Green fingers..

Hello from a rainy Manjimup!

I hope everyone is well. We have had a great first week of WWOOFing at the vineyard. We have learnt a lot, met some fab people, and become very dirty! Our main jobs have been to look after the animals and manage the upkeep of the grounds, so we spent Monday and Tuesday working in the vines (weeding and re-stringing). We learnt how to take the laterals off the stem of the Riesling vine and how to tie certain knots. We also placed large nets over the Shiraz grapes to stop the birds getting in and eating it all. Rick, the farmhand, has been wonderful at keeping us entertained with his stories, although I’m fairly sure that he likes to scare us with wild tales of spiders and snakes.

On Wednesday and Thursday we sorted out the Kikuyu weed that has been growing all over the vineyard. It was really hot and hard work, and it showed us the major disadvantages of working outside in Australia. Anyone who thinks that they want to work on the land, or own a farm or even a few veggie patches, should try WWOOFing first. It’s not that it has put me off ever wanting a patch of land, but it is seriously hard work that is forever ongoing and tiring. Nevertheless, the experience has been worthwhile and has taught us a lot about ourselves and the way of life that we might want in the future. Moreover, we now know a lot more about wine and gardening and we have seriously green fingers. Watch out Alan Titchmarsh and Charlie Dimmock!

Friday and Saturday saw us painting the cellar door and storage barns. The vineyard is on a hill and gets a lot of weather coming over from the coast, so the rammed earth buildings need a coat of sealant every once in a while to protect them from the wind and rain. We also continued to weed in the flower beds around the house and sweep the cobwebs from the ceilings, which was a gross job! We are given larger jobs to keep us out of trouble in the mornings, but we constantly keep an eye on the animals, making sure that they have been fed and the chicken’s eggs have been collected, and also alternating the sprinklers so all the veggies have a chance at survival! It has been extremely hot this week.

During the afternoon we have a few hours of free time, so we have been into town a few times, but there isn’t much going on in Manjimup. The town has a yokel feel, and is 14 kms (‘clicks’, as Rick calls them) from the farm, so we haven’t spent much time there. However, on Friday we realised that we had a flat tyre on the van so we had to drive slowly to a garage to get it sorted. The mechanic was not impressed as the tread on 2 tyres were completely bare and wouldn’t pass a police test (whatever that means). There was also a nail in the back tyre so they had to replace the front 2 tyres and fix the back one. Whoops! Luckily, the rental company paid for it all and apologised for the state of the van. Hopefully we now have a chance of crossing the Nullarbor desert with no problems in a few weeks time.

The Herriot family have been very kind to us. Lexie (6) has Down syndrome, so we have learnt a lot about children with special needs and their requirements. Yvonne’s eldest child, Aimee, also has 3 of her own children and we saw a lot of them at the beginning of the week. Tahlia (4) and the twins, Oliver and Dominique (4 months) are a real handful, so our experiences this week have put us off kids for life! Yvonne is busy with the house, kids and animals so we haven’t seen much of her whilst we have been out working, but we have had some delicious organic meals with her. It is fantastic being able to pick your own veggies before dinner, and collect fresh eggs before breakfast. The family have gone to Perth this weekend so they have trusted us to house sit for them for a few nights. We have been left with loads of jobs but it has been nice being able to slob out a bit! They don’t have a TV but they do have a few DVD’s so we relaxed and watched one last night which was a real treat.

 On Friday evening we drove to Nannup to the music and hippie festival. We had a fun time and there were some brilliant live bands playing, but the drive over was horrible! We had been warned about driving too much at night, but seeing as Nannup was close, we weren’t too concerned about heading over at 6.30pm. Mistake!! There were kangaroos everywhere and it was so nerve wracking for poor Phil trying to dodge them on the road. We were fine and made it there and back with no problems, but we are NOT driving again at night.

