July 2010 : picking oranges in Narrung with Marion and What's It's Name
Where is Narrung ? Google map will tell you:)
http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=narrung+vic&rls=com.microsoft:en-au:IE-SearchBox&oe=UTF-8&rlz=1I7GGLJ&redir_esc=&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Narrung+VIC&gl=au&ei=SAUOTb-0JofuvQPRyrXRDQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBgQ8gEwAA
Such an intense last few days! Last Sunday, I landed in Melbourne after 3 months spent in crazy Western Australia. After a wonderful week with Melanie, Jason and little Luca, I decided to continue the pilgrimage back in time and go back to Narrung, Northwest Victoria, where Marion and I picked oranges for the Fisher and Jamie last July. I mean... a bit of rain won't stop me! After the town of Bendigo, I spot hundreds of locusts (sauterelles en francais) fly in the grass patches on the side of the road. Oups... I forgot about that bit when I booked my ticket inland... Victoria has been dealing with a locust plague for the past 2 months. More bugs. Great.
So yes, the Eastern States have been pretty much under water for the past weeks, finally breaking a decade-old drought. But there has been just a bit too much recently, I think everyone wants it now to stop so they can harvest the crops and not worry so much about diseases and pests on the wet grapevines.
When I get to Swan Hill bus station, my friend Jamie Dilges from Narrung Orchards picks me up and we get into mad grocery shopping (lots of red meat for furious barbying this week), fish and chips take-away for dinner and heaps of catching-up. I'm very pleased to see him again, Jamie is definetely on my top-ten list of great Aussies we met in our travels. Last winter in Narrung, he took us, broke, shivering and bored backpackers, along the Murray River banks, teaching us the ancient art of camping with a UTE (pick-up truck) and a swag (luxurious sleeping-bag). We caught crayfish and yabbies (a bit like lobsters, but scarier), ate lamb chops, drank Bundaberg Rum and Coke and listened to Dire Strait around a crackling fire. Living the dream! On the road to Narrung, looking out the window, I remember just how gorgeous this part of Victoria is. The sky's alight with the sun setting, piercing it's way through layers of clouds. The contrast of the orange dirt and all the shades of green in the bushes and scrubs is striking... The place obviously got enough water to look more lush than when I was here in winter!
When we get to Narrung (there is no sign to indicate the town... you really have to know it's there!), we take the turn onto Heywoods Lake and finally get to Jamie's place. I meet Moe the black labrador cross kelpie, Jamie's new dog. Like his predecessors, Bas and Jas, he likes his bone. And like me, he has a UTE fetish! He just adores being in there, sitting on the tray in the back, hoping Jamie's gonna bring him somewhere.
When we get the groceries inside, we are attacked by a giant mosquitoe cloud. It was thick! I never saw anything like it in my life. I wished I knew what sort of plant Bear Gryllz would use to protect himself from the perils of Narrung. Western Australians warned me... Victoria is a dangerous place. I should bloody well know after all the time I spent in this state!
After a good night of sleep in the most confortable bed in the world, I wake up on a sunny Saturday. We decide to take the day off and go set some yabbie's nets in the dams around. On the way to the shed, I spot the dreaded 12 feet high orange picking ladders. Jamie won't admit it, but the bit of red you see on the picture is from a now dead picker.
Great photo above : Jamie, a fish head and a machete! Haven't been in Narrung for more than a few hours and it's already getting interesting.
I like how every week, Australia makes sure to provide me with a "Wolfcreek Moment".
Great photo above : Jamie, a fish head and a machete! Haven't been in Narrung for more than a few hours and it's already getting interesting.
I like how every week, Australia makes sure to provide me with a "Wolfcreek Moment".
Well, after we severed the frozen fish head to use it as bait in the nets, we're on our way to the dams.
Here is one of the dams. We swam in one just like this at Alkoomi last month and I was joking with Colin that there could be lobstery things in there... Well, after checking the nets that were already in there, we had a bucket full so beware ginger boy.
Of course, where would be all the fun without a few disgusting, huuuge and furry spiders. It's a shame my camera didn't focus very well, this one was an evil new specimen, running in the scrubs right besides my shoes.
