so since all they want to do is eat their breakfast. 

Anne Cooking Tip #5 - Cook too much meat for dinner every night so you have something for soup tomorrow.

The Ups and The Downs

We start out yesterday at nine in the morning. Anne takes us on a tour of her property. She points out the black currents that need to be planted. The black currents that need to be unplanted. Where the unplanted need to be put. The place where the dead branches need to be moved. The gum tree to be dug out the fire wood to be organized. The rhubarb bed to be weeded. And then she says to get to work.

As we are going to the forest to remove branches we find a wallaby foot that is stuck in the top of the fence. I think it attempted to hop over to get some nice food when it's food was caught and it had to chew it off to escape. I am reaussured this idea by the dead wallaby nearby, but surprisingly it has two feet. Then we find another dead one, again with two feet. So for those of you keeping score at home - alive wallabies seen - 0 dead wallabies seen - 2 (and a foot).

Fast forward through all of the tasks to lunch. Becca and I want to ask Anne about our evening plans since she said we would be going to an old pub for dinner and a drink. Something that we were looking forward to after a discouraging day of work and dead wallabies. She forgot that she said we were going to the pub and instead is having company over for a drink. We are not to come out of our cabin until the company leaves the house. Oh, and by the way we aren't going camping anymore, we are going to work this weekend instead.

Becca and I are both very angry workawayers. We are cleaning plates and cursing about being treated like goddamn slaves.

We shower, read our books, fume over how unfair life is, and then their company leaves. We come inside for dinner which is being served on all of the silver we had polished two days ago. There is a large platter which is covered with an ornate cover. It has a knife and it's sharpener bordering it. Bill lifts the cover off to reveal a leg of lamb that he begins to carve, we eat baked cauliflower, parsnips, sweet potatoes, and green beans.

Anne tells us we are moving the currents up from the road and will be planting all of them, even though we just moved them down to the road today. But she says, "At least it's Friday and I think we will go to the pub tomorrow, and even though we are not camping we will still be going to Bruny Island, no matter what." I want to be giddy about the good news with Becca but I don't Anne to know how dissapointed we were earlier, instead I say, "Awesome." And take another bite of lamb.

Anne's Cooking Tip # 4 - If you need to bread a piece of meat put your breading in a plastic bag with the meat and shake vigorously, it will save your hands from getting all icky.

The Work

First of all I owe all of you readers an apology. I forgot to post a cooking tip from Anne last post so I will do two in this one.  Anne Cooking Tip #2: Parsely goes well in everything.

 This is Becca and I's first day off since we got here. Anne brought us down to the beach shack to have a relaxing (and cold) day off. Since It is a day off all I can think about is work, that's how things work isn't it. On a blog that Becca and I read about being a good workawayer it said that you should expect to get in shape. Exciting news! We get to shed a few pounds! If only we knew how it was we would be shedding those pounds.  Losing weight is never an easy task and usually you have to sacrifice alcohol, or cake, or chocolate or something. Well as you know we have been eating like king and queen here so what did we sacrifice? We sacrificed our ability to get out of bed without groaning. Muscles that we hardly used in America are being so incredibly worked out but not because we want to. 

Suddenly our shoulder muscles are defined my forearms and hands have become hardened and our thighs are never resting. To understand why you have to journey into the nature of our landscape and the work we do in it. Anne's paddock is on a hill. Somehow we are always moving things from the top of the hill to the bottom of the hill. This is because it is the worst job and we are low men on the totem pole.  

When we are expanding her driveway and I had finished pickaxing there is  a large pile of clay that must go down the hill Becca Bill and I fill two wheelbarrows and venture down the hill. Or when a new rhubbarb bed needs planting it means compost must be brought down the hill, or new plants, or something.

 If you want your arms to be worked out go dig a hole for a new fruit tree. Need to get rid of that five pounds of stomach flab? Why don't you bend down and pick up that wheelbarrow and then do a slow controlled trip down the hill. Oh and for thighs of steel just walk up and down the paddock a couple hundred times a week. 

Anne's Cooking Tip #3: Reuse, Recycle, Doggy Bowl. I will explain with an example. Cook chicken breasts for dinner. Use bones in soup for lunch. And whatever is still leftover put in Bonny's doggy bowl.

Tasmanian Wildlife

The first morning I woke up in Tasmania I didn't have that disconcerting feeling of waking up in an unfamiliar bed, instead I noticed the birds. Laying in the lower bunk bed I could hear unique and unfamiliar catches of song and chirps. When we walked outside in our work clothes and I am scanning the air for birds, looking for anything exotic. If you are an avid bird watcher I am sure you, more than any other person, know that I didn't see anything. How could I see something if I didn't know what I was looking for. I spent the rest of the day listening to birds and not really seeing any.

