During my travel I did not only meet new people but also got to know new dishes the people I met were cooking. To keep track of them I’ll post some recipes every now and then. Maybe guidelines would be a more appropriate word as there are usually no exact recipes. Instead the list of ingredients varies based on what’s available or what the daily mood is. Thus some basic cooking skills and common sense are necessary if you’d like to cook one of the dishes.

6:30 am, the alarm clock is ringing. Due to daytime temperatures of 30-35°C we now start work at 7 am to be done with it before the worst heat kicks in. I spent the last two days with removing dead wood from tree lines and driving it to the farms fire place. It was about 12 trailer loads and when that pile of wood is set on fire one day, they’ll see the smoke from Canberra.

It’s been almost a week on the farm now and I’m still having a really good time. In the beginning I was a bit concerned about whether it would be a good deal to work 4-5 hours a day and just get food and accommodation in exchange. But the food is just awesome and the work is usually easy and often fun as well. My main occupation is still taking care of the farms electric fences.

At the moment I’m staying on a small farm near Yass, about half an hour north of Canberra. It is actually more a riding school and pet care than a farm. I’m a voluntary worker which means I get food and accommodation in exchange for work (more info on helpx.net). There is four of us helpers here in total and I spent the last two days with a Swiss/Irish guy repairing electric fences.

The Blue Mountains are one of the best places in Australia for climbing. There are always some people at the hostel who have some gear and today Jenn and Elliam invited us to come along to a nearby climbing site. It’s been almost a year since the last time I was on the wall and I wasn’t totally sure if I’d wanted to go. But after watching the others for a while I was eager to give it a try myself.

Aussies are relaxed, that includes the ambulance. Last night one of the girls in the hostel stumbled down a step and broke her ankle. We called 000 expecting to get quick help. The phone call took a long time and the operator was asking the same questions repeatedly (we had a native speaker on the phone so it certainly wasn’t a language problem). They even asked for directions as if they didn’t have a navigation system.

2010 is gone and I spent most of it in Australia. It was by far the best year of my adult life and even in troublesome times I never regretted having come to Oz. December was a month that brought a lot of problems. It ended with more problems and Hiro and me spending New Year’s Eve in different places (all good in the new year though). Together with a dozen people from the hostel I spent the evening around the BBQ.

On Tuesday morning I went to talk to the mechanic about the broken alternator. The shop is specialised in car electrics and car audio and the show room looked accordingly. Unfortunately they had no mechanics on service because of another public holiday. Getting one would have cost a $80 call out fee so we decided to wait another day. The place where the tow truck dropped the car off was ok to stay, we had a gas station with toilets and even showers around the corner and a nearby park to spend the day.

I wanted to write a bit about Christmas in the Blue Mountains, Christmas Eve around the log fire and late night BBQ but that has to wait for a while. We left Katoomba yesterday without a real plan on where to go and what to do. All we knew was that after two weeks of partying around the log fire we needed to get our asses up. Today we wanted to spent the night at a camp site in the mountains.

Just a couple of minutes from Katoomba on the Great Western Highway towards Sydney lies the small town of Wentworth Falls. It’s named after a nearby waterfall and the whole area offers some nice walks. One of the tracks leads across the top of the waterfall on stepping stones in the water. Such warning signs are one thing I like about Australia. It doesn’t just say “Danger, do not cross” but rather explains why crossing would be dangerous.