Fruit picking.... I hope??

I arrived in Stanthorpe last night in the hopes of finding some farm work to bide my time until mid-March. I'm staying in a caravan just outside of town with Tony and Rubin, two Germans that I met while traveling. They've been here five days and already have a job, so I'm really hoping that I can head to the same farm as them. Getting to farms without your own transport is an issue here, and Rubin happens to have a car! But this does mean that we have to be going to same place for me to use the car.

To get to Stanthorpe I had to take a train back to Brisbane and then a bus from there back down to Stanthorpe. Both Robina and Stanthorpe are south of Brisbane but because one is on the coast and the other inland there was no way to cut over without back tracking to Brisbane. I missed my first train to Brisbane, so that when I got there I had only 15 minutes to find the bus company's counter, buy my ticket and make my way to the gate. It was slightly stressful. I happened to run into two guys from my surf camp at the Brisbane station, and I almost literally ran into them too because I was concentrating on getting to the bus stop and not looking around. They had been north and decided to head back south to the sunshine coast because of the heavy rain Queensland has been getting up north lately. Unfortunately this isn't an issue all over Australia as the South is currently suffering from heat waves and bush fires.
The bus ride to Stanthorpe was beautiful and very different from the coastal view I've been seeing of Australia since I have arrived. It was all green farmland with rolling hills. Stanthorpe is surrounded by four national parks, and I am hoping to get the chance to see them while I'm here, access to transportation permitting. I should note that Australia is similar to Canada in that it seems to have more land devoted to national parks than to communities, so that where ever you are you're often near a park. Also like Canada they aren't always easy to get to. Renting, or owning, a car in this country has many advantages and this is just one of them!

Below is our humble abode in the caravan park.

My bunk, you'll note that I'm actually taking up two bunks, but there is plenty of room. We have five beds in one caravan!

The kitchen/living room/dining room peering into the bunk room that Rubin and I share.

From our room you can see Tony's luxurious double bed and the common area.

I met up with Kelly and Emma my last two days in Robina, which was great. They're currently heading down and then up the coast before heading to Thailand... I'm only somewhat jealous.... The Bond University campus is beautiful. I've added a couple of pictures, but they don't quite capture the image I had. Better then nothing though!


This is one of the mock courtrooms in the Law Building, complete with voice recording and TV screens for viewing evidence.

The Law Building and Clock tower from in front of the lake.


The fountain leading down to the lake. No I'm not walking on water, there were tiles within the fountain that you could cross over.


From the front of Bond U looking towards the lake. The University spent a small fortune putting in the fountain you can see in front of the bridge, it's located in the middle of a lake.