First Two Days Of Independence!

So after what I considered an early start I caught the bus to Roxburgh and arrived at my new pad to settle in. (It's all very homely now... not) Then early afternoon I was whisked off for my first professional fruit picking experience. Bring on the apricots! Met a few fellow workers who are all very friendly and welcoming. But yeh, we picked fruit and earned $50 (about £25) in 2 and a half hours, not bad eh! The evening was spent reading, beginning to write postcards and I was also pressganged into playing piano, which I was of course delighted about having gone weeks without seeing one.

                               All my worldly possessions (Massively condensed)

My first full day of work was quite tough really, up at 7am, to work for 8am picking apricots at a different far larger orchard till about 4:30pm. Met a whole load of other very nice people who aren't staying here but actually at a house on the orchard I was working at. There's a very diverse cultural mix here. Actually no, it's not that diverse, it's 80% Asian (Tai Wan, China, South Korea being a few examples, making it a challenge to remember names like Makato and Takako, pronounciation is a bitch) then the other 20% is made up of Germans, French and Canadians. I'm the only Englishman in the entire establishment... apparently I have a very strong accent, though others have said it's neutral. My evening on my first full day was spent seeing the local sights, (a large dam and a cinema that plays one film per week... The Social Network this Saturday at 8pm!! Wow!! ... ¬_`¬) food shopping, cooking and piano playing (for which I received a random $2 tip from the owner... good times..)

                             Andy's Twin Griffiths kicks back and watches tele.

It's been a very strange feeling these last couple of days, while I miss everyone like mad and spend the many hours of fruit picking considering how each of you would mock me for it, the complete independancy has brought a kind of happinness I've never felt before, sort of a realisation I can cope I guess..but it's only been two days so we'll see how long THAT one lasts! Oh and my food box's last owner (her name still scribbled on the side) was Jessika. Yes, with a 'K' and everything. STOP FOLLOWING ME!

                                           The homesickness cures table