The days of goat cheese farms are long gone. Since Saturday the 9th, to be exact. Due to the increased threat of bushfires coming to Mia Mia, Whit and I left and stayed Friday night in town with the mother and brother (Terry and Lucas) of one of our hosts. On Saturday we got up early and went with them to the Farmer’s Market where they sell the cheese. The market was near Gippsland Lakes in the small holiday town of Metung. The market was really small, but there was a steady stream of locals and vacationers throughout the morning.

After the market, we went back to the house and began preparations for our overnight bus ride up the coast. We had made arrangements with another WWOOF host hear Jervis Bay, on the coast about 3 hours south of Sydney. However, she could not take us until Monday.

At 11pm, we left Bairnsdale and subjected ourselves to one of the most uncomfortable rides of my life. Fortunately, it wasn’t crowded - but the roads were extremely bumpy and the driver was driving like he was in a Porsche or something that could handle high speeds and winding roads.

Since we had a day or so before we could arrive in Jervis Bay, we stopped in Narooma - another coastal town about three hours from Jervis Bay. The bus dropped us off at 5am on Sunday morning. Needless to say, the town was asleep. I would be too, considering the sun wasn’t even up yet. Our hotel was at the other end of town, so we strapped on our packs and started walking.

About and hour and half later we arrived at our hotel, which also wasn’t open yet at reception. So, we dropped our packs and sat there, waiting (hey, it was better than walking). It was a beautiful morning, and the hotel parking lot had an amazingly large and blossoming jacaranda tree with lots of pretty birds fighting over the bird feeder.
About another hour and a half later, the manager showed up (who I had talked to the day before and knew how early we arrived). I don’t think she was expecting to see us, but got us into our room right away. Finally! A bed to lie down in. A three hour nap commenced immediately.

When we woke, it was past lunchtime and we could feel it - so we walked about a mile to the Quarterdeck Marina. It offered the usual seafood selection, as well as a wonderful view of the water from an open air dining room. On the walk home we had an ice cream cone and went to a pay phone to call Drew on his birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY DREW!). He was enjoying himself at a concert in Seattle so he didn’t answer so we sang to his voicemail.

Back at the hotel we checked emails, swam in the pool, made a taxi booking for the next morning, and ordered pizza for dinner. Around 8pm the power went out which was exciting, but not too problematic seeing as its light until about 8:45.

Monday morning came and we were out of the hotel by 8am, in order to catch our 8:45 bus to Jervis Bay. It was much more enjoyable than Saturday night’s ride. When we arrived, our host Robbie picked us up with her three dogs - Harry, Rusty, and Lily. Her property is 17 acres and not so much an operational farm but a comfortable home equipped with horses, chooks, dogs, blue-tongued lizards, spiders, and a twelve year old with a motorbike (Robbie’s daughter, Rowyn).

The last few days have been really mellow, our time is spenting painting the underside of the verandah roof, playing with the dogs, laying by the pool, or consorting with Rowyn. Last night we took her to her soccer game which was fun. There is a big league that is pretty casual and fun, but we were surprised to see boys teams playing girls teams. Another night, Robbie took us on a hike by a creek and then to a friends property to watch for wombats and kangaroos. Unfortunately, there were no wombies or roos in sight at the property, but on the way we had better luck. Robbie is the head of campus at the new Shoalhaven campus of the University of Wollongong. Kangaroos are often seen on campus, so she took us there to see if any were out. Sure enough, we saw about 15, grazing about and staring at us when we drove by. I am now at peace with Australia - I’ve seen a wild kangaroo.

On Friday we are catching a train up to Sydney, where on Sunday we’ll be playing in a beach ultimate tournament with an Australian team we played against at World’s. Afterwards we will stay in Sydney for a few days before Christmas. From there, we’d like to camp with Mike and Cara in the Blue Mountains, but who knows what will actually happen!

Any guesses?