Gayndah Queensland

“Tha More Ya Pick Tha More Ya Get”

Jim McNaught, Citrus Farmer

It was a peculiar series of events which led us to our first fruit picking job. We were in Hervey Bay awaiting a call from some fellow traveling buddies to get the all clear to head to Bundaberg for a pre-arranged gig picking juicy tomatoes. The call came and it wasn’t the outcome expected, the gig had fallen through. What to do now? We set the office up (laptop and mobile) and called every employment agency/farm that we could find a number for. The news was not encouraging. A cold snap had lowered yield of tomatoes and the majority of labour was sourced from dehydrated, delirious, nude backpackers. In a moment of despair we looked to the cloudless sky “c’mon give us break”. Someone was listening...

On her way to the loo Jess bumped into a friendly local, Ivan, who was playing with his giant Alaskan Malamute whilst waiting for his wife Kate. After exchanging friendly chit chat Ivan divulged that his Bro in Law, Jim, had an orchard in Gayndah and then proceeded to call and see if he could hook us up. Outcome - no work for a couple of weeks – ok... Ivan and Kate then offered us their beach front holiday home for a hot shower and a place to stay that night neighbouring Guy Sebastion! Well it was a lovely offer and the idea of some singing lessons from the man himself was a huge temptation for Steve, but we needed work pronto. That’s it, let’s just head to Bundy to door knock farms and just as we were 10 minutes out of Hervey Bay Jim calls us back – he had a couple of days work! Tom Tom was re programmed to sunny Gayndah, 4 hours west.

Welcome to sunny Gayndah

So now we are officially fruit picking gypsies. Jim sorted us out with a farm stay and a week’s work of thorn thrashing mandarins and limes. It would have to be the most physical work either of us had done. Averaging 600kg of fruit each per day! Besides the thousand scratches, early starts, long days and RSI’s we had fun and now had some money in the bank to put us through the next adventure.

Sunrise at Jim's

The fleet

Stevie going crazy, again...

Full bins in the afternoon

Mandies on chin

Living room and kitchen

Mandarin sunset

FACT: mandarins and limes have brutal thorns. FACT mandies straight off the tree are amazing and you can eat 30 in one day. FACT there is no better smell in the world then 600kg of freshly picked limes!

I got a winner!

Lovely limes, where's the Mojitos?

Special

Cool lime buggy

And for those who may consider Mandarin/Lime picking:

MANDARIN/LIME 101

·        Farmer usually provides a ‘joey’ bag and stem snips. It’s a good idea to also equip yourself with a pair of close fitting fabric gardening gloves and strapping tape.

·        Tape up areas of hands that hold the snips and also your gloves to your long sleeve work shirt in an attempt to protect yourself from thorn fury.

·        Music – gets you through the 10hr day and cuts out ranting and raving delusional fruit picking jibber.

·        Tactics – always start an empty joey bag up the ladder. Then once half full/or when your risking your life balancing come down slowly, preferably 1 step at a time, then fill the rest of the bag working the lower branches on your way back to the bin.

·        So you know what you’re in for – a bin is roughly a cubic meter = approx 400kg of fruit  = $90 (mandies) or $130 (limes) for your bank acc… minus tax.

·        Give yourself a chance – the first day you will work harder than you ever have and not even fill a bin. After the second day you think you need to go to hospital. By the 3rd day you will become enlightened and tap into your inner ninja skills. You will become one with your ladder, joey bag and snips singing songs of love and conversing with the trees... And eventually earn more than a 14yro kid working at McDonalds.

Gotta a love a big thing

Inskip Point

Enough nipple climbing – it was time to get our nipples out on the beach again! The drive into Rainbow Beach through the Great Sandy National Park is just beautiful.  Tall eucalypt forest and wattle in full bloom contribute to a colour palette which is uniquely Australian. We knew we were in for a treat!