Before I sign off, I have to mention the other scare that Phil had this week. He is not a fan of spiders as it is, so when he was bitten by a REDBACK (!!) on Tuesday, it was nasty!! We were working in the vines when one managed to crawl up his sleeve and bite him in the armpit. Ouch! They are mildly poisonous but he is fine now and it will make for an impressive story in the pub.

Well, as it has now stopped raining, I better get back outside and take the quad bike out for a spin. It’s a hard life.

We are off to Mt.Barker on Tuesday to WWOOF at a Kangaroo Sanctuary. I’m, not sure if they have internet so farewell for now!

With lots of love,

Alan and Charlie xxx

P.S - Phil has selected some photos to upload but the internet is slow here, so we will try to get them up soon. Watch this space!

P.P.S - Please please comment or get in touch. It is so nice to hear from home. You can comment on here by selecting 'comment' and writing a message under the name 'Anonymous'. Just sign your name at the end. Thanks! 

On the road...part 1

Well...what a week! We have done so much over the past few days that it is hard to remember everything for the purposes of the blog.  Here goes...

We successfully picked the camper van up on Monday morning, and it is great. It has everything we need, although it is a little basic (it’s essentially a Toyota people carrier with the back four seats removed to make a bed) and it’s a tin can at night. However, it gets us around and it is by far the cheapest way to see the country. 

So, after we left Perth on Monday afternoon, we headed to Bunbury, which is 2 hours south of Perth. Bunbury is a small town on the sea and is very pretty. We had our first night in the van there and made some friends from Belgium. On Tuesday morning we were up early (due to the sunlight blaring through the windows) and we took ourselves to the Dolphin Discovery Centre on the beach. We reluctantly paid $45 each to go on an ‘eco boat ride’ around the harbour. I say reluctantly because we were promised some dolphin viewing, but we didn’t really believe them. Luckily, we were proved wrong! Within minutes of being out on the boat, we saw lots of dolphins swimming nearby. They weren’t scared of the noise of the engine and were rather curious as to what we were doing. Dolphins live in shallow, warm waters so the conditions of the estuary in Bunbury were perfect. We saw a baby calf and larger dolphins jumping around and showing off. They even swam next to the boat when we eventually returned to shore. It was a really wonderful experience.

On Tuesday afternoon we went to Margaret River, which is further down the coast. On the way we stopped at Busselton to see the largest timber jetty in the Southern hemisphere....it is huge! We found a lovely campsite in Margaret River which was near the river and had good facilities. We parked next to a couple we had seen in Bunbury the night before, and ‘John’ and ‘Joan’ soon became our ‘friends’. They even joined us on our wine tasting tour on Wednesday (much to Phil’s delight!)

The wine tasting tour was loads of fun. Our tour guide, ‘call me Tony’, was very knowledgeable about the wine making process and the different wines produced in the area. MR has over 80 vineyards and they are now competing on a world stage, with some of the vineyards there winning international awards. We went to 3 different vineyards; one family-run, one larger corporate one, and one crazy one! We tasted around 3 reds, 3 whites, 2 rose and 2 ports at each so we were a little tipsy by lunch! We had our lunch at a Lavender farm which was great and really pretty. In the afternoon we went to a cheese factory (heaven), a chocolate factory (heaven) and a venison farm (hell). Needless to say, I kept myself busy outside whilst Phil enjoyed a tasty bit of meat! The day ended at a local brewery, where we tried 5 different ales. I have to say, I prefer wine.

On Thursday we did a bit of driving around the area. We had heard good reports about the local caves so we went to check them out, but they cost a lot of money to enter, so we ended up driving past! However, we did drive through some of the local Karri forest which was fun, and we went to Augusta where they have the tallest lighthouse in Australia. We also saw where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean.

Margaret River is a renowned world famous surfing spot. We were very excited about getting some surfing in at one of the many surf spots around the region. However, the week that we chose to visit MR....the surf chose to disappear. For some reason, there was no surf at all during the few days that we were there, which meant that we spent Friday on a gorgeous white sandy beach. What a shame! We did manage to do some ‘body surfing’ which basically meant hurling ourselves at the smallest waves that came in our direction. It was fun!

