The sunset-coloured clouds were being blown by a strong wind, and from the tree under which I stood came the strange chatter of hundreds of parrots. Here on this hill, somewhere in the Australian outback, the rest of the world no longer existed, and I wanted to stay there forever.
Unfortunately, when it got dark I had to go back. The food made me want to run to get rid of that feeling of fullness, so I reluctantly ran back to the gym. farm We had flown with five crew members a few days earlier from Sydney. Along the way I saw the silhouettes of Farmer Struan and some of my colleagues on horses tending a herd of cows. In the distance, the co-pilot was floating almost above the bumps in the road: a flying figure on a motorbike, his blond hair trailing behind him.
We have spent the last few days watching sheep being sheared, cows being rounded up and calves, chickens and donkeys being fed.
On a hike we sat on a rock protruding from the forest, overlooking a beautiful valley. Struan's wife Pat had prepared a nice picnic for us with the famous Lindemann wine. In 5 liter carton Of course, he wasn't missing either. Along the way, while walking along the forest path, we were surprised to come across a “Skippy”, which confirmed once again that we were in Australia.
Before the meal, which Pat had prepared (she had completed her Cordon Bleu training), we sat and enjoyed a glass of wine in front of the fire. Then we ate a leg of lamb, or a rib of lamb, or a steak of lamb, with more wine, and talked. Lots of talk, sometimes into the wee hours of the night. Boy, was there a lot of trouble. farm! Then the five of us slept in one room! Very nice, because it was very cold in the Australian winter night.
On the last night of our stay we were invited to join Farmer Struan at a Rotary Club meeting in his village, which was several miles away. The farmers present found it very interesting! An airline crew in their midst, something that had only happened once in their lives…
We each had to give a lecture about our work and our lives. It was nice, but I couldn't bear to think that I would have to live here, in this part of Australia, and be so bored!
On the way back, we drove our rental car after the wine tasting. It was a pity that we couldn't take more bottles than we could carry. Finally, we also had to take the train.
After spending four days Down Under on the Australian farm, we returned to civilisation with a number of even more enriching experiences! We realised for the thousandth time what a wonderful job we were actually doing, because do we want to be farmers like Struan and Pat, far from ‘civilisation’, with the animals as our only company?
We agreed: flying around the world was the best thing ever!
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