On your way into town you pass the Parks office where you can snap up a $5pp/n permit to camp on Inskip Point. You turn left at Rainbow Beach to head up the peninsula with the end of the line being the ferry to Fraser. There are several camp sites along Inskip, we chose a 2 wheel drive suitable one about half way along – S S Dorrigo. And what a spot! Ultimate beach front camping in a Casuarina Forest compete with wild brumbies and short short loving Queenslanders!

There wasn’t much in the way of swell while we were here but there was enough to score a couple of shorey peakers out the front of the campsite. If swell did arrive it was simple, you had Fraser to the north and Double Island Pt to the south. The outer banks at Inskip would also handle a bit of angled swell.

On our way outa town we visited the Carlo Sand Bluff which is at the beginning of a “Great 98km Walk” back to Noosa through the Sandy National Park. Maybe next time. We did however have an amazing walk along Rainbow Beach towards Double Island Point. You guessed it folks, rainbow sand! Towering above us were cliffs of red, gold, white, orange, brown and black sand climbing towards a cyan sky. This place really is special. Looking forward to exploring Fraser one day when I am a soccer mum with a fourby…or a guru with a troopy…

The Avocado Palace, Glasshouse Mountains

After a quick salute and prayer to the Crocodile King we hurtle along the Steve Irwin Way towards the Carswell residence under the dodgy guidance of Tom Tom.

It is not long until we are in full view of the majestic 25 million yr old volcanic nipples – otherwise known as the Glasshouse Mountains.

We were very fortunate to participate in the Carswell Avocado Palace experience. Many thanks go to our good buddy Christian in convincing his dad Ivan, and the lovely Helen, for letting us wild on their property. There were fabulous feasts and after many brutally good home brews and a night watching the union we were accepted into the Carswell Clan (yes Christian you are now our bro, not that your weren’t before bruz). We loved the insight into property life in such a beautiful mountainous area not so far away from the coastal riff raff.

Despite wanting to milk the great hospitality for much longer the show must go on - but you can’t visit the nipples without climbing at least one of them! So we climbed Mt Ngungun via a walking track and scrambled through dense scrub half way up Cochran Hills to get views. A much easier option is available from a lookout near the picturesque town of Maleny.

Sunshine Coast

After the job cleaning dolphin poop at Seaworld fell through, and everyone south of the equator looked to be surfing South Straddie, we put ourselves through to the Sunshine Coast. The furthest up the coast either of us had ever been…

On our way we took a quick detour to pick up an Ebay purchase. Unbeknown to a great mate of ours, Crackers, we had done a swap on our old leaking Kmart stainless steel coffee mugs for his beefcake hand shake blender. So in pursuit of perfection we did what any caffeine loving individual would do and it was time to upgrade the life support vessel. The new model is an Eco Cup. Get your mits on one of these puppies – silicone sipper lid for a soft lip contact, silicone sleeve so you don’t scald your paw, tall size for large capacity caffeine guzzling, and most importantly - china for a smooth clean taste. Ok yes I do love coffee but enough about that and more on the Sunshine Coast.

We cut in from the Bruce Hwy towards Coolum and checked out the whole coast from Noosa Heads to Caloundra. The national park at Noosa has great walking/jog tracks and a nudist beach for those who want to get funky in the sun. We popped our free car park camping cherry and officially became gypsy bogans wearing the uniform with pride – the Flanno. The sunny coast has plenty of options with great facilities for free camping. However, we had our first official free carpark kick out from an upstanding citizen, boy was that guy worked up and we moved on. It seems that not all the gypsy bogans before us had been likable. We ourselves had seen the evidence of rubbish from previous inhabitants. So the rule was to leave the place cleaner than we found it.

