Aaron

A sunset in the Adelaide Hills. - 24/09/2009 18:36:52 - 27 mm - 1/250 - f/10 - ISO 200

Today me and Kevin started out with the big clean up. Every Thursday all the cages of the rodents need to be cleaned. After an hour or so Sonia asked me to help her out with the reptiles. After that job I did some more weed pulling. I helped Kevin out again in the afternoon cause he wasn't going to make it before 4pm. He is going to Sydney for a short while. Max and Sonia wanted to drop Kevin of at the airport in Adelaide. They where going to drop me of along the way. I wanted to buy some stuff in Hahndorf. I ran out of toothpaste and I wanted some champagne and nibbles for the evenings to come.

I walked the way back but not for long. Brooke spotted me and gave me a ride home. He showed me a nice place to capture the sunset. I shot some pictures and we drove home. Meanwhile I got a message on my phone telling me to get on Skype cause I just became a godfather!

Once back home I parked to champagne in the fridge, hurried up the ladder and started Skype. My sister and Olivier have a son! His name is Aaron. Aaron is great, I just had a glimpse of him via the webcam and I like him already. His horoscope is the same as mine, a Libra. His 2nd toe is larger than his first, just like my sis and me. I really want to meet him. I'll do my best being a good godfather, promise!

Later in the evening I popped the champagne and we all had a glass on the arrival of Aaron. To bad Kevin wasn't here to lift a glass.

Today wraps up my 2nd month here in Australia. Time goes fast. Really, it's flying. I have experienced so many things and I feel the best is yet to come. Even though I'm not halfway yet I dare to state it's probably one of the best decisions in my life so far. I had doubts about it but now I'm glad. I have to be fair and say that not every day is filled with sunshine but the ones that do are remembered. Life is different when travelling like this. Daily patterns don't seem to be any more. It's good to break with them, even if it's just for one year. That change felt awkward but now it starts to feel good. It sharpens you and lets you experience new things.

To another 9 months.

Furry

Mouse peeping through the water hole. - 24/09/2009 15:07:25 - 70 mm - 1/100 - f/4.8 - ISO 800

I had a bit of different chores to do today; feeding, cleaning, helping out Sonia, weeding, ... Kevin was in charge of the rodents.

In the evening I started to read The Little Prince. I usually don't read much but Brooke and Kevin got me curious. It's a very little book and I surprisingly finished it the same evening. It's a interesting book, I like it. Before I started reading The Little Prince I was reading The Last Generation. I'm still wrestling through the very first pages though. I wonder if I'll be able to finish it before I leave.

Sonia and Max made another fine kangaroo dinner. I'm so found of that meat. Max does a great job on marinading the meat. Finger liking good!

Worms

My cosy accommodation. - 22/09/2009 16:56:13 - 18 mm - 1/5 - f/5.6 - ISO 400

After my peanut butter breakfast I helped Sonia and Max out in the reptile shed. I did various things today.

Meal worms needed to multiply which they magically do if they are put into solitude. So I was in charge of that. It's a funny feeling having a whole bunch of those little crawlers in your hand. There is enough worms, beetles and cockroaches to feed all of the reptiles.

Sonia has a keen eye on spotting skin worms, a few of the Golden Tree Snake(none venomous) had lots of skin worms when they came in. They all are in better condition now. Sonia had been removing a lot of them. I hold down the snake while Sonia removes the worms one by one. Just a tiny cut between the scales and the worm pops out. After that a gentle pull removes the nasty bugger from the snake. The worms grow inside the tummy and just eat their way through the skin.

Some of the venomous (don't say poisonous!) snakes had to be fed today. I happily stayed away while Max and Sonia armed with a snake hook tried to feed and move the critters of death into a new box.

The day started out sunny but at about 4pm it was raining again... Sorry Cabal no walk today... :/

Max made for dinner some great taco's. Really nice! Kevin went to his camper to catch up on reading while the rest of us watched District 9.

The food and the fed.

Two Bearded Dragons - 21/09/2009 16:43:20 - 170 mm - 1/60 - f/5.6 - ISO 400

After breakfast I helped Kevin out. The first shed houses all the mice and rats. The whole lot of them need to drink and eat. He showed me how to refill the water and how to fill up the food. I think there is about 100 boxes and in each box you can find a little or big family. The families exist of small pinkish skinny newborns to furry full grown rodents. The whole shed is actually a food stock for the shed next to it, the reptile shed.

After the feeding I helped Sonia out with the reptiles. Cages needed to be cleaned, newborn pythons needed to be sexed and hungry snakes needed to be fed. I'm not that fond of the feeding part though, neither is Kevin. I'm the one that has to get the mice. I get little pinky newborn ones for the small snakes, or 'wieners' for the larger snakes. So it's me that decides who's going to die and who's not...

