Traveling the world

December 2019 - April 2020

A 139-day adventure by Christina Read more

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Traveler Traveling the world
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- Mar 23, 2020, 5:54pm
- ☀️ 14 °C
- Altitude: 414 m
- Australia Victoria Ballarat North Cardigan -37.538197, 143.73315537°32’18” S 143°43’59” E
Day 114
Week 3
March 23, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C
It has not happened so much this week, we are getting closer to a lockdown as more and more restrictions are out every day.

We went shopping on Monday so I could buy some more cloth and a heater for my room because it gets pretty cold overnight in between. So know I am good prepared for the weather here and don’t need to worry if they gonna close the stores soon.

I have been helping in the stable a couple of days. On Thursday they decided to stop training all the racehorses, give them a break and kick them out I the paddock for a couple of weeks. They have now only 7 two-year-olds to train and they will start with 7 one-year-olds next week.
They even kicked out 3 people 😳😬

But I can stay here as long as I want and can help them if I am feeling for it but they won't need so much help now as it's not so much to do at the moment.
On Thursday I went with Megan and her dog Fly to a lake for an evening walk what was really nice.
The weather is better now and it's much warmer again! So nice!
Lilly and I had a big clean up of the house on Friday and she started to clean her car as well 😂

I just can say that I am still really glad that I am stuck here and I have a lot of fun with the guys here.Read more
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- Mar 21, 2020, 8:00pm
- ⛅ 14 °C
- Altitude: 414 m
- Australia Victoria Ballarat North Cardigan -37.538403, 143.73315537°32’18” S 143°43’59” E
Day 112
Day 12
March 21, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C
Calm day today. Marika and I had to work this Sunday but it's not so much. We went out around 7.35 am to feed the horses and then had 3 horses to put on the treadmill and two of them had to swim as well afterward, but all the other horses are free.
I went inside around 10 am and Marika was just waiting for the horses to get dry and kick them out. It's shit weather today, cold and raining a little bit all the time.

At 4 pm we went back out to take in the horses and feed.
And after that Marika went to Melbourne to visit Kima at the hospital.

I watched the news and it's going to be a lockdown here and none essential travels are forbidden from Tuesday on.
So I will stay here where I have a safe place to stay for the next couple of weeks and wait and see how everything is going to be.

I am not writing any daily blogs anymore, gonna be a weekly update on Sunday from now one, to keep everyone updated.Read more
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- Mar 21, 2020, 6:02am
- ⛅ 9 °C
- Altitude: 408 m
- Australia Victoria Ballarat North Cardigan -37.538445, 143.73889237°32’18” S 143°44’20” E
Day 112
Day 11 at Anton Golino Stable
March 21, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C
Today we have a lot to do. All horses are going fast today. But Glenn is working today and also a friend from Anton came to help us train the horses. So we were a lot of people and got the job done really good and we were ready already at 12.30 pm 🤗
Really nice to be done early and have some time off to relax before we had to get out and feed the horses. Marika had to go to town to fix some stuff and buy stuff for the pizza we gonna made tonight. 😋
The horses are all staying outside tonight, so we only had to feed them.

So back inside with the pizza in the oven Marika go a call from a friend, that her good friend Kima had an accident on the racetrack and is on the way to the hospital.
So she spent some time to find out how she is and finally got to know that she is okay, having a broken wrist and a concussion but okay otherwise.

That was so good to hear.Read more
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- Mar 20, 2020, 7:09am
- ⛅ 11 °C
- Altitude: 409 m
- Australia Victoria Ballarat North Cardigan -37.538387, 143.73242237°32’18” S 143°43’57” E
Day 111
Day 10 at Anton Golino Stable
March 20, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C
Pretty calm day today. Most horses were jogging or going on the treadmill.
Marika went to the racetrack with Akky around 10.30 am and Anton will leave later in the afternoon with Owen to Ballarat Racetrack.

Anton decided to not drive the one-year-olds today and to give them a break now for a couple of weeks/month. We kicked them all out together in a big field. Oh they were so happy 😊

We were ready in the stable shortly past 12 o’clock. So we went inside and had lunch and watched Akkys race together shortly past 1 pm. He was winning super easy! 🥳
After that, I was laying down a while to read a book.

Marika got back here around 3 pm and we went to the stable at 4 pm to take in the horses and feet. Anton was fixing Owen on his own and left at 4.30 pm.

We got done pretty fast and went back inside to shower and then watch the race from Owen. And even he was winning his race easy 🥳
Really good day for the stable!

The rest of the evening was pretty quiet.Read more
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- Mar 19, 2020, 12:36pm
- ☁️ 28 °C
- Altitude: 444 m
- Australia Victoria Ballarat North Lucas -37.553558, 143.79000837°33’13” S 143°47’24” E
Day 110
Day 9 at Anton Golino Stable
March 19, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C
The day was not starting so well... One of the horses got loose in the morning jogging on the leash and somehow was falling over and got some serious wounds so Anton called the vet Sarah to come over as fast as possible to look at the horse. She was putting some bandages on for now and said she will be back later to stitch one wound up.