The sunny coast definitely lived up to its reputation and we were able to practise yoga daily on whatever beach we chose. No cyclones unfortunately but a constant run of fun nonetheless. Jess was ripping the inside bowl out at Noosa on an epic uncrowded 2-3ft weekday but forget about it on a weekend – the crowds are unlike anything you could ever imagine! Good thing is there are plenty of options other than noosa pt on the sunny coast. Yes lads if you haven’t surfed the area there is everything from rock ledges to boulder points, sandy reefs and loads of beachies. And did somebody say an island with a left and a right!!! For us Old Woman Island has to be the jewell in the crown of the sunny coast’s surf spots (well worth the 2km return trip paddle). Also worth noting is the right at Pt Cartwright, The Reef (Caloundra), Yaroomba, and Kawana Beachies (including the wedge ledge in front of the lighthouse). There are oodles of other options for whatever the conditions. The sunny coast has a good vibe and will be visited again that’s for sure.

The Goldy

Here are a few pics from a quick visit to the Gold Coast to hang out for a weekend with Pip :-)

Good times with an old friend, the weekend included a royal tour of the surf strip from Kirra to D Bar, a cracking baked dinner, an introduction into QLD bogan spotting, and a DVD marathon with "Nacho Libre" the ultimate winner. We also paid a visit to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary which had the coooolest (endangered) tree kangaroos!


Thanks for having us Pip it was great to catch up after 5yrs :-)

North Coast Living

Relax, its time to chill in the company of friends, sunshine and surf - what a great place to start a journey!

Maria at Mullaway

Driving north is always a good feeling. The degrees start to climb and the smile broadens. First stop Arrawarra, 10 mins north of Woolgoolga "the cultural hub of the mid north coast". This is home to a special mate of ours - the Arrawarra Action Man, Craig "Crackers" Brand with his Mid North Coast Yogini, the lovely Ms Anna. We are shown textbook hospitality which covered the 3 most important areas - fuel, fluid and love.

Scott, Anna and Craig

How good are dinner parties!

Lennox Head was the next destination to visit. Here another good friend awaits - Mr Andrew Wafer "Wafes" or "Woofter" relocated here from Newcastle in an attempt to become more hip. He prides himself on a smooth style of surfing and having the ability to fix any injury, but his real passion is in the corn chip demolition industry. Alongside the talented Ms Kiera "Wheatbix" we were in for more gods nectar good times, waves, and the fortnightly markets.  

Wafer, Kiera and Jess at Lennox Head Markets

Byron the bird whisperer

Lennox local

Lennox Point

It was only natural that we then made our way to The Broken Head Hillbilly Retreat where Jesse "Froth King" Bourke resides. Jesse has a flock of cronies that he hangs and surfs with including Carrot, Doghead, Pig, Al Dog and The German. Every barrell he gets is either "THE BEST BARRELL OF MY LIFE" or "IT WAS F@#KING INSANE!". Between surfs in this sweet palm paradise we got our kicks from home cooked meals by the fire and in house entertainment by the "Froth King" and his cronies. Despite it being a little on the cold side Huey really turned on the fun park at Lennox and Broken Head, Sharpes, Brunswick Bar and a few other spots...The North Coast has got it:)

Jarrah Linklater, north coast photographer, has been capturing the Froth King and his cronies doing their thing, check it out - http://www.jarrahlinklater.com/#/0

The Journey and Maria

This is the next chapter in the story of two traveling lovers, and Maria.

The journey? A round trip of Australia. Van life around the rock. Why? To gain a better understanding of the country we call home:) 


For how long you ask? A year or so should do it!

NOW, we would like to introduce you to our travel companion - Maria. She is a gentle beast, kind, loving and full of homely delights. She is well read with her own extensive library, shows her green thumb with an organic herb garden, loves a bangin beat on the open road... and she has an AWESOME RACK! 

Let us show you sweet Maria...

Jess, Steve and Maria would like to thank Jan and Neil for their help with the homely touches,  Simon "Badger Built" Badger for a precision built van deck out, Jason "Merewether Mobile Mechanic" Hetherington for his TLC on Maria, Brad and Lucy for awesome auto electric advice, Surian "Boosty Boy" Vasanthakumar for our 16GB soundtrack around the rock, and everyone else who helped us on our way - you know who you are ;-)