      Then Anne gave me the Birds of Tasmania book. What a godsend. I think I have looked through the pictures a dozen times already. I am just now starting to identify a few of them. The first one I got pinned down pretty easy was the raven. Its hard to misidentify the sound it makes with it's black body and beak. I told Becca it sounds like a sick wind up toy and she agrees.  Kookabarras are the one quentisential Australian bird I know and it's one of the non-indeginous birds on the island. It steals the homes of other native birds which makes them rather unpopular to the local bird fanatics. Although I haven't seen one yet I have heard their laughter which sounds like monkeys to me which only adds to the exotic feel of this place. 

We are fortunate to be located right along the D'lentrecasteaux Channel because we get to see all manner of sea birds as well. One of the exciting ones I got to see just today was a sea eagle. Which is kind of interesting because it is not in my bird book, I wonder what other birds that book missed. We have seen ducks, swamp hens, little highlighter-blue birds and robins you could fit in the palm of your hands.  As I was taking a break from shoveling away the side of the driveway so as to widen it I think I even saw a parrot. Apparently they are fairly frequent visitors and are quite fond of eating olives off of the local farm fields. This island is so unique because it is part rainforest, part mountain, and part beach which creates all sorts of diverse birds to see.   

Just like the kookabura was brought here I wonder how many birds and animals were taken away from here by the European settlers. So far I know of only one animal that I have been denied the chance to see: the Tasmanian Tiger. The last one died in captivity in the early 1900's due to over hunting, it was the largest carniviourous marsipual. The people of Tasmania seem very devoted to keeping the place natural and vast sections of the island are national preserves. I am unsure how much it will help though because I know there are some animals like the Tasmanian Devil which are still suffering.

       Bruny Island which is a popular place to vacation/is in sight from our cabin's window where I now sit. Anne is going to bring us camping there next weekend and Becca and I are going to try to see the penguins that swim ashore every night. We hope to see some of the more rare creatures too like the adorable wombats or maybe some kangaroos.   I speak so at length about the wildlife because this is what you do as a visitor to Tasmania. There aren't any theme parks or malls to go to instead, there are jungles and forests to explore. Almost every part of the nature here is new to me and I am attempting to touch as much of it as possible.  Becca is coming back from the shower now and we are going to put on our headlamps, jackets, gum boots, grab some apples, and wait quietly in  the dusky woods to see some wallabies. If we are lucky we will get some pictures of the not so shy critters.

A Day in the Market

     On saturday Becca and I woke up before the sun was out, bundled up, and slid in next to Anne in the front seat of the car she affectionately calls the Great White Goforever or Great White Gopher for short. With the back of the squeaky old van filled with bottles and various other things for the marquee we were off down the dirt driveway. But not before we wiped the outside and inside of the front window with a squidgee to get rid of the dew that had settled there.      

On our quiet drive into town we saw a small animal crossing the road which of course stopped and stared the headlights readying itself for a certain death. Luckily Anne knows how to manouver the Great White Gopher. We jerk around the creature while she's muttering "Bloody wallabies." We come to find out that rabbits and wallabies are treated similarly at home and here, they are pests who can ruin a good garden, but at least they are cute while doing it.      

We arrive at the market and Anne offers to buy us lattes, we of course agree, it's still dark out afterall. She talks to the coffee vender as a friend tells him our order and offers to pay him in cash, cheese, or jam, he chooses cheese. We quickly off load everything in the back of the van while trying to gulp down our coffees. A balancing act which left one latte spilled and the other to get cold. We get to the end of the van and two men have to help with moving the refridgerator out because it's too large for one bloke or even two, to move. We put up a canopy, displays, heat lamp, dry sink, and a few tables. Anne's business shares a marquiee with two other vendors, Lizzy who sells cheese boards, and Johnny who sells cheese. Anne's stand is meant to compliment the cheese with homemade jams, chutnies, and various other spreads her logo is a pair of parted lips next to the name of her company "Tassie Tastebuds."      

Once set up Becca and I get to roam around the market. We learn that it is the largest market in the southern hemisphere. It has two rows of stalls that go up and down one street of Hobart. You can purchase pretty much anything you could think of there, but the real draw is the food, and the people. We met a local celebrity who has a cooking show, several shopkeepers, and many patrons who were content to sit and talk to two Americans on holiday. For Salamanca Market being so large it doesn't have the disjointed feeling you get while being somewhere like NYC. All of the shopkeepers seem to know each other and it was not too uncommon for them to be related to someone else who was there that day.      

We pack up at the end of a day in a rush to beat traffic and head home for dinner. It has been two days since then and we now realize that Saturdays are going to be our favorite days of the week. Every other day we wake up around 8:00 and dig new terraced beds, prune, work with sod, or any other miserable job you can think of. The wine glasses that never seem to empty, the snapping fire, and warm food when the sun goes down is what makes the day's trials worth it.      

At the end of each blog entry I am going to leave a cooking tip from Anne.  Anne's cooking tip #1: Re-Present your food. You should know what you are eating because every natural flavor should pop in your dish. There is no flavor worth eating that is not supplied by tilled earth.