By Kathleen
It’s Sunday evening in Tatura and the days seem to be flying by. Weekends seems far away when you measure time in number of bins picked and I’m sitting outside on our picnic table catching the last rays of my day off.
Fiz is playingthe my guitar that I found at Rainbow Festival and the cockoos are singing their strange song. In the distance I can hear a horse whinny and something screech.
It’s these moments that make life in Tat something enjoyable, despite the lack of entertainment and with all the hours of work. There is something simpler about this way of life and I find that I am very happy here some days, with time to be outside to sit and write.
Every grocery run we drive by vast orchards lining the roads and grazing fields that are filled with horses, cows and sheep. It’s incredible to believe we are only just over two hours from one of Australia’s largest cities. Sometimes the emptiness of this place catches me off guard. Our hometown is fairly rural in our eyes but its nothing compared to the Australian country.
Lately we’ve been noticing that we have adjusted to the weather here. Now 60 degrees seems cold and we worry that we will have our New Englander cards revoked. We worry that our sense of temperature isn’t the only thing that’s been altered by staying here, especially by being in the country. Our perception of friendliness is changing. New Englander’s aren’t exactly known for their cuddliness, their right up there next to New Yorkers and Gizzly Bears on most people’s list. Australian’s in contrast seem wide open, like visiting the south if the south without the conservative drawbacks. People here are quick to smile and fats to help out.
A good demonstration may be a quick road story. On the way to the store today a grey pink thing tumbled in front of our car. We slowed down and realized it was one of the birds we call “dumb-pink-things” because they are grey and bright pink and well, sorta dumb looking. It didn’t move when we drove towards it and we realized that it was clearly dazed. We pulled over.
The bird wandered haplessly into the middle of the road and another car stopped to check on it. Just as we were debating who would take it to the wildlife services the dumb-pink-thing took flight and flew off down the road.
I can’t say I’ve ever seen two cars at home pulled over for a bird as common as a pigeon. Australians can be pretty cool.
It’s becoming dinner time and soon I’ll have to start getting ready for tomorrow. At least we don’t have to get up at 5:30 anymore, now we can sleep till 6. The seasons are changing and we are losing the light, another month and autumn will be upon us, soon winter will be here and it will be time to move on.
It’s Sunday evening in Tatura and the days seem to be flying by. Weekends seems far away when you measure time in number of bins picked and I’m sitting outside on our picnic table catching the last rays of my day off.
Fiz is playing
It’s these moments that make life in Tat something enjoyable, despite the lack of entertainment and with all the hours of work. There is something simpler about this way of life and I find that I am very happy here some days, with time to be outside to sit and write.
Every grocery run we drive by vast orchards lining the roads and grazing fields that are filled with horses, cows and sheep. It’s incredible to believe we are only just over two hours from one of Australia’s largest cities. Sometimes the emptiness of this place catches me off guard. Our hometown is fairly rural in our eyes but its nothing compared to the Australian country.
Lately we’ve been noticing that we have adjusted to the weather here. Now 60 degrees seems cold and we worry that we will have our New Englander cards revoked. We worry that our sense of temperature isn’t the only thing that’s been altered by staying here, especially by being in the country. Our perception of friendliness is changing. New Englander’s aren’t exactly known for their cuddliness, their right up there next to New Yorkers and Gizzly Bears on most people’s list. Australian’s in contrast seem wide open, like visiting the south if the south without the conservative drawbacks. People here are quick to smile and fats to help out.
A good demonstration may be a quick road story. On the way to the store today a grey pink thing tumbled in front of our car. We slowed down and realized it was one of the birds we call “dumb-pink-things” because they are grey and bright pink and well, sorta dumb looking. It didn’t move when we drove towards it and we realized that it was clearly dazed. We pulled over.The bird wandered haplessly into the middle of the road and another car stopped to check on it. Just as we were debating who would take it to the wildlife services the dumb-pink-thing took flight and flew off down the road.
I can’t say I’ve ever seen two cars at home pulled over for a bird as common as a pigeon. Australians can be pretty cool.
It’s becoming dinner time and soon I’ll have to start getting ready for tomorrow. At least we don’t have to get up at 5:30 anymore, now we can sleep till 6. The seasons are changing and we are losing the light, another month and autumn will be upon us, soon winter will be here and it will be time to move on.
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