Let’s Paint the Town Orange – Then Leave.

For the last 7 weeks I have been in the middle of nowhere. Nothing to do, barely any Internet connection and virtually a million miles away from any civilisation so my sincere apologies for not keeping you updated. What have I been doing with my time you may ask? I’ve been Orange picking in a little town  in South Australia.  It has been my own personal hell.  The scratches from the thorns, the ache in my hands from griping them so hard, the  insect bites and the flies that seem to be magnetised to you – none of it has been what I would call pleasurable. Everyday between the two of us we pick two tons of oranges! It takes 6 – 8 hours and at the end of it you get little money and a massive 29% of tax slapped upon what you have earned. Thank you Australia! The heat gets unbearable, the bags you pick seem to get heavier and heavier and the bin seems to never fill no matter how much you pick. You get plenty time to think when picking, but to be honest by the end of day two I was bored of my own thoughts. There’s only so much you can think about after all and with the only thing to look forward to is pulling a sticker off of your countdown chart your thoughts are limited. So after 7 long weeks I am ecstatic to leave. We’ve picked enough oranges to fill the town twice over, we look like we have a major issue with self harming and occasionally we have worries for our mental health – you know its getting bad when you start yelling at an orange.We get to say goodbye to the hayfever, the continuing tree’s and the town that has robbed us blind of our money. I would love to say it’s been a pleasure South Australia but it really hasn’t. What’s next for us?  We are heading to the Great Ocean Road for a well deserved break and then on to Sydney to get a proper job! I thought coming to Australia, we would be living the dream all the time but as far as the regional work goes it’s more of a nightmare. So for now goodbye fruit picking and a big thank you to the Australian Government for making the visa requirements so back breaking. We certainly look forward to carrying this work on next year…..

My journey with no destination.

I havent updated any of you on my plans for a while now – ive been busy working to save my money for the trip AND im in the middle of getting another blog up and running, so for my tardiness I apologise. With only four months to go ive realised the planning that is going into this adventure is half the fun, the destination  as of yet is an outcome I havent achieved. A journey in the typical sense is getting from A to B but ever since my very first blog post ive been on a very different type of journey. I’ve learnt a lot about myself as a person all through the organisation of one rather large adventure. I’ve had to learn a lot of things, ive met all kinds of deadlines, researched my heart out and even after a long day at work  when all I want to do is get into bed and stay there, ive had to be up and ticking of the next task on the ever increasing to do list. I’ve had to write plenty of those too – lists I mean. Shopping lists, List of important documents I need, Packing lists – colour coded in order of importance on who needs to take what. It’s safe to say if I wasnt organised before I definitely am now. I’ve never been more in control of my finances, I work to save splurging occasionally on a treat. Before all this started the only thing I really knew about money was how to spend it. I’ve always been a home bird, never to far from my family and friends but that’s changing to. I’m maximizing the fun that we all have now because in a few months that will be gone, but forever having Australia in my mind im constantly nagging them all to get Skype. I’m packing up my room, selling my stuff and finding things I didn’t really know I had. Its one big emotional rollercoaster, with me jumping on and off admist the planning confusion. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed finding out all these things about myself, even though I still am young and carefree, ive learnt I can be super organised , money conscious and juggle hundreds of tasks all at once. Now if that doesn’t boost a CV I don’t know what will. And to any employer who thinks “that’s not real work” I challenge them to do all of that and work full time on the side. It’s certainly been one massive journey all right. They said when I booked the tickets the journey time would be twenty three  hours – they were wrong so far its been six months and I still havent reached my destination.

What happens when the wanderer returns?

Six months away now. Six months to finalise all plans, sort through my life, pack up and throw the party of all leaving parties. I don’t do things by halves, im going away for a very long time and I want everyone to remember me – and how fun I am. They will be talking about the party so much for the coming two years, that when I get back, it will be like I never left. HA! No that’s not whats going to happen at all. I am going to throw a party but im on a budget, it will be modest but fun. Everyone will get emotional, we will have a few to many drinks and then its goodbye. Friends and family will remember me of course, but life goes on, as I start an adventure, they all carry on with how things were.I will get back one day and things will have changed. It wont be a case of slipping back into life like I never left – hopefully I wont even want to! It will be a case of starting new again. My friends will have grown up, moved out and probably started to settle down. They will all have a career, responsibilities and bills to pay. My family will welcome me back but there will have been so much that I have missed, I probably wont get the “private jokes” or any of the funny stories about last christmas. But does any of that really matter? No not at all, I could be anywhere in the world and things at home will change. Life changes over night, so does it really matter if I am in London or Sydney? No. When I return from my travels, I am going to have experienced a variety of new cultures, activities and life lessons. I’m going to have made memories which will last a lifetime. Those experiences will shape who I become and when I return I have no doubt that I will be a different person to who I am now. That person might not want to settle back into life as it was. I’m sure when I return everything will have changed and I will have to find another adventure to chase – wether it be building my first home and settling down or just another backpacking trip.