Next stop on the list was Dungog. Or more correctly Clarence Town, to WWOOF on the Good Samaritan Donkey Sanctuary. I had to take a 6+ hour train ride to Dungog's stop from Katoomba, but it only cost me 7.40 so that was a definite plus. When I got there Mo picked me up and then we picked up Leslie (the Dutch girl WOOFer) in 'town'. Seriously, max 15 shops. Ridiculous. Then we stopped by the hospital because the owner, Jo-Anne, had some chest pains that morning and had to be rushed there. Apparently she had to stay a bit longer as we left her there and headed back to the farm. It took about 20 mins or so to get back, and it was out in the middle of nowhere. People have huge properties out there with cows, sheep, horses and stuff like that so its very spread out. Once I got back I met Nina, the German girl WWOOFer, and they told me about the farm. Technically, you're only supposed to work max 6 hours a day in exchange for food/room. They told me because four different people tell them to do stuff throughout the day that they'd had a couple of 10 hour days. Eeewww. Sounds gross. We also have to get up at 630a to feed the donkeys starting at 7a.
The next morning we roll out of bed at 630a, throw on some donkey clothes, anything that can get really dirty that we don't care about, do bathroom breaks, make some instant coffee, don our gum boots (rain boot lookin things) and head out to the barn. And yes, we kinda wear the same thing quite a few days in a row, AND, unfortunately, I was found wearing the sock/sandal combo I so truly hate....with my versatiles. Oh boy. First we have to feed all the donkeys their specific foods. Its based on how old they are, if they have special diets, and things like that. The actual Sanctuary is actually a 15 minute drive from where we stayed and it has the herd of about 140 healthy donkeys. We work at the donkey 'hospital' with the ones the need extra care. They might not be returned to the herd because of all the special care they need. So, back to feeding. They all get their special mix of food, then three of them get an extra serving of a specific mixture with grated apple and carrots to make the flavor more enticing. Then we feed this one sheep they have, Beau, his bottle for the morning. He gets one twice a day and will cry for it until he gets it. It seems he never got over his bottle feeding days and so we feed him that morning and night. Its actually hilarious to watch because he tears through the other sheep and slams into them when you call his name because he knows whats coming. And then he sucks it down like there's no tomorrow. Then we check the ponies water and take them hay, take the 'fatties' (the four fat donkeys in a neighbouring paddock) hay, take off a couple of coats, open gates so the donkeys can go out (but only after they've eaten!), let out the sheep, make food buckets for dinner, THEN we get to pick up donkey poop. Hooray. Morning chores take us about an hour and a half, with three of us. After that we go eat breakfast. If Anne (a volunteer at the farm) comes and needs us to do anything we do that after breakfast for as long as it takes, and only then do we get to rest and eat lunch.
4p is start of night chores. We bring the donkeys in, feed them, do their special food again for the three special ones, put on more coats, check the ponies water, feed Beau, and make food for the morning. Those chores only take about an hour. I guess I should tell you the donkey's names: Bazal and Stokey live in one paddock together, then there's Celia, Poly, Finn, Shelly, the mini donkey Simpson, then Gemma, Rosie, Lucky and Zorro. Gemma and Rosie are the moms of Lucky and Zorro. The fatties are Natasha, Lady, Honey and....mer, I forget. I think that's all of them. You can hear them bray at 5 in the morning waiting for food. It doesn't sound like people think it does. Its hard to explain. Kind of like a heavy metal door that squeaks when you open/close it, and then the hee-hawing. They're all really smart, and very stubborn. My favorite was Bazal. I had to put on his coat every evening and take it off in the morning. He was so good about it. Really chill donkey.
I stayed there for 9 days total. I partly left then because I only had to stay 7-10 days, and also because that Dutch girl was driving me nuts. She'd been there 2 weeks before me and knew everything and I never did it up to her standards. But in reality, after Nina left, a few days after I got there, I was doing all the normal feeding, the coat removal of just Bazal (she did Shelly and Finn), Beau's bottle, the ponies two bales of hay and water refilling, putting Stokey out with Bazal, letting the other donkeys out as they finished feeding, putting two bales of hay out in the back paddock for the donkeys during the day, taking one bale to the fatties AND picking up ALL the poop. She took off two coats and did the special food for Shelly, Poly and Finn. THATS IT. I got kind of tired of her telling me what to do and me doing everything. Becca gets kinda annoyed when people tell her what to do. Its neither here nor there. We also got to go to the Tocal ag. fair type dealio. It was cool. I did one day, without whatsherface and she did two without me so I got some respite from being ordered around. I got to see alpacas and I bought two balls of yarn to knit a scarf with. I'm stoked!!
After Dungog, I couchsurfed in Newcastle a few nights then headed to the next WWOOFing farm. This one was run by a couple, Bill and Jilliana, who made herbal medicines and creams and ran a nursery. They had two kids living with them, Priscilla, a mildly autistic 13 year old, and Alexia, almost two. Gorgeous little girl with bright blue eyes and bright blond hair. Gonna be a man killer when she grows up. I went to their farm knowing they were vegetarian, but the 6 days I was there they only ate vegan. No breakfast, only fruit and sometimes nuts for lunch, and vegetables and sometimes beans for dinner. I was soooooo hungry the whole time I was there that I wanted to eat Lexi just to feel full. I sneakily rationed a twix bar I had and that made me feel better mentally. :) Sunday they left me with Priscilla for the whole day while they went to the Newcastle markets. She and I weeded in the nursery (and Dad, I DID wear my silly sun hat!) from 730a until lunch time around noon.
It was very uneventful and the whole time Priscilla never stopped talking. Mostly to herself though, unless (it seemed) I made eye contact and then it was 'Rebecca' followed by ten million questions. Most of them more than once. It was very interesting to be around her as I know next to nothing about autism. She was well-behaved though and pretty much roamed around the nursery doing her own thing. I got pretty sick for a day, up all night in the bathroom, from eating so healthy. My body went 'WHOA THIS IS AMAAAAZING' and decided to detox. Its not very nice. They seemed a little annoyed I didn't want to leave the house that day as I needed to be near the bathroom in case I needed to blow it up again at a moments notice. What could I do? How can you be mad at that?! C'est la vie! Whatevs. I can't say I overly enjoyed my stay there. I did learn a lot and got to make an antiseptic cream with Jilliana my last night so that was cool. Its something I've been mildly interested in, with my homeopathics (which the violently trash talk) and interest in being more hippy with my medicine. The photo below is the view from their front yard. Pretty nice.
Am currently in Byron Bay. Finally met up with Val Archer's American friend Megan, so we're planning on traveling North together and then we'll see. Updates TBD. XXOO to All.
