A Nice MLT

I had a very Miracle Max kind of moment the other day while eating my first ever mutton, lettuce, and tomato sandwich. And cheese, because few sandwiches are complete without cheese.

Oh, and I'm no longer in the middle of nowhere. While going to the bus stop to leave said place, I noticed a sign (which I unfortunately did not get a picture of) which said:

Nevertire: Population 103.

That's right, folks, one hundred three people live in Nevertire, New South Wales, Australia.

Anyway, overall it was very interesting and mostly fun. I admit, there were a couple things that were not fun. The first being the overabundance of ants. One of the gates into the property happened to close over the middle of a GIANT ant hill ("giant" applying to both the ants and their home). You know that scene in Indiana Jones (the most recent one - if you haven't seen it, good on you) in which the person gets overtaken by all the ants and it's pretty creepy? Or, if you haven't seen that particular cinematic masterpiece (sarcasm sign) perhaps you have seen The Mummy where the person gets eaten alive by scarabs.

It was kind of like that, only I didn't die. Seriously though, I did not like it. I had to stand over the hole from whence they poured while fumbling with the padlock to the gate. And everyone knows when there is a threat of being eaten alive by insects, it's never easy to get the lock on the chain.

The other was the evening when I couldn't get the dog to cooperate and because of that the sheep were very confused and I was very frustrated to the point of yelling and there may have been tears involved (it was late and I was tired and hungry). I was feeling pretty bad about it until Jack the Englishman mentioned the same exact thing happened to him and he went off screaming at the dog, too. Failing at being a shepherd is much less depressing knowing I'm not alone.

Oh, and speaking of Jack the Englishman, he was staying with the son of the people I was helping. He helped out with the wheat and sheep sometimes, so we ended up working together occasionally. Somehow between on the laughing and making fun of each other for the way we talked, we got something done. I don't even think we broke anything! It was really nice having someone closer to my own age to hang out with some times. And to share frustrating stories about sheep.

I just went back to look at what I've told you about where I was and realized it's not much. This is me and Kevin in his plane! So cool. I wish there was enough free air space in New Jersey for me to get an ultra light. I also wish there were emus in our fields that I could chase with the plane. That would make for a good time.

Where I am right now (which is Sydney) is not too hot, but Nevertire the last few days I was there was beastly hot (upper nineties/100). I got a pretty nice farmers tan, even while applying SPF 50 twice a day. Well, on my arms at least. I think I only wore shorts a couple times (riding a motorbike through harvested canola fields while wearing shorts is painful).

The family was super great and they have ice cream almost every night after dinner, which immediately raises my opinion of them. Australians in general have been pretty cool.

Now I have to figure out how I'm spending my last few days here. It's crazy to think it's almost over. It's also crazy to think of how cold it is at home. I'm going to freeze.