We knock of at 4pm. I couldn't go for a walk cause it was raining. It's one of the few days I experienced rain during my stay in Australia. Rain is very wanted here in Adelaide. I'm currently staying in the driest state of the driest continent. The house hasn't got a bore so it relies on rainfall. All the rain that flows from the roof is filtered and stored into a big container. Because of that everything in the house that involves washing or flushing happens with a limited amount. After these few days I really start to realise how much water I waste when I was back home.

Dinner, tea, a Tim Tam, a movie on the iMac and off to bed.

Walking the hills

One of the horses we fed. - 20/09/2009 14:49:59 - 70 mm - 1/500 - f/8 - ISO 200

Today I slept in a bit longer then yesterday. Kevin and me walked the loop I tried to run yesterday. I took my camera with me so we stopped a few times to take a picture. We got back home in the late afternoon so I fiddled around with my blog till dinner time.

We had some nice pasta in the evening and finished the day with Lesbian Vampire Killers. A movie about killers, ... and lesbian vampires.

gnite!

Running the hills

One of the views near Browns Road. - 20/09/2009 14:37:44 - 31 mm - 1/320 - f/8 - ISO 200

In the weekend I'm off work and I can do whatever I want. I didn't really prepared anything so I thought it would be nice to go for a run. Everyone else seemed to have the day planned. Kevin was going for a haircut back in Town and the others had a full agenda to. So I asked Brooke and Max about a possible loop, and there was. A 9ish km run which starts and ends up back at Browns Road. Great, so of I went.

The area around the house reminds me of the Ardennes back home. Maybe it's a bit more hilly but it looks a very alike. It was nice weather, sunny and not to hot. I stopped over near the gold digging historic site, had a quick walk and had a chat with a local. He was looking for gold. I wonder if he found something...

I continued my run but not for long. My right knee started to hurt. Maybe it's related with the biking I did a few days before. I just walked all the way back towards Browns Road and had a shower. The rest of the day I used to update this blog. Near the evening I had a walk with Cabal. Cabal is a big, grey tinted 'kangaroo dog'. He manly spends his days laying on the sofa, so he is thrilled if he can have a walk outside. Cabal is not the only pet they got, Rocky is the other pet. Rocky is probably one of the few of her kind that stays with a family as a pet. She is a furry, orange-red, fluffy little fox. It's amazing, they are probably the only family that have a fox as a pet. Unlike Cabal she's very alert and shy so I didn't manage to pet her just yet ;) I hope I'll get a good picture of her soon. If I do I'll make it a blog-post-photo ;)

Everyone returned home near the evening. We had a great dinner, kangaroo with veggies and potatoes. The meat was so tasty and juicy! xD

Lizards and snakes

My wwoof stay for the next weeks. - 19/09/2009 16:23:08 - 18 mm - 1/320 - f/5 - ISO 200

Woke up by the sound of my mobile at 7.30am. I dragged all my stuff downstairs, checked out and had breakfast. It's the last time I'll have my morning cereal (Hooray for Ben's milk) in the Shakespeare hostel. Olivia, Ian and Richard came out of bed and waved me goodbye. Thanks guys, gal. I had a really nice 3 weeks in Adelaide and made some nice friends and it feels stupid to leave again. It's always the same, you settle for a few weeks spending your time to know people and by the time your friends you'll have to leave again...

Olivia, Taka, Ben, Carol, Ian, Richard, Sam, Tim, Horace, Jo, ... it was really nice to know you all!

After a struggle trying to pass Ian on the way out I finally left and went on to the bus stop a few blocks away. Kevin, a Irish wwoofer, was waiting for me when I arrived in Hahndorf. We got to know each other a bit while he drove the car towards Max and Sonia's place. It will be my stay for probably a few weeks. Once arrived Kevin helped me get my bags out of the car and I got acquainted with Sonia and Max. They where helping out little snakes in one of the sheds next to their house. They both seem very open and friendly people. Kevin showed me my bed. It's in a space near the top of the roof. I need a ladder to get on there. It's tiny but cosy.

My first chore was to clean out the little containers inside the reptile cages. They are being used for food and water. It's really hot in there, about 28 degrees. All the lizards and snakes need a the heat to warm up their bodies. After that I helped Kevin out to get all the rat/mouse food in the containers. Next to the reptile shed is another shed which houses lots and lots of rats and mice. You can guess already what they are for... yea reptile food.

Later near the evening Kevin and me went to pick up Brooke, the son of Sonia and Max, from the bus stop. We did some shopping for dinner and drove back to the house. We had a nice evening and we all went to bed at about 10. I climbed me little ladder and called it a day, my first day.