On Saturday we left MR and went to Pemberton, which is inland. It is surrounded by three national parks and beautiful Karri and Marri forests. We went to Big Brook Damm on Saturday afternoon, which is a lovely manmade lake through the trees. We had a walk around it and managed to find some shade. Afterwards we treated ourselves to a famous ‘Pembie Pancake’ at the berry and lavender farm. It was gorgeous and the view of alpacas by the stream in front of us could not have been beaten! On Sunday we had a full day in the national parks and did some more forest dirt track driving. There were three climbing trees which were huge. They had a ‘ladder’ spiralling up them towards a lookout tower at the top of the tree. Hopefully we can get some pictures up to give you an idea of size, but for now you will have to trust that they were enormous!

Yesterday we arrived at our first WWOOFing host. We are currently staying with Yvonne and John Herriott, who own and live at ‘Herriott Wines’. It is a boutique vineyard in Manjimup, half an hour away from Pemberton. John works on an oil rig so it is just Yvonne here at the moment with her daughter, Lexie (6) and the farmhand, Rick. We are sleeping in their caravan next to the house, which is much bigger and nicer than our little van. When we first arrived we were shown around the vineyard and winery (153 acres) and introduced to the cows, pigs, chickens (chooks), geese, dogs and cats. Our main jobs are to feed the animals, collect the eggs, weed in the veggie gardens, string the vines and general pruning and mulching. Time for me to start getting practical! Everything seems great so far...we will try to update you soon!!

Wow...I have written a newsletter here! Sorry. I hope everyone is well and that the rain has stopped. We actually had some rain and a thunderstorm the other night...it was bliss. We’ll try to get on the internet again soon, but there is no wifi here and the connection works on a pay-as-you-go basis, so it might be a few days. There is also no running water here as the Herriott’s use water from a tank, so I am under strict instructions to have short showers. Anyone who has ever lived with me will know how hard that is! Wish me luck!

Lots of love to you all,

H xx

Perth, WA

G’day!  Well, we have spent our first six days in Australia successfully doing nothing.  Well, not quite nothing, but there has been a lot of lying on the beach and swimming involved.

We arrived in Perth on Tuesday morning after a scary flight (lots of turbulence) and stepped off the plane into 30 degrees heat at 6am! We made it to our backpacker’s hostel in a seaside suburb of the city, Cottesloe. It is really beautiful here with lots of white sandy beaches and turquoise waters. There isn’t much in Cottesloe, just a few restaurants and bars and sun seekers. We spent the first few days relaxing and enjoying the sun, but soon got bored, so on Thursday we went into Perth CBD.

Perth is a stunning city. It is surrounded by water (the Swan River) and hills which contrast nicely with the few glittering sky scrapers in the city centre. Our first stop was the Museum of Western Australia, which had some really interesting exhibitions on. We learnt a lot about Australia’s involvement in WW1, the aboriginal culture and animals to be spotted in various states. The museum was also air-conditioned....a huge bonus! Afterwards, we walked down towards the waterfront and by the boats towards Kings Park. We climbed a (what felt like a mountain in the heat but was probably a hill) to reach the park. The climb was worth it. The views from the top were incredible. We could see the whole city beneath us and the gardens in the park were pretty and interesting, with a variety of botanical plants. 

After an evening stroll through Kings Park, we headed down towards the city in search for something to eat. Now is probably a good time to mention how expensive it is here. We are really hoping that the high prices in Perth are not indicative of the whole of Australia, because if they are, we might be home next month! To give you an idea: a pint of larger is $10 (Australian dollars) which is around £7!!! Needles to say we have been buying food from the supermarket to eat in our room, because a few meals in Perth would probably bankrupt us. Anyway, we managed to find a reasonably priced pizza place for our meal in Perth, before we headed back to Cottesloe.

