Working in the Gatton now

I arrived Gatton(near Bristane by 2 hours train and bus) on last Sunday night. Then I started to work on Monday. I did three days shallot and one day another vegetable. Today is a rainy day, I need not to work. The farm job is hard, it is quite boring and after work you feel tired and don't want to do anything. But it is good to strength mind. The most important thing I learn for farm job: using your brain to earn money is much better than using your body.
There are many farms with different vegetables near Gatton, so many backpackers come here to work and save money for traveling. The weather is not good recently, always cloudy or rainy. It affects works as well. The pay is not very good here, I only earn around $50 AUD per day. Under this rate, it is hard to save money. I will leave for another Taiwanese farm next Saturday, the pay is by hour ($14.95 AUD). I plan to go to Bowen for tomato picking job, casue the pay should be more than $100 per day. This will help me to save money more quickly.

After saving some money for around three months, I plan to travel to Ululu, Darwin Cains, White Sundays island, Fraster island, Syndey, then Melbourne and Tasmania for two months. Then go back to Taiwan before the Chinese New Year.

Go for Brisbane on this Sunday

I will go for Brisbane by airplane this Sunday. For my money is less than $1,000 AUD, I think I need to earn some money first. I find a farm job near Brisbane, this job is about vegetable harvest. There are some Taiwanese working in that farm now, this is the main reason to choose this farm. Because the farm job is quite boring, without friends, would be lonely as well.

My back is much better now, just a little bit pain. Not sure if my back could take this harvest job, I just want to try.

What is the funniest thing in life?

A few days ago, I was asked to this question. But this is very difficult to answer for me. I am so sad that I can't answer it, I think hard to figure out the answer. This means I don't enjoy my life enjoy. I can't find the funniest thing in my life. Do I need to create some? Does anyone can answer this question? Give me some examples, please.

Actually, I lost my wallet on the early morning that I would leave for Oz. It is a terrible thing, however I think this accident is a lttile joke made by God. For me it is a funny situation in my life. This is real life, anything could happen.

My first group interview

Today I attend a interview of Coffee Club. This is my first group interview in my life. A very interesting experience for me. I had not introduced myself in English in front of many people before. I think I am too nervous, or I could do it better.



Coffee Club has more than 140 coffee shop in Oz.It is an organized company. It is nice to have a chance to see how a successful chain store to recruit staffs and what the requirements are. Although I desire to get a job in Coffee Club, I think I don't have much chance to get the offer. For I only have the working holiday visa, other people who join this interview with the PR or one year working permission. There are around 40 people in this interview, coffee club will provide 20 job offers. Even I don't get the offer, this interview is still a vaulable experience for me. I already have my backup plan, I plan to go north to get a farm job next week. :)

English matters

Once again I realize that English matters. If I want to get a job in an English country, excellent English is the first and must requirment. My English should be as fluent as it is my native lanuage. This is still a long way to go. I admit my English is not good enough to get a office job here, previous working experience and ability do not work anymore. The truth is always crule. This is life.

Although living in a Australia(=whole English enviorment) does help me improve my English, I find this is still not enough. I also realize the truth that my English will not be improve that much even I study aborad. I still need to keep studying hard by myself. Having lots reading, speaking, writing exercise as daily work. So from now on, no more Chinese.

沒想到這真的發生了~

聽說在澳洲住在Backpackers會遇到關係很亂之男女
有人真的會在Dorm room做愛,我一直以為這是玩笑話
不過前天晚上10點多...這個謠傳變成了事實

有一個紐西蘭女生很晚才入住,她的男朋友幫她把行李搬入房間
我住的Dorm Room基本上是只住女生,也就是男生止步
不過念在那個女生行李多,男朋友幫忙搬也是人之常情
我們房間是八人房,原本只住四個人,床是上下舖,大家都選下舖睡
那個女生選擇了睡另外一個台灣女生的上舖 (還好不是我的)
只是搬完行李,那個男生居然叫跳上了女朋友的床
我的韓國女室友,很不爽的問"Do you sleep here"
那男生回答" I just Hang out for a few minutes"
於是我在下舖看書,只聽到了一陣親嘴和嘻笑聲
後來男生終於跳下床,我傻眼地瞄到了男生居然在穿褲子繫皮帶
男女主角起身離開房間後,我的台灣室友一陣咒罵
因為她剛剛親身體驗了上舖的床震

