We haven’t had internet for about 5 days, so there’s lots to update on this time. We’ve had an incredible weekend and have met some awesome people. On Friday, we rented a car and left Sydney in the early afternoon. Instead of taking the bus everywhere, we decided it would be easier to have our own car again so we didn’t have to ask for rides once we got to our next house exchange. Zach and Papa went to pick up the car in downtown Sydney and Papa rented it in his name because Zach isn’t quite 25. I’m not sure Papa knew quite what he was getting into. Driving through Sydney is not the best place to learn how to drive on the opposite side of the road and sitting on the right side, too. Zach remembers the drive at times being quite scary. During the 15 minute drive, Papa clipped two cars with his left-side mirror as Zach kept saying “keep right, keep right!!” We’re just glad they made it safe to our apartment so we could pack up and brave the road and traffic again as we had to go back to through the city and over the Harbor Bridge to get out of Sydney. After a few more close calls driving up to our next house exchange, we finally made it to Gloucester on Friday night.
We were greeted by a lovely couple – Doug and Valda Barron. Their home is absolutely beautiful atop a picturesque green hilltop overlooking farms and rolling hills. The sky seemed to always be a perfect purply-blue with splashes of clouds everywhere. I don’t think I have ever seen such beautiful mountains and valleys and everything is completely green and manicured. Gloucester has about 2,500 people and about the same number of cattle – they are everywhere and of course with them comes a lot of flies. Doug and Valda immediately had us agreeing to a whole list of things to do for the weekend. We started out joining their friends at their local golf club restaurant, which reminded us of a retirement community cafeteria. Everyone knew each other and they had a fruit basket and beef raffle. Grammy won four t-bone steaks which we ate later in the weekend. That night, we met lots of their friends including a couple, Kaye and Graham. We started talking about our trip and how we were house-sitting in Tannum Sands for about 6 months. They were looking for a house-sitter in August and September while they went overseas and asked if we wanted to sit for them. We agreed to visit them at their house the following night to see their place and make sure it would work out for us. We were so happy to have that option after Tannum Sands and knew if their place was anything like Doug and Valda’s, we would have no problem!
The next morning, we had a nice breakfast out on their verandah and Doug took us for a car ride through the countryside. We saw more beautiful farmland and amazing views at the tops of the hills. They have a few rivers running through and to pass over them, we had to drive right through them! After we got back, we quickly got ready and joined all their friends on a trip out to the local pub, which ended up being about 50 km away. They wanted to show us what a “real” Australian pub was like. After we had ordered some drinks and fish and chips, a group of motorcycle pirates stopped in for a quick drink. They were all riding American Harleys and dressed in pirate gear. It was quite interesting! One guy even had a fake parrot glued to his shoulder.
After we drove home, we headed off yet again to a local vineyard to pick grapes. We weren’t sure what we were getting ourselves into, but we had a great night! We started out getting to know the family that owned the vineyard and had some wine and nibbles (aka H'or Dourves). About an hour before sunset, we all went down to the vineyard and had a quick lesson on how to pick the right grapes. There were probably about 30 of us out there picking on about a ¼ acre of white grape vines. The crop this year wasn’t as good as they’ve had in the past, so we had to be selective about which grapes to pick. Some had already dried up and some were already rotten, so only the good ones could go. During the picking, the brother-in-law of the owner serenaded us with an acoustic guitar, which made for a very relaxing experience. The family planned a nice Tuscan dinner for all the pickers, which included some of their own wines. The sister and brother-in-law are professional musicians and performed some great 60’s and 70’s American songs after dinner. All the old folks were loving it! Some people started dancing and of course, Grammy knew she had to get up there, too! The owner got her out of her seat and they were the highlight of the night. We had a very fun night.
The next morning, our alarm clock woke us up at 5:30am. We set out again to start picking grapes when the sun came up. After another 3 hours of picking, we ended up with 3 large bins full of grapes. The owner, Brian, said he should get about 8 bins with a good crop, so it definitely wasn’t the best year for him. But it was a great experience for us and we learned a lot. At first, Zach and I were saying how fun it would be to have a couple rows of vines and get a few bottles out of it each year. After the morning picking, we were hot, sweaty and the flies were driving us crazy, so we quickly decided that it’s much better to just buy everyone else’s labor! Brian and his family provided breakfast. We headed home and were exhausted, so we all slept for about 2 hours and then lounged for the afternoon.
That evening, we headed over to Kaye and Graham’s to check out their farmhouse and talk more about house-sitting for them in August. They are just about 5 minutes from Doug and Valda’s. They live on 350 acres which they lease most of the land out to a cattle farmer. Their house is very cute and they have a beautiful view of the valley with lots of fruit trees and a pool. Some of the cows were right next to their house, which brought a lot of flies, but we are pretty sure we can handle that part. Just takes a bit of getting used to.
That evening, we cooked Grammy’s t-bone steaks and watched the men’s final tennis match. We were so happy Federer won and enjoyed a great 2 weeks of tennis entertainment. We all retired fairly early that night and the next day (Monday), Zach and Doug golfed 9 holes at Gloucester’s course in the morning. We left around 11am to head out to the coast area of Forster. We had fish and chips with Doug and Valda (and the pigeons and pelicans) on the shore of the bay. The water was a gorgeous aqua-green color with sand bars. We said good-bye to the Barron’s and drove about 2 hours to Port Stephens. This is another home exchange that Grammy setup, but the family that owned the house was not there – they just rent the place out. It’s a very modern new home in a suburb near the Nelson Bay. Grammy and Papa will be there all week and Zach and I flew out to Tannum Sands this morning (Tuesday).
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