The Overland is the train running from Melbourne (Victoria) to Adelaide, the capitol of South Australia and home to just over a million people (and our favorite Aussie beer – Coopers). Beth has a thing for trains and convinced me that taking The Overland would be a good way to see some of the countryside on our way to Adelaide. Most of the journey (800km) looked something like this:
Adelaide is the closest big city west of Melbourne. OK so it is the only city west of Melbourne until you get to the Indian Ocean. We liked Melbourne a lot, but after spending a week in one city I wanted to get out and see more of Australia.
The train ride took about 10 hours, of which we each slept about five. The land was extremely flat and dry, a sharp contrast to New Zealand. It also has struck me just how huge Australia is, especially after coming from a small country like NZ. The cities are hundreds and hundreds of kms apart, where as in New Zealand even in the remote areas you were never too far from the next “big” city.
A few months back Beth and I joined an organization called WWOOF, which stands for willing workers on organic farms and is pronounced WOOF like a dog. With membership you get a book with listings of organic farms all over Australia who are looking to exchange food and accommodation for a few hours of work each day. Each listing describes the farm, the people, the area, etc. We found a few in the Adelaide region, and through a combination of ringing and emailing found a small organic vineyard in the Adelaide hills looking for some workers. Most only accommodate 1-2 workers at a time, and the accommodation and food all varies. Most seem as if they treat the WWOOFers as family during their stay. We are excited for our first WWOOFing stay, and hope to do more in our time in Australia.
WWOOF exists in many countries, including Australia and New Zealand (and the USA). We had considered doing it in NZ but never did. The website is http://www.wwoof.org/ for anyone wanting more information. I will be sure to keep you updated with our experiences. Maybe I will post some sample farm listings.
Ive been interested in wwoofing for awhile. Definitely post your experiences…how the work was, how the people hosting were, how easy it was to find a place to work…as well as more pictures.
2 Comments »
Comment by josh — October 23, 2007 @ 11:44 pm
The Overland is the train running from Melbourne (Victoria) to Adelaide, the capitol of South Australia and home to just over a million people (and our favorite Aussie beer – Coopers). Beth has a thing for trains and convinced me that taking The Overland would be a good way to see some of the countryside on our way to Adelaide. Most of the journey (800km) looked something like this:
Adelaide is the closest big city west of Melbourne. OK so it is the only city west of Melbourne until you get to the Indian Ocean. We liked Melbourne a lot, but after spending a week in one city I wanted to get out and see more of Australia.
The train ride took about 10 hours, of which we each slept about five. The land was extremely flat and dry, a sharp contrast to New Zealand. It also has struck me just how huge Australia is, especially after coming from a small country like NZ. The cities are hundreds and hundreds of kms apart, where as in New Zealand even in the remote areas you were never too far from the next “big” city.
A few months back Beth and I joined an organization called WWOOF, which stands for willing workers on organic farms and is pronounced WOOF like a dog. With membership you get a book with listings of organic farms all over Australia who are looking to exchange food and accommodation for a few hours of work each day. Each listing describes the farm, the people, the area, etc. We found a few in the Adelaide region, and through a combination of ringing and emailing found a small organic vineyard in the Adelaide hills looking for some workers. Most only accommodate 1-2 workers at a time, and the accommodation and food all varies. Most seem as if they treat the WWOOFers as family during their stay. We are excited for our first WWOOFing stay, and hope to do more in our time in Australia.
WWOOF exists in many countries, including Australia and New Zealand (and the USA). We had considered doing it in NZ but never did. The website is http://www.wwoof.org/ for anyone wanting more information. I will be sure to keep you updated with our experiences. Maybe I will post some sample farm listings.
Comment by Kriz — October 24, 2007 @ 4:18 am
Ive been interested in wwoofing for awhile. Definitely post your experiences…how the work was, how the people hosting were, how easy it was to find a place to work…as well as more pictures.
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