november 2006

Back again. Tired but intrigued.

My hands suffered the worst. They are covered in cuts and blisters and ached for days after I got back. I lost a couple of centimeters around the waist and put on a couple of kilos. Most of it in my fingers I think. However I did get a fairly good insight into life in general. I spent a week with Pete working around one of the properties to tie off some loose ends; we strained fences, fixed troughs, put in gates and built a shed. I also got to drive a tractor. Not one of those dinky little ones ('garden tractors' I heard someone call them), but some big hulking piece of machinery with enough grunt to push over a house (I would imagine, I never got to try it out).

So, as for the future, I think I will be heading back that way to work there for a bit. 3-4 months to start, then we shall see.

In the meantime, I need to think about getting myself a car. My first thought was a 4x4 diesel dual cab ute. But unless I want to go right down into the dodgy end of the market, they are a little out of my price range at this point. Which brings me to my next idea; a Lada Niva. I always wanted to get another one of these. In many ways they are pretty close to a idea farm bus; 4x4, rugged and cheap.

So basically, that's the plan for the moment. Get a car, sort out some other odds and ends and go back to the farm for a few months. As usual, the after that remains kind of vague. I have been thinking about working my way north for a bit. Ideally I like to spend some time working on different farms, and with horses. I still think that traveling around South America and working on the big cattle and sheep stations there would be fascinating.

Perhaps after that I will buy a boat and sail home via, say, Europe, Asia and America.

thotd