Friday saw more lolling on the beach and playing on body boards. Yesterday though, we caught the train to Freemantle, which is a small town to the South of Perth. We wandered around the town centre and market stalls, and we were able to do some useful things there, like swap reading material and withdraw some much needed dollar! We went to a ‘shipwreck museum’, which Dad would have found fascinating but it wasn’t my sort of thing, so we headed for a local brewery. The brewery ‘little creatures’ was housed in an old boat shed by the water and it was huge! It was packed with locals enjoying a Saturday afternoon treat, and we joined them in drinking a glass of local stuff. It was delicious and the atmosphere was great. A must for people watching!

Today we are having an ‘organising’ day in anticipation of the next few weeks ahead. Tomorrow we pick our campervan up and head south towards Margaret River (a world famous surfing and wine making spot). We will probably spend 3 nights around Margaret River and then go east to the Karri forests near Pemberton. Next Monday (28^th), we will embark on our first WWOOFing placement. WWOOF stands for ‘Willing Workers On Organic Farms’. We are members of the scheme and have contacted host families to stay with between Perth and Sydney. So we will be joining the Herriott family at the vineyard, Herriott Wines, near Pemberton for a week. In exchange for 4 hours work a day, we receive free accommodation and food. Hopefully it will be a great way to meet new people and learn differing skills.

On the 8^th March we are going to the Ullara Wildlife Sanctuary near Mt.Barker, which is a sanctuary for injured and orphaned kangaroos. After a week there, we have a very long drive to Adelaide, where we will drop the campervan off on the 26t March. The distance from Perth to Adelaide is the same distance as London to Moscow...so wish us luck!!

Right, time to get washing, packing and organising! I have outlined our plans for the coming month above as I am not sure when we will next get access to the internet. Living in a campervan for the next five weeks suggests that it may be some time, so sorry if you don’t hear from us for a while. Hopefully the host families will have an internet connection though, so we will try to update you with our WWOOFing stories before the end of March.

Sorry for the essay! Thank you for all your lovely comments. It is so nice to hear from people at home. Please keep them coming!

 Love to all at home.

H xx

Memoirs of a trip in Japan

As I always like to have the final word, I thought I would add my comments here on Japan to wrap it up. We have had a really good 11 days here, met some fantastic people and seen some wonderful and bizarre things. Not only have we conquered the underground, trekked up a mountain and immersed ourselves into dark caves, but we have made memories that will last a lifetime....the experience of heated toilet seats stand out as the most prominent for me!!

Despite that, and although Japan was a great country to have as our first stop, it has failed to 'wow' me. I'm not sure why...maybe reflecting on it during the flight tonight will help me to realise what it is about the place that really failed to impress me. The people are so lovely and helpful, the public transport is impressive and the temples are great...but there is something missing.

So, I would give Japan 7 out of 10.

Best bits - wonderful people, heated toilet seats, transport, the green tea experience in Tokyo, the Nara deer.

Worst bits - the food, lack of beautiful landscape, crowds, noisy Australians in hostels (doesn't bode well for the next leg of the trip!)

I hope that gives you some idea of my thoughts and feelings regarding Japan: great time, good memories, awful food, no 'wow' factor. In a nutshell.

We are going down under now...hope to update you soon.

Lots of valentines love,
H xx

Off to Oz

Well I'm a bit more of a fan of Kyoto than Hana but I have to admit that it wasn't quite what I expected. Still, we had a great time there but it's safe to say we were all temple'd out and ready to head back to Tokyo.

Another rapid 2 hours at over 100mph via Bullet Train and we were back at our Hostel in Tokyo (after getting mildly lost on the underground). That evening we actually managed to make it to Electric Town. It's an awesome sight to behold: lights towering up buildings wherever you turn, loud electronic noises and hoards of people - it truly is an assault on your senses until you get used to it. We ventured into "Club Sega" (one of the many gaming centres there) and had a go on some of the games in there. What was more interesting to see was the Japanese kids playing those games... it's as though they have extra arms they move that fast!

