adventures in sustainability

In mid-November, we made our way to our third WWOOF spot at Ironbark Grange. I know this is all out of order, but now that we have our laptop again there's so much I want to tell you!

Living with the Van Velzen family helped me gain an understanding and appreciation of how getting back to basics and living sustainably can really help us live life to the fullest. They taught us so much ... I can never thank them enough for their kindness and hospitality! Our work consisted of working in the orchard and doing projects in their home (painting, cleaning, cooking, etc.)

To the left is a picture of the Van Velzen's home. It's a modern-style house built into the mountain. The house was constructed using high mass walls and floors, good insulation in the roof, walls and double glazing to cool in summer and heat in the winter.

The property overlooks the orchard and, on a clear day, you can see the Brisbane skyline. Amazing!

To the left is a picture of the family dalmatians, Max and Mike. They are the most well-trained dogs I've ever known. We fed and brushed them every morning. All you have to say is "bed" and they would both walk straight to their blanket and wait patiently for their breakfast to be fixed.

This is the "chook house" where the chickens and Madeline (the duck) live. One of our jobs was to feed them every morning and gather the eggs. Madeline's eggs were perfect for baking cakes because the yolk is about twice the size of one that comes from a chicken's egg. Robbie and I really want to have a few of our own "girls" someday.

road trippin'

After the rainforest adventure in cape trib, we went on a road trip to Brisbane and covered about 2,000 kilometers (over 1,200 miles)! The entire time we spent camping out of our car in national parks or at free overnight rest stops. We bought a road atlas that showed us where the overnight camping spots were, so each morning we'd pick a destination on the map and drive. Here are some pictures of what we saw along the way...

The Boulders National Park

The Biggest Mango in Australia (that's Robbie on the left)

Koalas at the Rockhampton Zoo

Rainbow Falls at Springbrook National Park

Incredible Beach at Byron Bay (such an amazing town, it deserves its own post)

I'll post more soon, but that's it for now. Today is Boxing Day in Australia which is pretty much the same thing as Black Friday after Thanksgiving in the states (i.e. people trampling each other in the effort to save $20 on a TV). Thanks, but no thanks. Yesterday, on Christmas Day, we went to see the movie The Tourist with Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp (stupid but surprisingly entertaining) and went out for Vietnamese food. A very un-Christmas, but merry just the same. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Rainforest Hideaway B&B

Our second WWOOF stay was at The Rainforest Hideaway Bed and Breakfast. Robbie and I worked and stayed there for two weeks in late October. The B&B is in the middle of the tropical rainforest in Cape Tribulation, Queensland. The owner, Rob, built the place himself. He's an extremely talented carpenter and sculpture artist. Our room was a treehouse that connected to the B&B by a wooden bridge hovering over the forest floor. Here's a picture: I helped mostly with the B&B (cleaning, housework, cooking and help with guests) while Robbie helped Rob expand the sculpture trail. This is a picture of the front of the B&B: Robbie and I had the privilege of helping Rob construct a life-sized sculpture of Buddha made of concrete. Below is a picture of Rob (the owner of Rainforest Hideaway) and Robbie beside their work of art: Staying in the rainforest was an amazing adventure we'll never forget. We encountered some of the most amazing creatures in the wild...here's just a few:

A lobster we found washed up on the beach.

These spiders, called Golden Orbs, kept Robbie up all night. These six feet tall birds are called Cassowarys (the smaller brown ones are her chicks). I bumped into one of these bad boys almost once a day in the forest. These ones are pretty tame but they look like big, scary dinosaurs and are taller than me.