3:33 p.m. - 2003-08-22
Glasshouse mountains
I�m staying in the Glasshouse Mountains region, right next to Mount Tibrogargon (364m and the �father� of the seven peaks), in a 113 year old converted church. I can see the mountain out of my bedroom window. I�m going to climb it on Sunday with my host Keith and another WWOOFer called Renee who is German. Keith is OK, but I don�t like him much, we haven�t hit it off at all. He is a self-important, patronising prick. He�s in his Fifties and lives on his own but seems to have numerous children by different mothers. He used to work in e-business running a company that turned over $millions a year. Now he is trying to be a hippie. He has Renee and I working hard. At least when I was Nick and Brian�s I was fed coffee and spliffs to motivate me. I shouldn�t put up with this! I was their first WWOOFer so I guess I was a novelty for them, more of a guest. Keith has been involved in it for years and takes it more seriously. He likes to get as much free labour as he can out of us. Fair enough, it is a lovely house and setting. I just feel a bit trapped here. Renee�s OK but his English isn�t brilliant.
Saturday 23rd August �03
Today Renee and I went to The Australian Zoo. I don�t like zoos as a rule, but this one was brilliant. It�s run by Steve Irwin, unfortunately he wasn�t there in person. The koalas were predictably cute and a few had babies clinging to their backs. It�s a fairly open zoo and you can even walk through the Kangaroo enclosure and stroke the Roos. Their fur is so soft. The world�s oldest captive animal lives here too: Harriet the Galapagos tortoise, at 172 years old. She weighs 100kg and apparently communicated her thoughts to a psychic and told him things that no one else but a few people knew. For example, when she lost her favourite blanket and how upset she was and how she missed one of her former keepers. She even described his appearance. Amazing.
Sunday 24th August �03
Did the climb today and ended up doing a bit of rock climbing. It was quite scary at times; and I ripped the seat of my jeans. Looks like it�s finally time to throw them out; I�m really attached to them though.
The Glasshouse Mountains are 25 million years old and are former volcanic plugs. We climbed Mount Beerwah as well, which was a widely used birthing site for the aborigines: When a baby girl was born the midwife would dot out the constellations of that night on a piece of bark. When the girl reached childbearing age, she would be given this piece of bark so she would know when she was fertile. Mount Beerwah was so large that the heat absorbed during the day would create a vortex at night, enabling the stars to be seen even in cloudy weather, hence the importance as a birthing site for the efficient use of this planetary information.
25th August �03
Booked a flight up to Cairns on Thursday. I can�t wait to get up North; it�s too great a distance to go by road. Flights are cheap anyway ($155), I�m flying with Virgin Blue. Keith was kind enough to book it for me on his credit card. Maybe he�s keen to get rid of me. I�m worn out from all these early mornings and huge bowls of dry muesli with yoghurt and Soya milk I have to eat every day. I wanted to tell him that Soya has no nutritional value at all and is a by-product from the production of car paint that it is grown for, but I�d have to check my facts first before I throw myself into an argument.
He had Renee and I raking the whole paddock today. He was taking the piss. He drove around in his motorised mower cutting the grass and shouting instructions, while we were sweating buckets.
We also painted his summer house green and I got paint on my trousers.
