Farmer Shan

Well, the countdown is on - only 12 more days at that absolutely wonderful place of work, Citibank. Oh, how I will miss sitting in front of a computer for 8 hours a day. Oh how I will miss having to do Run Rate reports, take minutes and be the unofficial PA of the team. Mostly I will miss being underpaid and doing work that does not utilise any of my natural abilities or developed skills. It's always great being an unappreciated resource - really character building!

Now, on a more sincere note, I must admit I will miss a few things about my place of work. First and foremost, the people. I've made some fabulous friends in the Cards department, most notably Mary, Sara and Shaz. And then, of course, there's Doug, the Tasmanian! I will also very much miss the gym. For the next four months I am going to have to be creative with my workoujts - no gym and no homebase, where I could build a makeshift gym. So yah..that's about all I will miss.

Farming will commence soon after I arrive in Melbourne. I've sussed out a few places to do farmstays in the area surrounding Melbourne, so just need to cement something now.

Ooooohhh - did I mention I saw my first KANGAROOS while at Mary's farm??? They were bouncing along by a fence, trying to get to the other side, then finally they went Boing Boing BOING and jumped clear over the fence! It was so neat to see!

I am debating whether to bring my laptop on my trip around Australia. It would be great to have it while I am on the farms, because I've been dying to write more and more these days and I reckon farm life would make good fodder for some travel writing pieces. On the other hand, I will probably be hostelling it at some points during the trip and don't really want to have to worry about my laptop while I am holed up in Byron Bay. Any opinions on this one?

K -well, I will keep you posted on Life as Farmhand! If anything, should provide some laughs at my expense!