Marika was really upset as she lost Dolly, but just in the morning, they were talking about it, that Dolly is so stupid to have on a leash and no one wanted to take her with...
They obviously lost her already a few times, because she sometimes ist just stopping or even turning around and you have no changes to hold her.

The rest of the day was luckily going well.
We got done pretty fast anyway and Pat decided to buy lunch for everyone today, Fish and Chips 🤗

Pretty amazing! Especially that he came back with two present cards from the spa in town for Marika and me over 150$ each 😳🤩
We gonna have a nice afternoon as soon as possible I can say 😊

Gonna be hard to leave from here. They take good care of me.

Sarah came back around 12.30 pm and fixed Dolly. Then we all had lunch together and at 1.30 pm we went inside for a little break until Marika and I had to go back outside to finish up the stable.
It got really windy in the afternoon, almost like a storm, not funny at all. We just wanted to get ready and back inside.

The evening was calm as always, we made dinner and watched a movie with the other once.Read more
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- Mar 18, 2020
- ☁️ 24 °C
- Altitude: 413 m
- Australia Victoria Ballarat North Cardigan -37.538144, 143.73245937°32’17” S 143°43’57” E
Day 109
Day 8 at Anton Golino Stable
March 18, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C
Today it was already much warmer in the morning.
Megan is free today and we have a lot of horses going fast today... So this is going to be funny...

They first went out with the jogging horses, while Tracey and I fixed the horses for the first heat ready.
When Marika, Anton, and Glenn were done jogging the horses, Tracey and I had even the horse for the second heat in and started to fix them.
I gonna be inside alone while they go out and train four horses and Jack is out fixing the track 😬
So I finished the horses for the second heat, fixed and took out Cam in his paddock and started to gear up the third heat while they were out.
So we all washed the first heat horses and kicked them out before Marika, Anton and Glenn went out with the second heat.
Tracey and I brushed and fixed the jogging horses fast and while she was driving them out with the quad to their paddocks I fixed the horses for the third heat totally ready and then we both started to take in the horses for the fourth heat as well.

Back inside they helped out washing the horses again and taking in the last one for the fourth heat, even started to gear them up.

So while I was inside alone during the third heat, I got the fourth heat ready and fixed as many horses as I could from the first heat until Jack came back and helped me with them. So we got them all ready before they came back.

During the fourth heat Tracey, Jack and I fixed as many horses as we could, had Freda out in the walker and Elvis on the treadmill and I went out with him to swim him as well.

It went pretty good I think, we got ready in a good time but driving the one-year-olds is taking quite much time. But we had a lot to clean up as well so around 2.30 pm we were finally done.
After a quick lunch, we took a little nap, before it was time to get back out and take in the horses, fix them and feed them.

As Megan is gone I got to take care of her cat and the bird she is trying to raise at the moment. It was three from the beginning but two of them died on the second day. But this one is getting stronger and bigger with every day 😊

I am feeling a little bit like I might get a cold and the hot and humid air during the day today was not helping me at all. But I felt already better during the evening but anyway I went to bed early to get a good sleep.Read more
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- Mar 17, 2020, 6:44am
- 🌙 11 °C
- Altitude: 400 m
- Australia Victoria Ballarat North Cardigan -37.539105, 143.73202537°32’21” S 143°43’55” E
Day 108
Day 7 at Anton Golino Stable
March 17, 2020 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 11 °C
It was still cold this morning. Pusspuss, the stable cat, was very happy to see me this morning. Probably because I have been starting to feed her 😉
Today we have a lot of horses jogging.

We were supposed to go to the Ballarat Racetrack with around 9 horses for the trials but Anton changed his mind yesterday evening as he could not find another driver to drive the horses. We were actually happy to stay home 🙈

Everything went on as normal during the day.
We git ready around 2 pm in the stable and Marika and I were back out at 4 pm to take in some horses, fix some and feed them all. We were a little bit faster today and got ready at 5.20 pm.

Back inside we were discussing what to eat and wrote a shopping list and then went shopping. We could buy PASTA!!! 🥳 Amazing!

We actually got all we needed.
So nice.
Today's dinner was mashed potatoes with fish! 😊😋Read more
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- Mar 16, 2020, 7:19am
- 🌙 7 °C
- Altitude: 405 m
- Australia Victoria Ballarat North Cardigan -37.538372, 143.7312337°32’18” S 143°43’52” E
Day 107
Day 6 at Anton Golino Stable
March 16, 2020 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 7 °C
Another early morning. It's cold outside today. But a little bit warmer than yesterday I would say.

Same routine in the morning. Just a calmer day today, all horses are only jogging today. So we don't need to fix them so much and everything was going pretty easy today.

