Meanwhile in Australia...

• Shoo fly! Flies everywhere, so when we're sitting outside on a hot afternoon, we yell at the kids 'shoo fly!' every 2 minutes, to let them keep the flies out of their eyes. Fly spray and hats with fly nets are a necessity this time a year.

• Looking after my chooks. I'm blessed with a house in town for the last period I'm staying here. Free WiFi is all we backpackers need, so in exchange for feeding the chicken and watering the lawn, I have my own couch now. :)

• Learned which snakes to avoid. Australia has some nasty and dangerous animals, I already knew that. Exciting stories of snake encounters are the conversations of Sunday afternoons and make it a bit more real. Look out for snakes with round heads and for snakes with spots. Err... I'll run anyway!

• Driving to the station, looking out for nothing but camels, cows and kangaroos. My lazy job takes place in town, mostly I hang around the house and play with the kids. But surrounded by country life, most of the people here work at the cattle stations. After work on Friday I hop in the Toyota or Hillux and drive to the station one hour in country to pick up my friend for the weekend. I've always loved driving but grousing over the dirt road, singing to yourself (even the radio has no reception) with nothing but the horizon ahead, camels and cows along the road and kangaroos hopping in the distance... is something special.

• Cats bring home lizards in stead of mice. Besides the chooks I also have two friendly cats to look after. Mostly they play outside but every now and then they bring home a present: a big long-tailed lizard, a moth or a fat grasshopper. Mmm yam.

• Twinkle, twinkle, little star, daddy bought a motorcar. Being a nanny means singing kids-songs while pushing the swing. Learning new songs everyday and how appositely they are: snap did the crocodile or 1,2,3,4,5 once I caught a fish on line etc.

• Horse races and XXXX. Last weekend I talked to my mom: "Guess what... I'm going to the races tomorrow." Mom: "Oh cool, car-races?" I almost don't know any better anymore. "Car-races? Of course no car-races... horses!" Everything here involves either horses or cows. That's what it's all about! Dressing up, horses, cowboys and drinking XXXX lager.

• Singing Christmas songs at the pool. It's such a weird feeling it's almost Christmas. Slowly the Christmas decorations appear in town. Walking past the library with your beach shorts at 42 degrees seeing a poster of Santa in the snow feels just plain stupid. But anyway... we can still sing 'Rudolf the red-nose-reindeer' while we're going to the pool.

• Hot freaking desert. Like I mentioned earlier: it's hot, freaking hot. That's probably hard to get for youz, winter coming up an all but it takes some adjustment to survive here.

You know it's hot when...

- Hot water comes out of both tabs.
- You feel chilly when the temprature drops below 32.
- You develop a fear for metal door handles and fences.
- You know it only takes two fingers to steer the car.
- A cup of ice is considered a great snack.
- Everything is kept in the fridge including potatoes, bread and clothes.
- You catch a cold from having the aircon on full blast all night.
- A black-out is life threatening because the aircons and fans no longer work.
- And no one cares if you don't wear shoes. Bare feet, that's the life.

...

Three months is assumably the hardest time when you're away from home for a long time. Three months have past and I can't lie by telling youz missing home doesn't every now and then kicks you in the guts, but just for today... there's no place i'd rather be.

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