在其他人都還沒有睡,房間大燈還開著的情況下
居然有人在房間公然做起運動
OMG!真叫人不敢相信
我們幾個在場的女生,都覺得很不被尊重
也覺得那個男生,根本不尊重自己的女友
否則怎麼會在這個條件和環境下,上了自己的女友

等那個紐西蘭女生回來,
睡她下舖的台灣女生跟她表示說" I hope this will not happen again"
我和幾個室友的結論是,如果那個男生敢在踏進我們房間一步,我們要去櫃檯抗議了
還好隔天晚上,那個紐西蘭女生已經搬離我們房間
我和我的室友們都鬆了一大口氣
沒想到...除了酒鬼室友外,我現在還體驗了澳洲床震傳奇~>_<~

閃到腰

大概是上星期採柳橙時就已經稍微傷到腰,昨天早上我洗完澡在吹完頭髮,彎腰開電暖氣
快速起身時,感到一陣劇痛,痛到完全站不起來
吞了兩顆止痛藥後,中午還跑去上英文課,上完英文課,痛到寸步難行
同行的兩個台灣女生看到我痛成這樣,叫我一定要馬上看醫生
還好,上課的大樓樓下就是診所,醫生說只是肌肉拉傷,吃吃消炎藥和止痛藥就可
鬆了好大一口氣...不過診療費和藥劑就花了我70塊澳幣(1500台幣)

很感謝那兩個一直陪著我的台灣女生,
我昨天的狀況只能用動彈不得來形容,真的痛到我很想死...
沒有他們的話,我一個人沒辦法處理這種狀況,會不知所措到哭出來吧
終於體會到人在異鄉,朋友有多重要!

轉變

*陽光下的草綠色，我喜歡這張的光影變化...

到澳洲已三個星期，老實說，我一直對自己在這裡的存在感到困惑。我到底想要在澳洲得到些什麼，帶走些什麼？為什麼要來這裡？我心裡沒有明確的答案。然後，一眨眼，一天就過了，什麼都沒完成的一天，帶著絲絲惶恐入眠。過生活很簡單，但要怎麼過才是問題？
第一個星期，完成了開戶辦手機申請税號等必須性的事物。第二個星期，努力找。工作但是沒有下文。第三個星期殺去農場採柳橙。七月底前，我計畫待在墨爾本，計畫丟出義大利MIP申請表，並蒐集好未來要申請的11所學校的資訊，然後請台灣同事幫忙把推薦信寄到澳洲給我。同時，還要一邊繼續找工作，如果墨爾本一直不賞光給工作的話，我會去澳洲北端的農場工作一段時間，然後在一路旅行南下，一直到回台灣以前。週一到週五下午兩個小時，去RMIT大學上免費的英文課，多點機會練習英文和接觸新朋友。如果義大利的學校拒絕我，表示我的考試成績不夠高，屆時必須在澳洲在考一次GMAT和托福(或IELTS)，不然可能沒辦法申請到其他國家的好學校吧，光想到這點就讓我很頭大

在這裡，每天都會認識新朋友，不論是台灣人、亞洲人或者是歐美人士。新朋友來來去去，彷彿人生中的過客，短暫交談後，也許之後一輩子都不會再相見。能做的，只是帶著笑容和認識新朋友交談，珍惜每一次的相遇。

墨爾本的城市生活，只是換了個城市背景，和台北沒有太大不同。墨爾本的台灣朋友們，給了我很多在這裡生存的溫暖和勇氣，有個很SWEET的台灣女生，甚至在我生日當天買了個蛋糕幫我慶祝，讓我很感動。但是，不知不覺中自己已太依賴他們，讓我的心理充滿了矛盾。一個人來澳洲，不就是想訓練自己更獨立？體驗澳洲式生活？

