My first Australian Paycheque

I've finished my first week of work on Little Rock Farm. I was lucky enough to land a job here with Toni after our other roommate was let go. He left at the end of this week with four guys he knew from Bondi after not being able to find other work, which I can't say saddened me at all (although I do miss having access to his much more expensive camera). Fruit bats have affected stock that was left without netting to protect it. The flooding North of us and the heat waves South of us have driven more fruit bats to Stanthorpe than usual. The end result is 150 people waiting for work in the Stanthorpe area alone, and really, really expensive produce in the grocery stores.. The fruit bats here are huge and literally form clouds in the sky around dusk. It's impressive.
The farm where I'm working grows broccoli, cauliflower and chinese cabbage. I've been rotating between packing, cutting and processing the vegetables depending on the day and the need. We start at 6:30am, which means Toni and I are often asleep by 9pm. The upside is that we are able to see the sunrise each morning. The clouds here seem to be alive, I've never seen such amazing, colourful and ever changing skies, and I love it. The farm is nestled in between the hills of the national parks. When we're working we can actually see the rain clouds coming from kilometers away and tell where it's raining, even if it's sunny and dry where we are. Because of the hills we often get low fog in the fields in the early morning as well. This means heavy dew and wet feet, but also gorgeous landscape. Toni has taken her camera with her to work so hopefully I'll have some pictures up soon.
Since Ruben has left Toni and I are without a car. Right now we're walking down the road to another coworkers and getting lift with him from our supervisor out to the farm. I have to remember to bring my camera for the next walk because early morning seems to be the best time to take pictures. Although that may involve getting up earlier so I make no promises about taking those photos.
Stanthorpe itself is a cultural experience. It has one main street, two grocery stores and three bottle shops. There are no traffic lights and people actually stop when they think you're going to cross the street, similar to NS. All of the people living and working here are actually Australian (except for those working on the farms, and even then a surprising number are Australians and only some are travellers). The shop keepers are keen to talk, and from those I've encountered so far they love to tell you where you should be traveling next and when the weather is best in each area. All of the shops (including coffee shops!!) close between 5 and 6pm on weekdays. The weekend is even worse as shops are only open on Saturday from 9am-12pm, and not open at all on Sunday. It's the kind of town you like to live in when you're younger than twelve, or older than fifty, but not so much during the ages in between. For three or four weeks though I'm quite content to be here.
So far I'm happy with my decision not to bring my laptop. I've been able to cut down internet use to a few hours a week, and I don't have to worry about it being stolen or damaged. Another upside it that it forces me to go out and socialize in the evenings if I'm bored, I can't just chat online. I've also managed to finish four books since I've gotten to Australia and am slowly working away on the number of books I'm traveling with as I leave them behind at hostels when I'm finished. The one downside is that after one and a half months of traveling with my 3GB of music I had on my laptop at home I'm in need of some variation. I've decided to sync it with another travellers laptop once I meet one who doesn't listen to house, trans, or techno. I'm not that open-minded about music yet!

Below are some pictures of Stanthorpe's main street from last weekend when Toni and I made the mistake of coming into town after 12pm.