On Yer Malanda!

Managed to have a break from the farm for 9 days to a place called Malanda! Me and Sarah were told one week that there would be no work for us at the farm for about 11 days, until Jo and Paul left. We were pretty annoyed about it cos it meant losing almost 2 weeks wages. So in order to save money we looked into places we could work for a couple of hours a day for our food and accommodation. So even though we weren't going to be earning any money, we wouldn't be spending anything either. Jo and Paul told us about a website called HelpEx which has places all over the world offering this kind of work. I really recommend this website to anyone travelling on a budget!
So I had a look on the website and found a guesthouse in Malanda about 40 minutes drive from the farm in Mareeba. I phoned them up and organised for us both to arrive on the Monday morning (8th Aug)! 

Travellers Rest guesthouse is a lovely place and is about 5km outside of Malanda. The owners, Mike and Tracy couldn't have been kinder to us. We were treated like part of the family. Our bedroom seemed like luxury compared to our farm accommodation! We had nice clean sheets and quilts, TWO pillows, and an ensuite bathroom! Everyday we had a choice of cereals and toast for breakfast, anything we wanted from the fridge for lunch, then a main meal and pudding for tea! Needless to say, we came back to the farm with slightly tighter waistbands!! We were also given glasses of wine, champagne, and something I'd never tried before - Wild Turkey American Honey with ginger ale - yum! They invited us up to their family living room a few of the nights we were there to watch a film which was nice.

Fairy cake and homemade scones!

They also took us on days out to various places. Tracy took us to Cairns for the day so we got to relax by the lagoon! We went to the Gallo Cheese and Chocolate factory where we had lunch, ate yummy chocolates and watched the cows being milked! We were taken to the Curtain Fig Tree and Lake Eacham, and had an afternoon waterskiing with their family at Lake Tinaroo!

Gallo Cheese and Chocolate Factory!

Curtain Fig Tree and Lake Eacham

Me waterskiing and Sarah kneeboarding on Lake Tinaroo!

One thing we got to experience while staying at the Travellers Rest was 'Christmas in Winter'. Some Australians celebrate Christmas twice! So on the Saturday night they had a group of 12 old people who all came for mulled wine, cheese and biscuits, Christmas dinner & pudding, and a big selection of chocolates! There was Christmas music playing and even a Christmas tree! It was really weird, but quite nice because I don't think my Christmas celebrations in Sydney this year will be quite so traditional! 

The work we had to do was really easy, and there wasn't much of it! Our daily task was to feed and clean out the horses, which took about 10-15 minutes. A few days we were there we packed beef jerky for an hour or two as Mike has his own beef jerky business. Found out that I actually like beef jerky! 2 nights we cooked tea for some road workers who were staying that week. And we had 2 mornings of making beds!

Feeding the horses and alpacas!

All in all it was a great 9 days! We were made to feel like part of the family and got to experience things we otherwise wouldn't have done. So although it was annoying to be kicked off the farm for that time, it was well worth it! Thanks Mike and Tracy!!

Tracy, Mike, Luke, Rebecca, Jessica