Australian homestay with Bob and Barbara

After having a great time in Port Macquarie it was now time to do a home-stay that we had arranged on line whilst we were in Cambodia. We got off the bus in a small town called Maclean, and our first impression that it looked a bit stuck in time and a bit dated. We got off the bus without knowing what our hosts, Bob and Barbara looked like so we were a little nervous and didn't know who to look out for! Bob came over to us and took our bags and took us to his house a 15 minute drive away. When we arrived at their house it looked like a new one storey house with no neighbours next door, just plots of land for sale. We have noticed the housing in Australia is very different compared to back home, 95% of the housing is one storey and because there is so much land its common you buy a plot of land and design the house yourself with an architect. The house had a huge garden which should have been a sign for things to come!

Looks like he is having a bit of a scratch...

We introduced ourselves to Bob and Barbara and their little dog that they adopted after her owner died a few months back. They were so nice and showed us to our room and the first thing we done is slept as we were "coach-lagged" from the overnight trip, we must have seemed rude! The bed was luxury, the whole house and the gardens was nice to be fair. It was just in a little bit of in the middle of nowhere with no phone reception either and they didn't have wi-fi either. It was like the stone ages for us!
Bob was retired, and Barbara was semi-retired working 3 days a week with Bob being occupied with his a acre big garden most of the week. Bob asked us to help out with the garden for a few hours a day and in exchange we got free accommodation, food and everything paid for basically for as long as we wanted to stay. Georgia also agreed to do the cooking on the days Barbara was working but Georgia had a bit of a shock when we had dinner later that night and realised Barbara's food was delicious. Georgia had a high standards to meet and satisfy Bob with her cooking skills, the pressure was on!

Cindy

The next day we got shown around the garden and what needed doing. It was mainly just maintenance really such as weeding, potting and a word we became familiar with: mulching. For the next ten days we would mulch which was basically scattering a bark-soil mix over the million plant beds that was in the garden. Between the plant beds we discovered droppings everywhere, a bigger version of rabbit poo and was told that kangaroos liked to hang out in the shade in their garden. We was told not to approach them and they would not be any danger. Later that day we spotted one from our bedroom window, it was huge, around 8ft tall with a six pack. I have never seen anything that big in the wild before and even Bob admitted it was big.

Bob, Barbara and Georgia

Georgia's improvised Birthday cake

After a few days of mulching and gardening in the heat, we got offered their car for the day to drive around and see a bit of the local area and beaches. It was also Georgia's birthday the day after so we went to the cinema to watch a film and had a picnic whilst watching a bit of cricket. We went to the bottle-o(bottle shop) or as we normal people know as an off-licence, and bought a couple of drinks to go with Georgia's birthday dinner that Barbara was creating. Barbara made her own pizza from scratch that was then baked on a stone shelf which was impressive and tasty. Georgia had a few presents sent from home that she appreciated and we enjoyed the night talking and debating over a few drinks in the garden which is a bit of Georgia! 

Bob also had a go at the didgeridoo which is an Australian indigenous instrument made from wood, its hard to explain. Type didgeridoo in Google...

A didgeridoo (that's not Bob!)

Bob and Barbara took us out for dinner at an Aussie pub where we discovered Australians have a deadly combination of combining betting shops and pubs into one building. I can't imagine how many drunken bets are made, I think most of my friends would have no money left if they had that back home!
We went looking for a bit more wildlife, apparently there was a lot if wild emu's in the area but couldn't find. It was also to see so much wildlife burnt from bush fires where people have set light to the bush and it has spread over tens of kilometres where the ground has been so dry.
We decided after ten days it was time to move on after experiencing our first ever home stay and it was safe to say we got lucky in finding good hosts and having so much to talk about.....

James and Bob