The following day we ventured to Shibuya and came out of the underground right next to the famous Shibuya crossing (Lost in Translation anyone?). We spent a good 10mins just watching the crossing and the sea of people rushing across the tarmac as soon as the lights turned green. After our Shibuya experience we headed on to Shinjuku and to the government buildings there. We went up to the top of the observation deck of the highest building we could find and got a great view across Tokyo and to the mountains beyond. In the evening we finally found some vegetarian Japanese food! Vegetable tempura, it was very nice and great to have some Japanese food that Hana could eat on our last evening in Tokyo.

Today we are having a last look around Tokyo, grabbing some lunch and then getting the train to the airport.

We fly to Perth at 8:30pm local time!

- Phil

Kyoto

After our great experiences in Tokyo and Mt.Fuji, we were ready to try the cultural heart of Japan, Kyoto. People have been telling us what an 'immensely beautiful' city it is and how it compares to Rome and Paris, so needless to say, we were excited when leaving the Mt.Fuji area on Tuesday. It was quite a journey to get here which included a ride on the bullet train (very fast!), but we finally arrived on Tuesday evening. Our optimism was dashed as we stepped out of the huge train station and found ourselves surrounded by a concrete jungle...not quite the vision of traditional Japan that we had in mind! After checking in at the hostel, we walked into downtown Kyoto, which again was a disappointment.

On Wednesday we set out to find the amazing Kyoto that we had heard people talking about. We took the train to the West of the city to a place called Arashiyama.We saw a cool temple there which had some really lovely gardens and the famous bamboo grove. We walked through the bamboo trees and explored the surrounding area, and things started to look up! That area of the city was prettier for sure. After lunch however, we made a mistake! The scale of our map (or our map-reading skills) must be wrong as the golden pavilion (a recognisable landmark of Japan) looked as if it was close to the area we were in, so we started walking towards it. An hour and a half later, we were only halfway there and lost! We somehow ended up in a suburban area of the city. Back on track, we finally found the temple a mere 3 hours after we had set out on our walk....and it was closed! Good times!

Yesterday was a far more successful day. We caught the train to nearby Nara, which was the first capital of Japan. There were loads of temples and shrines to see there so we spent the morning ambling around the park and admiring the wooden Buddhist sites. We saw a giant bronze Buddha housed in the largest wooden structure in the World (thanks for the recommendation Grandad!) My favourite thing about Nara though, was that there were wild deer roaming around the park! They were very friendly and liked to be stroked and fed deer biscuits, which you could buy at stalls around the area. They were everywhere! So Thursday was the best day in Kyoto.

Today (Friday) we got a bus to Higashiyama, which was pretty. There are cobbled streets and traditional Japanese shops framing the paths up to the main temple sites. We followed a walking tour suggested in our guide book and managed to catch a quick glimpse of two geisha's! It was very impressive to see them entertaining behind the glass doors of a posh restaurant. Another great experience was touching the 'womb stone' inside a dark basement in a temple. We paid 100 yen to walk in the pitch darkness towards a lit up stone in the centre of the temples 'womb'. Once we reached it we spun it 180 degrees and made a wish. God only knows what the Japanese think it does, but it was fun! We spent the rest of today walking around the main sightseeing area and admiring yet more temples and shrines.

So, to sum it up, Kyoto has been an interesting experience. I personally think it is a bit of an insult to Paris and Rome but it has offered an insight into Japanese culture and history. We have had some fun experiences and some very annoying ones, but our boundaries have been tested and that can only be seen as a positive! I am looking forward to returning to Tokyo tomorrow and onwards to Australia on Monday.

We will post some more photos and another update soon. Please keep in touch and comment on here if you are reading it.....Mum I know you are my dedicated follower!!

Lots of love to you all
xx