在澳洲，我看到了自己的軟弱和害怕，有時候很想逃避一個人的寂寞。但幾個星期下來，也遇到幾個單身旅行的外國女生，所以沒道理，我做不到。不過，還需要再給自己更多點堅強和勇氣。

農場體驗-採柳橙

*滿簍的橘子,農場經理還教我們如何開貨車喔~就是照片中的裝橘子的車輛

來到澳洲之前，原本沒有打算到農場工作，計畫永遠趕不上變化，來不到兩週，我卻身在農場裡像隻猴子般地採柳橙。工作後的簡陋晚餐，餐後來自不同地方的採收工人們聚集在火堆旁邊取暖聊天，睡個香甜的長覺，隔天帶著全身痠痛醒來，在陽光的照耀下開始一天的橘子奮戰，生活變得很簡單。

柳橙農場位於維多利亞省和新南威爾斯省的交界處，我和其他四個台灣女生從墨爾本搭車到Swam Hill需要約4小時，然後再從Swam Hill轉乘巴士1個小時到Tolleybuc，然後再開車10分鐘到距離Tolleybuc 六公里遠的農場，偏遠到連手機訊號都收不太到，就可以想像柳橙農場在有多鄉下的地方囉。

*橘子園一景


*橘子園隔壁的葡萄園

採柳橙算是薪水比較低的農場工作，採柳橙的工作不算輕鬆，早上開工的時間不一定，要等露水散去才能開始採收柳橙，然後工作到日落。採收一BIN(約400Kg)的價錢是25塊澳幣，沒經驗的人一天可以採約2 BIN，有經驗的人一天可以採約3-4 BIN，高手一天可採6 BIN。我們五個台灣女生，一天最多只合採12 BIN，算是採收界的肉腳。其他的採收同伴們說今年的柳橙因為缺水和霜害，產量和柳橙的體積都不若以往，相對地增加採收工作的難度。採柳橙的工作只持續了一個星期，雖然只賺了240元澳幣，農場提供免費的住宿，吃的簡單，每天花費很省。240元澳幣支票拿在手上有說不出的踏實感。

*Hugo採柳橙


*人太矮,需要要藉助梯子採樹上的柳橙

在農場工作的期間，農場經理每天開車接送我們五個女生到果園(走路10-15分鐘就可從房間到果園)，到農場的第二天因為下雨不能開工，早上有人帶我們去叢林探險，下午農場經理還準備了豪邁的Bush BBQ，新鮮羊排搭配啤酒和自家釀葡萄酒，連平常不敢吃羊肉的我，也吃的津津有味。農場住宿的地方沒有暖氣，不過早上和傍晚總會有其他人升火取暖，辛苦工作一天，晚上坐在火堆旁天南地北地聊天，一直到睡意來襲才回房間睡覺，覺睡起來格外香甜。

*Bush BBQ...現在想到都還會流口水的新鮮羊排BBQ


*Bush BBQ...好吃的煎香腸和洋蔥

預計10天的農場工作，因採集工人暴增，提早採收完畢，只體驗了六天的農場生活，在農場和其他四個原本和我不認識的台灣女生，變成了朋友。另外，還認識了來自加拿大、非洲蘇丹、地中海阿爾巴尼亞不同國家的三個朋友。離開農場的時候，還有個外國朋友打趣地說，我們五個台灣女生在農場像是陽光溫暖了這鳥不拉屎的寒冷農場，帶來了些許的歡笑。其實，該感到慶幸的是我們，遇到一群敞開心胸接納我們的老好人們，讓我們這幾個農場觀光客度過了愉悅的一個星期，體驗到澳洲正港的農場生活。

Btw，除了採橘子，回程的時候，農場主人還特地帶我們去看住在附近的野生袋鼠，算是意外的收穫囉~


*農場提供的住宿小屋


*小屋旁就是Maurry River..河的一邊是維多利亞省,另一邊就是新南威爾斯省