A locust in the yabbie's bucket. This week, I plan on finding the longest and fattiest specimen of Victoria and bringing it back to my cousin's Jason in Melbourne, just in time for Christmas. At present time, I scored one as long as my index finger. Jamie tells me they get worse. Why did I get a second visa again? Oh yes, Hugh Jackman! That makes it all good, especially since he almost busted his eye out on Oprahs'Australia's special.
Yabbies!! They will be delicious dipped in vinegar... In the meantime, they hang out in Jamie's bath and we take showers.
Moe and Mitch, the first one likes to eat old soggy bait from the nets and the latter enjoys sweet potatoes. Just your average Victorian pets.
In the afternoon, we go for a UTE ride around the farm. I get to see the citrus trees again. The fruits on there are all small and green, quite a difference from when I saw them last, the branches heavy with fruits.
Here is a growing avocadoe.
I really like to roam around the avocadoe trees; it feels like a jungle.
Jamie teaches me how to use the Hydroplat, what they use for picking the avocadoes. So after a tractor and a UTE (i got to drive one in Frankland), here is one of my new qualifications as a heavy machinery operator.
The view form high up on the Hydroplat.
In the tree tops, at ease
The view down from the Hydroplat.
At that moment I really wished, amongst other things, I still had a trave l insurance. But after thinking about it, I can't imagine them really giving me any compensation at all... "So Miss Barba... how did you breake all your bones again? Hydroplat...? Yes, of course that's covered! Un chausson aux pommes avec ca?"
Picking avocadoes!
And it starts just like a lawnmower. How safe does that sound hey?
Future lemons
Lemon trees
The empty flat ground past the trees is Lake Heywood, which has been empty since the nineties. With all the rain Victoria has now got, they plan on pumping water from the Murray River into it.
Moe getting wet in a creek we might try in the next days as a potential yabbie spot.
The splatter on the windscreen is... you guessed it, locust's juice.
And taratata : the MIGHTY MURRAY!!!! Overflowing obviously. Last time I was here with Marion, the bank was were the submerged trees were. The river is looking really good.
Sulphur-crested cockatoos, even noisier than Oprah's audience if you can believe it.
Jamie and I then go visit the Fishers, well some of them cause it's a big family. We go at Mel and Ronan's place to have a few beers and play with little-big Campbell. Mel is expecting a second baby soon; it's great to get to catch up with them after a few months. From their house, I can see our old caravan
Fisher's trees
The sun is now setting around 9pm : it's Summer! We decide to go set a fish net in the river, Ronan, Jamie and I. After all, my return to Tasmania is coming soon and I gotta maintain my killing capacities (probably more my fillleting skills, but that's why Phil is in Cygnet!)
Tying the gigantic net to the Ute. We figured if Moe can fit in, we might get one of those mythic giant Murray cods.
A mulberry from Mel and Ro's tree. They apparently make a delicious jam.
Making a few adjustements to the net...
Does life get much better than riding in the back of a UTE ? Not for me I reckon. Just gotta smile with my lips tight cause there are some big locusts around here.
A puddle!
Carrying the nets because Jamie doesn't want to risk making the UTE dirty... Ah these older people, so careful :)
The Murray once again today!
Placing the net in the water, quickly because the mossies are onto us. I thought blowflies in Frankland were bad... As the wise Sam says, life is a cement trampoline :)
And as for Sunday... well, I tried to work, but it was very rainy and I soon yearned to escape the wet, thorny and spidery orange trees. I was on a shoot thinning mission once again, but not on grapevines this time, thank God cause I think I might have had a mental breakdown.
Here is one of the dams. We swam in one just like this at Alkoomi last month and I was joking with Colin that there could be lobstery things in there... Well, after checking the nets that were already in there, we had a bucket full so beware ginger boy.
Of course, where would be all the fun without a few disgusting, huuuge and furry spiders. It's a shame my camera didn't focus very well, this one was an evil new specimen, running in the scrubs right besides my shoes.
A locust in the yabbie's bucket. This week, I plan on finding the longest and fattiest specimen of Victoria and bringing it back to my cousin's Jason in Melbourne, just in time for Christmas. At present time, I scored one as long as my index finger. Jamie tells me they get worse. Why did I get a second visa again? Oh yes, Hugh Jackman! That makes it all good, especially since he almost busted his eye out on Oprahs'Australia's special.
