Improvements

The past week has brought a fair bit of change to my life here. On Monday I mentioned Richie that I would appreciate if I could get some more hours at work, doing 9 hours a day 5 days a week does not really satisfy me. And it’s not that I am a workaholic, but there nothing else to do here really. J And money is what I’m here for. So, after a bit of thinking and 24hours later I was on my way to Peebinga Park, the third farm we did not go to do the seeding. This time was not going to be working there, but just taking a ca 150km trip there and ca 150km back to pick up the scraper – a piece of machinery to level the fields. It was a nice day on Tuesday, so I could not care less that I took the trip on me beloved 7830 John Deere. J The following weekdays were filled with working on field 34 which due to winds has become really rough. According to Richie it’ll take at least a couple of weeks to get it into a condition that matches his idea of it. And to start with, he just gave me a brief presentation of what to do and what NOT to do. So all I have to do now is find a way to get myself to work and back at times most suitable for me. For that ofcourse I need a car!

On Friday it turned out Pete was heading to Adelaide on Saturday noon as he had a week of vacation coming and had decided to spend it in Melbourne. Good for me I thought, at least I could get to Adelaide with him. I spent the whole evening looking for cars worth having a look at, but due to a very limited budget of up to 2000aud, there was not too much to consider. Finally came across a 1991 Mitsubishi Lancer, 1690aud, having ca 285000km on speedometer but otherwise looked nice and tidy, no rust or problems reported by dealership. I the evening however I was not quite sure I was going to Adelaide. At one point I decided to give a call to an Estonian lady whose contacts I got from home. Tiina is an Aussie born Estonian who unfortunately was not home, but her husband promised to leave a note so she would call me back Saturday morning. All ends loose...

9am Saturday morning I got a call from the car dealer saying the car is available, mechanically checked and in good condition and that they are open till 4pm. Good! 1,5h later received a call from Tiina and we agreed that if I will make it to Adelaide later that day, we’d meet some time during the afternoon. All I had to do was to get Pete come and pick me up. All ends not so loose anymore...

2pm Saturday afternoon and the carpark gate opened in Adelaide airport – I was in Adelaide finally, in the airport and on my way to take a taxi to the other end of Adelaide city to have a look and hopefully buy the Mitsubishi. J To cut the long story short – I got it! To make it a bit fancy – I paid in cash! And to celebrate – I headed to the city, found a nice italian restaurant and enjoyed a great Calzone pizza with a good glass of riesling wine!

I met with Tiina and her husband Kent and younger son James in their home up in the Adelaide Hills. Lucky to have a gps on the phone, because finding your way around in the Hills the first time around is hard to say the least! Tiina’s parents moved to Australia during the second world war, she has only been to Estonia a few times, but I was quite suprised about her still good Estonian. Kent is a native Aussie who had an Estonian friend in the school. The two guys were, at least what I was told, inseparable, except on Saturdays. That was the day all Adelaide Estonians had Estonian school, folkdance and other national activities. A young aussie guy could not understand how on earth an guy could choose folkdance lessons over aussie rules (the local footy (football)). Untill the day he was asked to come along and see for himself! And the rest is history. J We had a nice long chat with a couple of bottles of wine, I got to know them a bit and they got to know me a bit. What an enjoyable evening compared to those back in Nildottie with no-one in the house but me.

But the best was yet to come... After a nice brunch on Sunday I headed to a wineyard with Tiina, she decided to show the one their family likes to most. Shaw+Smith is a small estate that started off when citizens Shaw and Smith decided to realize their old dream of making wine. Having a taste of 4 very good wines, 2 red - pinot noir and shiraz and 2 white - chardonnay and savignon blanc, consider the sunny day and the beautiful surroundings aswell and you’ll have a perfect recipe for great Sunday! After that a quick sightseeing in the Adelaide Hills, went to the Mt Lofty lookout. Also as one of Tiina's friends was located just nearby and she thought it'd would be a good idea to take me there and show a home-made zoo, we dropped by Kathy's place. Home-made zoo is a correct word for it, because there were very many parrots, very colorful, loud and beautiful, a seriouslooking eagle, an emu and some kangaroos. Photos in the album. To sum it up, it was time and money well spent, it was great to be out from Nildottie for a while and especially good to meet some people and have a nice chat.

What is more, I'll be back in Adelaide on July 8 when there's an event at the Adelaide Estonian House. Good on ya mate :)