From Widgee With Love

Editors Note: The previous blog erroneously stated that the vast majority of Australia's population live in Sydney. It is correct to say that Australians primarily live along the country's coastlines, but Sydney is not home to the vast majority of the population. In fact, Sydney does not even hold the dubious title of most densely populated city as Melbourne's numbers currently rival hers. Here at LauraNidra News we strive to provide you with only the most accurate and of the hour information. We apologize for publishing this untruth and for any embarrassment it may have caused.

Welcome to Widgee

Hard to believe that it has already been two weeks since Cameron and I arrived in Widgee. We choose an overnight train to cover the 14 hour journey from Sydney to Brisbane and a Greyhound bus for the additional three hour journey from Brisbane to Gympie. Helga and Claus, our WWOOF (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) sponsors, meet us in Gympie and after two warm and welcoming hugs, drove us the final half-hour leg of the journey to Widgee. In the car we learned that in 1980 Helga, her son, and Claus closed their eyes and took turns spinning a globe to determine their next move - they would go to the first place their fingers landed three times. And so it was that Helga and Claus moved from Germany to the Sunshine Coast of Australia and opened a vegetarian restaurant which they successfully owned and operated for 10 years. In 1990, having grown tired of the restaurant industry, they relocated to fifty acres of eucalyptus forest just outside of Widgee. In the 18 years they've lived in Widgee they have transformed their land into a stunning and colorful sanctuary, a living and breathing work of art that includes all your modern conveniences without any of the accompanying drawbacks. They did most of the work themselves with the help of friends and willing workers like Cameron and I. They cleared nearly 7 acres of forest and used the timber to construct the Rainbow House and guest house, built and erected a windmill that steadily pumps water from the the elaborate system of dams/lakes (also built by them) for home and garden use, intricately landscaped the areas surrounding the homes and planted mangoes, grapes, Brazilian cherries, dates, bananas, pineapples, macadamias, paw paws (papaya) and vegetable gardens among many other varieties of edible goodness. As you can imagine maintaining this oasis is quite time consuming. That is were we come in. WWOOFing involves an average of 5 hours of work each day in exchange for free room and board. WWOOFing opportunities range from more traditional full-scale farms to self-sustaining paradise. We choose the later, or it choose us. We sent out over 30 emails to various farms in Queensland that met our standards (vegetarian friendly, sun, mangoes or avocados) and we only heard back from a few. Apparently, WWOOFing is a well known way to affordably travel the world and Helga often receives a dozen inquiry emails a day. Fortunately, Helga was drawn to us as we were drawn to her and together, the four of us now work side-by-side each day to manicure and maintain their extensive property.

Ode to Mother Earth

My feet are well worn in comparison to the nicely manicured toes Cameron captured poolside in Palm Springs just a month ago. They are dirty, dry, covered in bug bites and decorated with tan lines and fading nail polish. But I suppose that is what feet are for - to connect to the Earth. And that is why I came to Widgee. Although we are not on a fully fledged commercial farm, we are living on a self sustaining property and it wonderful to experience just how much knowledge, time and energy is involved in the process that results in the meal I enjoy each night. I spend my time weeding, pruning and mulching. I have been lovingly dubbed 'the midwife' as one my favorite jobs is trimming and transplanting orchid, aloe vera and bromeliad babies. It is winter now, and a lovely winter at that - 75 degrees and sunny, so our work focuses on maintenance and preparation for the summer's harvest season. Helga and Claus are encyclopedias of knowledge regarding the local plants, birds and animals. I have particularly enjoyed learning to distinguish the different bird calls (or shrill laugh in the case of the kookaburra) and their meanings. There are Butcher Birds, Rainbow Lorikeets, Yellow Cockatoos, Kookaburras, King Parrots and Pale Face Roselias. The picture included is of a male King Parrot who curiously inspected our caravan one morning and posed for a quick photograph. Unfortunately, there are no ripe mangoes at this time but there are dehydrated mangoes, mango jam and mango chutney so I am getting my fix and just might turn into a mango after all.