Yabbies!! They will be delicious dipped in vinegar... In the meantime, they hang out in Jamie's bath and we take showers.
Moe and Mitch, the first one likes to eat old soggy bait from the nets and the latter enjoys sweet potatoes. Just your average Victorian pets.
In the afternoon, we go for a UTE ride around the farm. I get to see the citrus trees again. The fruits on there are all small and green, quite a difference from when I saw them last, the branches heavy with fruits.
Here is a growing avocadoe.
I really like to roam around the avocadoe trees; it feels like a jungle.
Jamie teaches me how to use the Hydroplat, what they use for picking the avocadoes. So after a tractor and a UTE (i got to drive one in Frankland), here is one of my new qualifications as a heavy machinery operator.
The view form high up on the Hydroplat.
In the tree tops, at ease
The view down from the Hydroplat.
At that moment I really wished, amongst other things, I still had a trave l insurance. But after thinking about it, I can't imagine them really giving me any compensation at all... "So Miss Barba... how did you breake all your bones again? Hydroplat...? Yes, of course that's covered! Un chausson aux pommes avec ca?"
Picking avocadoes!
And it starts just like a lawnmower. How safe does that sound hey?
Future lemons
Lemon trees
The empty flat ground past the trees is Lake Heywood, which has been empty since the nineties. With all the rain Victoria has now got, they plan on pumping water from the Murray River into it.
Moe getting wet in a creek we might try in the next days as a potential yabbie spot.
The splatter on the windscreen is... you guessed it, locust's juice.
And taratata : the MIGHTY MURRAY!!!! Overflowing obviously. Last time I was here with Marion, the bank was were the submerged trees were. The river is looking really good.
Sulphur-crested cockatoos, even noisier than Oprah's audience if you can believe it.
Jamie and I then go visit the Fishers, well some of them cause it's a big family. We go at Mel and Ronan's place to have a few beers and play with little-big Campbell. Mel is expecting a second baby soon; it's great to get to catch up with them after a few months. From their house, I can see our old caravan
Fisher's trees
The sun is now setting around 9pm : it's Summer! We decide to go set a fish net in the river, Ronan, Jamie and I. After all, my return to Tasmania is coming soon and I gotta maintain my killing capacities (probably more my fillleting skills, but that's why Phil is in Cygnet!)
Tying the gigantic net to the Ute. We figured if Moe can fit in, we might get one of those mythic giant Murray cods.
A mulberry from Mel and Ro's tree. They apparently make a delicious jam.
Making a few adjustements to the net...
Does life get much better than riding in the back of a UTE ? Not for me I reckon. Just gotta smile with my lips tight cause there are some big locusts around here.
A puddle!
Carrying the nets because Jamie doesn't want to risk making the UTE dirty... Ah these older people, so careful :)
The Murray once again today!
Placing the net in the water, quickly because the mossies are onto us. I thought blowflies in Frankland were bad... As the wise Sam says, life is a cement trampoline :)
And as for Sunday... well, I tried to work, but it was very rainy and I soon yearned to escape the wet, thorny and spidery orange trees. I was on a shoot thinning mission once again, but not on grapevines this time, thank God cause I think I might have had a mental breakdown.
So after an hour or so of getting under trees and knocking off unwanted shoots, I went back to the house and Jamie and I went to check the yabbie's net. We brought back 5 more creatures, dumped them into the bath and got into relaxing mode.
After all, I did work hard today...! I forgot to mention I learned how to drive a 4wd. Jamie gave me a ute to drive around the farm and within 5 minutes, I managed to get myself bogged in the sand. It was tragic, the ute got swallowed halfway in the wet dangerous orange narrung quicksands and a cloud of venimous locusts were onto me... But Jamie gave me a quick class and in no time at all, I was operating 2 gearsticks!!! Who would have thaught that possible? Well, after God and my Mom, I'd like to thank Marion Isouard who has been an outstanding manual driving teacher.
So the relaxing mode included a feast, Aussie sytle. A lamb roast with potatoes in the Weber. A meal to remember ! And with a bit of cricket on t.v. what else do we need ?
2 days in Narrung and there's already been a lot of action! There will surely be some more since Jamie and I have a few mad ideas for this week. I am staying in Narrung until Thursday the 23rd. I will keep you updated!
