End of Brisbane, Start of Adventures

Tonight is my last night in Brisbane, which has been an amazing trip even though I didn't do much outside of working, sleeping, and eating. The past week we have been under quite a bit of stress at the winery because of a wedding that was happening on Saturday. But, after a few fourteen hour days of landscaping, vineyard and restaurant work we survived and everything went off without a hitch. In my last post I had said that the work wasn't that hard and until a few days ago it remained as such, doing the tedious work of cutting vines and pulling canes. But once the landscaping needed to be done in the matter of a few days for the weddings things kicked into overdrive. As most of you know I can be a bit lazy at times but, surprisingly, for some reason I welcomed the hard work and constantly found myself taking the harder jobs of shovling/spreading hundreds of square metres of mulch or rolling up over five hundred sq. metres of turf, running it up a hill, unrolling it and then racing back down the hill to do it all over again. But it seems that my hard work and extra effort paid off; Thomas, the winemaker actually offered me a full time job which I declined but was very appreciative. Another great aspect of the winery is the view of the stars away from all the city lights. It is a completely new sky to marvel over and the thick white strip of the Milky Way is truely breathtaking. Overall working at the winery was a great experience and the people I met there, from Thomas and his family, to Daryle the old man of the farm, to the Chefs at the restaurant, provided a side of Australia that most people rarely get to glimpse; and learning about the different wines and beers wasn't too bad either.

But by far Cal and Rosie, J.P.'s aunt and uncle, have made this stay in Brisbane unbelievable; they even named me their honorary nephew and have told me to come back whenever I want, given me food, taken us out, and even given me some clothes for my trip. Even better, Cal and Rosie own a publishing business that has an office in St. Charles, MO. so it could be a possible job hookup! But all three of them, Cal, Rosie, and J.P. are some of the nicest and most beautiful people I've ever met. They're hospitality for a complete stranger like myself is a true testament of goodwill, something I'll always remember and carry with me.

Tomorrow I leave to go to Noosa, the Australian Everglades I believe it is known, for a three day/two night camping/canoe trip up and down a river. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures and will post again the afternoon before I leave to head to my 4x4 self-drive safari around Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world. As for pictures, I'm not sure if I'll have time tonight or early tomorrow morning to post the pictures from around Brisbane and the winery but if I don't I will be sure to post them after Noosa.

Thanks for reading and don't worry, things are about to get a lot more crazy and interesting in the coming adventures.