Shepparton, Victoria, Australia

The dreaded time has come to leave Jason and Melbourne for some farm work in the middle of nowhere. How exciting! With Jason doing the breakfast shift in the hostel, it was a quick goodbye, and a long, lonely walk up to the train station. It will be the first time in nearly a year that we haven't been together. Of course, it's only for a few weeks. I'm sure the time will fly in. Here's me hoping! The train journey to Shepparton was really quick. I am still undecided if that is a good thing or not!

After a couple of minutes at the station, I decided to ring for a taxi. The taxi driver was really friendly. He was annoyed at how backpackers are being treated in Australia and pointed out how the country needs us as we pick the fruit the locals don’t want to and we are the ones that spend money particularly in regional parts of the country. It's nice to be appreciated for once! Farming in Oz really gives you a bad impression of Australia and its people! Hopefully this place will be different!

When I finally arrived at the hostel, I was not impressed with what I saw. I told the driver I would probably give him a call in thirty minutes after I checked the place out. Inside wasn’t much better. As I walked into the back, my face simply dropped as all I could see was a grotty yard with tents. The guys informed me that they do have dorms also. While the place isn't the nicest and while it could do with a serious clean and while the fly's may wreck your head, the best thing about this place is the people, and if it wasn’t for the people, I wouldn’t have stayed. We are literally in the middle of nowhere. All that's around us is farms and nothing else. To get to the nearest shop you need a car. I definitely feel so isolated here. On a more positive note, myself and Jason are both in countdown mode for our return home. We can't wait. We're getting really excited. It's hard to believe it's so near! But the only thing in the way of it is my farm work.

After only being here five minutes, I got chatting to two English guys, Jimmy and Myles. Both really sound. Luckily they had a car so I was able to go into the town with them to pick up a few bits and pieces. That evening Myles got a job offer so he decided to leave. Which meant I was able to replace him the very next day working alongside his cousin, Jimmy.

The work is simple, so I can't complain. I have done a lot harder. All were doing is simply climbing up ladders and removing all the pears from the trees. It couldn't be easier. While it may be boring, I can certainly think of far worse things I could be doing instead. We either work in teams of two or three and each team is given their own tractor with four wooden bins attached to it on a trailer. The supervisor, Linda who is from KL, Malaysia is quite friendly. She lets us get on with the job. Occasionally she might come around to see how we are doing and to check that we haven't left any lonely pears up on the tree.

That night, back at the hostel was barbie night. It's probably the best night of the week at the hostel and it's a break from noodles. There is a really good atmosphere and it's a good opportunity to get to know everyone.

The following day I managed to entertain all the guys on the farm by crashing the tractor into a tree. It's not my fault the breaks wouldn't work. And at least I made everyone else's day less boring. It was pretty funny. The guys were all up in their trees and next of all they heard a big bang. It wasn't funny for me at the time! But at least I can laugh about it now!

On Friday we were told that we were finished picking pears and we would be told when they want us back for apple picking. With no work the next day, we all decided to celebrate by throwing Jimmy a leaving do who was heading back to Melbourne with a few of the guys including Chelsea, Kayleigh, Terri and Louise who were only going up for the weekend to go to the 'Future Music Festival.'

When your not working, the hostel can be a really boring place especially when its half empty. Not good. The three Swedish girls, Rebecca, Sofie and Tova were all hitchhiking their way into the town. I followed them and we all chilled in the park by the lake. It was just so nice to get out of the hostel and see some buildings, other people and beautiful scenery. How lovely is that! We all hung around for a free barbie, which is run by an Italian man, Antonio who is there every evening. We met up with the lovely Freddie from Germany who had the same idea! It creates a really nice atmosphere as it gets everyone together. We really didn't want to go back to the hostel, but I guess all good things must come to an end! The only thing to do at the hostel is watch movies on my tablet. If I couldn't do that I would have gone insane!

The next day, with Kayleigh, Chelsea, Terri and Louise back from Melbourne, we thought we would drive into the town and take full advantage of the free barbie. Sadly we were two minutes late so all we could get was half a sausage. With starving bellies, it was time for 'Plan B' which involved 'Pizza Hut' and 'All You Can Eat.' It brings me right back to my school days! It was like a big feast and we even got dessert, which was the cherry on the cake. After over a week off work, it's too long when your in the middle of nowhere! Lets hope those apples come to fruition soon! Fingers and toes crossed.

With the world pretending their Irish and celebrating Paddy's Day, it's only right that I marked the occasion and made my homeland proud! Myself and a couple of the girls drove down to the towns Irish bar where we got to enjoy a Guinness or two and a good old Irish Jig. The craic was mighty!

Elsewhere, after along wait for the apples they simply never came to be. However, I did get two days work on a small plum farm! Not ideal, bit it's still an extra two days work. So, I shouldn't complain too much! The night before I was due to leave, the hostel had a big birthday party for one of the girls. Everyone had to dress up and we all played drinking games. It was definitely a good night.

While I made lots of friends here, in terms of standards and cleanliness, it's probably the worst place I've stayed in. On top of that, it's in the middle of nowhere and I'm looking forward to being reunited with Jason, my little AK (African Kid).

By Andrew

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