Dogs Bark, People WWOOF

1-18 April, 2007
The tropical north! Rain, rain forests, reef and a relaxed life. I spent a couple of days wandering around the city, shirtless, shoeless and clueless. I had an idea of what I wanted to do -Cairns is the activity centre of Australia. Bungee jumping, sky diving, white-water rafting, SCUBA and snorkeling on the reef, Daintree tours, tablelands tours, Kuranda skyrail, 4WD tours up to the tip of Cape York and crocodile tours. This list is by no means exhaustive. All of it could wait though; the reason I came up to Far North Queensland was to work on an organic farm. I picked up a WWOOF (Willing Workers On Organic Farms) membership for a number of reasons: educational, financial, logistical and of plain curiosity. My method of picking a farm/WWOOF host was of the close-your-eyes-and-point variety. Your membership is a book with a description of 1200+ organic farms in Australia. If the one I pointed at had a good description, I decided to call the place and see if I could start immediately. The first person I called was keen so I arranged to head up the next day and that is when disaster struck: I got sick! In between arranging my stay and hopping on the bus I came down with the flu or some similar illness. I postponed my arrival and spent the day lying in bed, useless and miserable.

When I woke up next morning I was only slightly less sick than the day before. I decided to get outta the hostel and make my way to the bus stop and get to Atherton. I had 5 hours to kill so I slept on the grass in the park a few blocks down. Along with the Ghan train ride from a few weeks before, this was another low point. I rarely get sick -once every few years- but when I do it is harsh... I go down for the count. Waiting to board the bus a random comes up and asks me: "Are you Eric?" Slightly baffled, I failed to respond so he repeated himself. The wheels in my head slowly turned and it all came to light. Turns out because I had asked to come up to the farm a day later, another WWOOFer would be joining me, that way Bood (our host) could pick us up in Atherton together. Enter Aubrey from Blackpool. I would be able to review my northern England slang and pronunciations for the next two weeks! A slightly dramatic bus ride popped us out around dinner time at the bus stop in Atherton. No one was there, so we waited a while. No worries as Bood, Julia and Grace (Another WWOOFer from Germany and her 7 week old baby!) took us on a grocery shopping trip and then out to dinner. It would have been a great start to things, had I still not been sick as a dog. 48 hours of consuming nothing but a little bit of water had left my stomach unaccustomed to standard fare. I was not exactly up to the task of eating Malaysian at the restaurant he had booked us in to. Nonetheless I ordered, took about 6 bites and gave up. I forgot to take the food with me! I felt pretty bad (Bood paid) but I pushed it behind me and just hoped I would feel better the next day when I had to start earning my keep.

This bug I had would just not go away! It lingered for about 4 or 5 days, giving me headaches, muscle aches and the like. The work routine went something like this: wake up about 09.00 and have brekkie, work from 10.00 - 12.30ish, eat a delicious lunch Julia had prepared for us and spend the afternoon lounging about on the Veranda, another two hour session in the field and head in for the night. Dinner was done on a rota basis, which kept things interesting. The only way I was able to motivate myself into the fields was by popping pills ( I really hate having to do this, I avoid OTC drugs at all costs). Boods farm operated as such: he bought the land some years back and agisted it for a few. A couple years ago he started re-foresting. 100 different species - 8,000 trees - 82 hectares. Our job as WWOOFers was to walk the rows of small trees, weed them, pull up the encroaching grasses and use that grass as compost. There was also some planting but most had already been done as well as the re-planting from Cyclone Larry the previous year. When I say "grasses" don't think of your lawn or the local park. Think deep-rooted, head-high praire grasses. So anyways, because I needed all the drugs to get through the sessions, halfway through my stay Bood asked if I wanted to do something else. I said sure... I wasn't going to object really, he was feeding and sheltering me! I spent the rest of my time cleaning the houses and watching his 5 and 7 year old kids. Huh..... I thought it was only going to be for a day, but then Julia left with her partner so there was no one to watch the kids. They were too young to come out in the paddocks with us and couldn't stay inside on their own. So I guess I got that job. I found myself wanting off that farm rather quickly when I got this job, but I stuck it out to hang around with Aubrey, get a free ride to Cairns, relax in what truly is a beautiful part of Australia and not spend money.

This may be a bit of an oxymoron, but even though I went in to this WWOOFing deal with no expectations, it didn't exactly meet my expectations. I do have reason to feel grateful (for getting put on domestic duties) though. When Aubrey would come in from a session, I had just spent the last few hours in a clean and dry house. He had been getting rained on, getting his hands dirty and attacked by bloodsuckers which had been "the most soulsucking work ever." I guess I got to sample both sides of farm life: outside and in. Weird though, as here this experience was seemingly a bit of a let down but not in the most important aspect for myself. The main reason was to get an idea of what organic farming was. Bood was awesome at educating about organics and so much more. I learned heaps about farming in general, organics, bio-dynamic growing, permaculture, holistic farm management, global food supply problems and astrology. Also, I really appreciate what he is doing, based on his vision and what he sees as the coming problems in the world. The goal for the farm is to be self-sustainable. His trees will produce bush tucker, timber and other products to generate revenues. He has cattle. He has a creek on his property that supplies all the water (completely unfiltered, and is some of the best I have tasted). Eventually, a hydro power generator will be constructed so he can go completely off the grid. He is building himself a lifeboat. I wish I could climb aboard. By 20-something (2050?) the Atherton Tablelands and the Kimberly in WA are expected to be the only two places left in Australia that will be able to support traditional agriculture due to effects of climate change. Read that again, it is shocking. Food, water, electricity and shelter - sustainably. Plus he has this game from NZ called Cathedral that's sweet as! All the entertainment you need is right there, as long as you have an opponent.

Bood also had a lot of what I would call conspiracy theories to share, though to him I've no doubt they are gospel. Just to tick off a couple: Arnott's brand timtams are dodgy, "global dimming" and climate change is probably not caused by human co2 emmissions. There were also some claims about China, Democrats and Peter Garrett that I found intriguing. Very rarely would I directly challenge him on his beliefs. Unless I have all the facts and know I can make a persuasive case to potentially change someones mind, I am happy to let them believe whatever they want. If I challenge someone without facts and logic the argument usually ends up getting emotional and you can't fight those with your own opinions. Either way I found it amusing and interesting to listen to and it stirred up lots of good conversation. Lastly, I don't know what I would have done if Aubrey and the other WWOOFers wouldn't have been there. If it were just Bood and I for the first few days before his kids came up during school holidays, it would have been well awkward! I'd definitely WWOOF again, and in other countries as well! You get the chance to see a side of the country you normally wouldn't have as a tourist and meet some fair dinkum Aussies while you're at it.