Day #130 - #171 Ballangeich Run | Ellerslie, VIC, Australia
We were amazed when we first got to the farm. We had a proper house for ourselves (+ the beautiful view every morning, see picture). Delicious meals 3 times a day and our washing would be done for us. We could even use the farm car for day off trips from time to time. Payment was good and we always worked 5 days and had the 6th day off. As we had different jobs in the beginning we also had different schedules.
Fussel: My main tasks were basically milking and pushing the 1200 cows towards the rotary. The herd person chases the cows from the paddocks to the dairy, this is where I get into the act. I make sure they all walk to and on the rotary which has 66 slots. The cows get fed in there and while they’re eating, the milker (that is me for the 2nd herd) cups on the cows. For the 3rd herd (which is a herd with special needs as they are either injured&slow or get medication so its very important that their milk doesn’t go into the tank with the “good” milk), my job is recupping if the cows kicked the cups off or if the cups just fell down & of course pushing if they don’t walk in the rotary. In the end of the shifts it’s just a lot of cleaning. So if everything went good, my shifts would be like 07:00am - 09:30am milking&pushing + cleaning until 12:00pm in the mornings and 05:00pm - 08:30pm in the evenings (incl cleaning). The part I enjoyed the most was working in a close bond with the cows, you get to know them, you pet them, talk to them, and you have to motivate them a lot! So it’s useful to have a good relationship with the ladies. Sometimes I did other jobs like fencing with a real cool guy named Hüssel, which was a nice change in the job routine.
Sue: I had to take care of the 15 horses on the farm. A normal routine was feeding the cats (around 20) on the way to the stables. Giving the horses hay and their breakfast. During the day I checked if they need fly repellent, especially on hot days. If their water troughs & food buckets were clean, if every horse was alright, if the stables and the feed room were tidy,… But mostly it was picking up horse poo from the paddocks all day long until lunch break and in the afternoon again until it was dinner time for them. Some of the horses were real sweethearts and I developed a strong bond with them, it’s so nice to have these huge animals fully trusting you. Of course I was taking care of all the cats and kitten as well and when they were in need of medication or just some love I had everything for them. They even named 2 kitten after us Sue & Tom, it almost broke our heart to leave them but I’m sure they’re having a great time. After some weeks my schedule changed and I went to the dairy to join Fussel in the evenings. This was a part I really liked doing, and I loved the cows!
So this is how and where we spent Christmas and New Years (btw having a pool party was strange and awesome at the same time :D I mean it’s freakin December!!)
The worst part ever was the goodbye, a lot of tears and even the f*** sky started crying as we left, very dramatic!
We made some friends for life and that’s something worth more, than a bilion dollars could ever be!!! In these months we also learned a lot about the best and the worst characteristics people can show, but we don’t regret having made that experience. This helped us to grow.
After the farm we went back to Melbourne for 2 days, before our journey would lead us to Thailand. We were staying with Sharrome in our first shared flat, remember? It felt very good to be back again, even if it was a short come back.
On the 8th of January we arrived in Phuket, but that’s a seperate story for a seperate entry :)
so, die deutsche Version ist diesmal knapp zusammen gefasst da die meisten Leser das ohnehin gut verstehen und wir unseren Opis und Omis und Mamis und, und…. sowieso eine sehr ausführliche Version des Ganzen erzählen werden.
An sich lief das alles so ab, dass wir ein Farmhaus für uns allein hatten. Wohnzimmer mit Feuerstelle, wundervolles Badezimmer und ein gemütliches Schlafzimmer. Die Wäsche wurde uns gewaschen, wir wurden mehr als ausreichend und lecker bekocht, und das Farmauto durften wir auch nutzen.
Fussel war die ganze Zeit als Melker angestellt und hat wie wie der Name sagt eben Kühe gemolken und reingetrieben, hier und da wieder angestöpselt wenn eine Kuh abgekickt hatte oder die Sauger abgefallen sind. Ab und zu ist er auch zum Zäune bauen und reparieren mit raus gefahren.
Sue war Anfangs nur für die Pferde zuständig und später auch fürs abends melken. Pferde füttern, lieb haben, tonnenweise Pferdemist wegräumen, Tröge putzen, Anti-Fliegenmittel bei allen raufmachen, Katzen füttern und lieben, und und und… Ab und zu natürlich auch reiten.
Wir haben die tollsten Erfahrungen gemacht und bereuen die Farmarbeit kein Bisschen.
Nach der Farm ging es 2 Tage zurück nach Melbourne bevor wir nach Thailand weiter geflogen sind, in unsere alte WG wo wir noch mal mit Sharrome gewohnt haben :) War zwar kurz, aber gut wieder dort zu sein!
Am 8 Januar sind wir dann in Phuket gelandet, und was hier in Thailand so passiert ist könnt ihr im nächsten Beitrag lesen ;) Aber erst kommen die 1 Mio Farmbilder, viel Spaß!
Wir vermissen euch ganz dolle
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