The one-year-olds were only walking in the walker today is we were actually done around 1 pm already! Nice 😊
I am recognizing almost all horses now and even know where to find their paddocks, so I am more and more taking them in and out now. 🤗😉

After lunch Marika, Jack and I had a little nap 🙈

At 4 pm Marika and I went back to the stable to take in the horses that are sleeping inside, fixed some wounds and put some wraps on and them we were feeding them and fixing the food buckets ready for tomorrow morning.
5.40 pm we were ready with all.

Back inside we both had a shower and then fixed some grated potato-carrot cakes, or whatever you want to call them, for dinner.
And of course rhubarb pie with ice cream as a dessert 😋Read more
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- Mar 15, 2020, 4:47pm
- ⛅ 16 °C
- Altitude: 414 m
- Australia Victoria Ballarat North Cardigan -37.538303, 143.73306337°32’18” S 143°43’59” E
Day 106
Day off with Rhubarb Pie
March 15, 2020 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
Today Marika and I were free so we could sleep as long as we wanted. I walk up shortly before 9 am and got up to have breakfast.
Ok, I was already awake once when Megan and Tracey were getting up to get to work but could fall asleep a little bit again.

Unfortunately, Anton didn't show up to drive Flair and have Dolly on the lead rope behind. So Tracey asked me around 9.30 am if I could wake up Marika and ask her what they should do.

So she got up and went straight out to drive them and came in for breakfast afterward.

We took it super calm until around 12 pm when we decided to go into the city for some shopping.

We found some pretty cool sunglasses at Kmart 🙈😂
Was too hard to decide which ones to buy, these are my favorites 🤣🤣

We even tried to buy some food, but you need to take what you can get.. The pasta was sold out.. 🙄
It's crazy...

In the afternoon I baked a rhubarb pie for everyone. I was really feeling for a rhubarb pie since a couple of weeks and now I finally did one 🤗😋

More we didn't do today. Marika is having a cold and not feeling super fresh so we were only cooking later in the evening and watching a movie together with the other once.

Marika met Pat, the owner in the stable when she shortly went out to check the training list for tomorrow and gave her 1000$ for me as a thank you for all my help 😳😳
So amazing. Didn't expect this.Read more
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- Mar 14, 2020, 7:49pm
- 🌙 11 °C
- Altitude: 399 m
- Australia Victoria Ballarat North Bopeep Black Hill -37.538978, 143.72773737°32’20” S 143°43’40” E
Day 105
Day 5 at Anton Golino Stable
March 14, 2020 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 11 °C
Today we had a massive day in front of us.
Glenn is always free on Saturday and Sunday and Daniel has vacation from today on. And all the horses are going fast today.
And Jack can still not do so much because of his hand and he also needs to fix the tracks all the time. So Marika, Megan, Tracey and I gonna have a lot today.
The day anyway started pretty calmly because a few horses had lost a shoe and we had to wait for Anton to show up and put new shoes on them.
But them it got pretty busy. The first 3 hours went petty good anyway. Anton, Marika, and Tracey were driving the horses and while Megan and I are fixing everything inside. Took them in from the paddocks, put them in the walker, geared them up, washed them, fixed them and kicked them out again. After a while, we git more and more behind so it was actually good that there was a heat with only two horses in the middle so Tracey was also inside and could help us to catch up again.

So, in the end, we were done earlier than we were all expecting.
Pat, the owner showed up around 12 o'clock and started to roll up some bandages, clean up behind the horses and washed all gamashes as well. First I felt bad, that he was helping but Marika told me, that he is usually doing this on Saturday's.
So it's not because Megan and I did a bad job inside.

We were totally done at 2.20 pm and took a beer together to celebrate that this day finally is over 😂
Marika just said: Good you are here at the moment, without you we would have been totally fucked. 🙈😂
Even with me, we were almost fucked at one point.
I really had to step in and take quite much responsible as Megan is pretty new in this job and she sometimes gets a bit lost. She needs to learn still a lot but she is really trying to do her best all the time.
And with only me and Megan inside to fix the horse I ended up coordinating and fixing a lot more than before. But I obviously was impressing Pat, as he said to Marika that I do such a great job and he will pay me for it good. Not that I am expecting it, but it's nice when someone is really appreciating my help like this. 😊
All the other do as well of course and they thanked me a lot for it and got really happy to hear, that I will stay definitely one more week to help them while Daniel has vacation and Jack is still not able to work normally again 😊

We had some lunch and decided to have a girls night with take away and a movie tonight.
Of course Jack was allowed to stay with us and even Megans boyfriend Chris came to stay over the rest of the weekend. 😉

So we had some pizza and Chinese food in the evening and watched a movie together.
Nice end of the day. 😊
Tomorrow Marika and I are free and we gonna sleep soooooo long 🥳Read more
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