Rural Australia

So for the last few weeks i've been tackling the dreaded 88 days farmwork required to get a second year on my working holiday visa. My first bit of advice would be, this time of year is the right time to start because of temperature, doing farmwork in the height of the australian summer would probably result in me dying as im a bit of a wimp when it comes to over 38 degrees. So im currently in NSW, 2 hours drive from the nearest big town (probably should of got my license before arriving) the first thing you need to know if your doing your farmwork is that you are going to be very isolated and without a license there is no way of escaping. I chose to go the farmhand route so the work would be varied rather than the stereotypical fruit picking trail where work would be repetitive and jobs could suddenly start or end. The work is difficult, the temperature dry, the climate dusty and the flies.. annoying, but if it means another year in this country its a sacrifice to my social life I am willing to make. Onto the benefits of farming; you will save money, the plus side of being isolated is there are no bars to waste your money in the only loss being internet shopping and thats if your in a place that has wifi. You will get fitter as the work is physical, and also depending on the time of year you'll probably get a decent tan even if its a farmers tan (sock tan lines). My favourite thing so far other than playing with the dogs, is the true beauty of the Australian countryside, the sunsets out here are insane and with virtually no light pollution the night skies are like nothing on Earth i've ever seen.

so those are a few idyllic snaps of what your down time is, pure peace and quiet. i'm usually more of a portrait girl but my god I could be converted to landscapes from being out here.
so if your a backpacker looking to do farm work, as I am actively enjoying the majority of it I would recommend being a farm hand over the nightmare that is fruit picking, theres fewer jobs for farmhands but you'll get much more out of it. If you thinking you can deal with the isolation instead of being with fellow backpackers in a work hostel then go for it.

Great Ocean Road - Victoria, Australia

So i've been very lazy in posting since I got to Australia, simply because I am having the best time. But i have done some things worthy of note which could be useful to anyone travelling over here. In terms of getting out of Melbourne I have only escaped the once so far between working and playing and that was to do the Great Ocean Road in one day a pretty hefty task especially when you don't drive, luckily one of my friends volunteered as driver and we set off on my first Australian road trip. It is one of the most beautiful routes i've ever driven down and there was so many stops to see but this is the route we did if your interested in taking a day and doing it yourself, The time to drive the whole route and back including stopping time and wandering around took roughly 15 hours and my poor friend had to drive all of it as i've been too lazy to get my drivers license.

First of all we missed out Torquey somewhere I definitely want to go see but we thought it would be better to get the first stretch of road out of the way, the first 'landmark' was the gate of the Great Ocean Road a memorial to the workers that built the road itself and of course I had to get a super cheesy picture under it.

after we went past Lorne where we went to Erskine Falls, it took around 20 minutes to walk down to the falls from where you could park and it was beautiful, pictures do not do it justice.

After Erskine falls we travelled on through down to Wye River, where we walked up Grey River road a popular place to spot Koalas (which we did) and also the birds there red and green lorikeets were super friendly and would come and sit on you. As you can probably tell by the pictures I was super happy by seeing some Australian wildlife after being in the city for so long.

After this we drove through more of the national park (Ottway) in the hope of spying some kangaroos but no luck although we saw more koalas in the trees which was pretty cute, and a kookaburra. We then drove through to Cape Ottway where we stopped for a break and walked to the lighthouse, but it was 20$ just to go look at it so we skipped and walked to the view point instead which was great. After a few more walks and minor waterfalls along the way the sun started to get pretty low so we decided to drive through to the 12 apostles.

while it was great to see something so famous, I thought the 12 apostles weren't that mindblowing, pretty sure there also isn't 12 anymore, for something that is built up so much it was a little disappointing but the coast line of the cliffs is still impressive to look at. After this it got dark so we started the journey home along the quicker route towards Geelong, we had such good weather all day which was lucky as I don't think the journey would be worth it unless you had blue skies and a bit of sun.