Deltroit
Arriving by train once again into the station at Wagga Wagga, New South Wales I had no idea what lay ahead of me for the next few months. I'd had a similar feeling at this very train station only a few months previously, when I was starting my adventure in Leeton at the Fruitshack, and once again on my departure from the tiny little town and back out into normality. So here I was in Wagga, waiting to be picked up from someone I'd never seen or met before to take me once more into the unknown. Anne recognised me straight away. I think the heavy backpacks slumped over my aching shoulders were an instant giveaway. We shook hands and exchanged formalities before jumping into her ute for the drive to my new home for the next three months. I honestly had no idea where we were going, how long it would take to get there or what to expect at all. Anne was the mother of the woman I was going to be living and working for, and it was nice to chat to her in the car on the way about where I would be living. She gave me some information about the surrounding areas as we drove and my first thought was just how beautiful this landscape was. There was nothing around for miles apart from fields, trees, creeks, cows and sheep. If I had thought Leeton was in the middle of nowhere, it really was nothing in comparison to this massive stretch of Australian countryside. Leeton really and truly was in the middle of civilisation, even though it hadn't felt it at the time. There, we had only been a short walk from other civilians, other houses and the town, but here I was starting to think that the only thing I'd have for company was the livestock. After a forty minute drive, we finally arrived at our stunning destination. A cow was already in our way as we drove down the long dirt pathway to my living arrangements. I laughed out loud at the fact that the cow was walking freely in the middle of our driveway. I knew now I really was as far away from civilisation as I could possibly get. I was excited, but I was also incredibly nervous as I honestly had no idea what to expect and I desperately wanted this family to like me. I'd been in contact with Sally, my employer, over the phone and emails for a few weeks, and my first impression was that she sounded very nice, warm and welcoming. I'd come here to finish my all-important farm days that I never completed at the Fruitshack and also to earn some much needed dollars, after frittering the majority of mine away and coming to a point where I literally had no more money. As I got my first glimpse of the amazing property I would be calling home for the next three months, it immediately took my breath away. I can't even begin to describe just how big it was and how beautiful. I've struggled to even put into words the pure beauty of the surrounding landscape; the gorgeous stretching, rolling hills for as far as the eye could see; and the garden absolutely full to the brim of lovely elm trees and plants. Sitting here trying to describe this place is a huge task for me. I think it's hard to come up with any words that do this amazing location justice. I could just throw out any number of meaningless adjectives but I just don't think anyone can fully appreciate what they mean until they see it for themselves. But I will try my best. More on the house and surrounding area later... Sally greeted me with a handshake and a smile and showed me to where I would be living. She had told me previously on the phone that although I would not actually be living with them in their house, I was literally down the pathway in my very own apartment. I was excited to see what my living quarters would look like. I tried to peel my eyes away from the beautiful house and garden as I was shown to where I would be living. I knew I had three months to take in the area, and I was more than excited to be dumping my backpacks and chilling out after my long journey. As soon as we entered my apartment, Sally apologised and said it wasn't much. Was she kidding me? It was amazing! I'd been sharing hostels, sleeping in questionable conditions, had no privacy and even slept in a freezing cold corrugated iron shack, and so after eight months of this, just having my own flat was just incredible to me. It was a self contained flat, with a very large kitchen, an en suite bathroom and a living room/bedroom. The first thing that caught my attention was the fact that there was air conditioning... And it turned all the way up to 30 degrees. That in itself was just the best thing, after sleeping in my rain coat at The Fruitshack, due to the freezing cold nights, just to know I'd be warm felt so good. After eight months of sharing dorms with others, just having my own room and a double bed with a proper duvet were enough to get me excited. It's amazing the little things you take for granted, that then become items of absolute luxury when you're travelling. I even had my own TV. I'm not really a TV kind of person and rarely watch it if I can help it, but being out here in the middle of nowhere all alone, I knew that the TV would become my saviour. Sally left me alone to settle in and unpack my things and advised me she'd let me know when I could go over to their house for dinner. As I started to unpack I noticed I even had my own clothes storage rack. Just to have the option to hang up my clothes was great, instead of turfing through my entire backpack just to find one item, and then having to repack it every few days. It was a nice feeling to think that just for a few months, I'd have my own space and I would start to feel settled and to gain back some kind of routine. The children that I would be helping out with had arrived home from school, and Sal had brought them all over to my flat to introduce me to them, as she said they were all desperate to meet me. Her three kids were there, and so were the four children from the Triggs family who lived in the next house down the road. Being introduced to seven children all talking at me all at once and all telling me their names was a bit overwhelming. I wondered how on earth I would ever remember all their names. It all of sudden hit me what I was here for, and I knew this was going to be a challenge. I was starting to feel very nervous. I soon went over to the main house and had dinner with the Hayes family, where we all got to know each other a little better. I tried to contain my excitement at this amazing house that I would be working in. At first glance it was quite clearly the biggest house I've ever seen or been in. The kitchen in itself was bigger than my whole flat that I'd just moved into. I wouldn't come to realise just how big the homestead was, until the next day when I would begin to clean it... After a comfy sleep in my new bed, I woke up the next morning with a fresh bout of nerves. I headed over to the house, not knowing what to expect at all. I'd started on a day of clear chaos, everyone was rushing around and Sal quickly greeted me, and asked me to take the kids up the pathway where they would get picked up for the school bus. She was running late herself and dashed off into her office, which was next door to my flat. I felt as if I had been thrown in at the deep end, but I took a deep breath and took the kids up the path for the bus. Now that I could see the grounds in the morning sunshine, I was once again overwhelmed by the beauty of it all. I walked up the pathway, lost for words at how big this place really was. I later learned that the garden directly surrounding the house was fifteen acres. That's one big garden! It had a swimming pool and a tennis court. I mean, was this place some kind of celebrity mansion? It certainly felt like it. I greeted Sarah Triggs at the top of the garden, who came to collect the Hayes children every morning to take them to the bus stop for school. She also seemed very nice, welcoming and chatty. Georgie, aged 5, Jack, aged 8 and Harry, aged 10 all climbed into the back of her car and off they went to school. My first task of the day had gone well, and knowing I wouldn't see the kids again until after they returned home that afternoon, I wondered what my first full day at work had in store for me. I wondered how I would know what I would be doing as I knew Sal had gone into the office for the day. I was soon welcomed into the homestead by Anne, Sal's mother, who would be showing me the ropes. I knew my basic duties would be to clean up the chaos that the kids created in the morning, but really that's as much as I knew, so Anne showed me where everything was and advised me on what basic jobs Sal had requested that I do. On that first day and throughout the course of the three months that I was living and working at Deltroit, I had a fair few nannying and housekeeping jobs to attend to. I've never really been the tidiest of people, so it was very ironic then that I should become what was essentially the house maid. Every day I would see that the house was spotless after the kids wreaked havoc throughout it. They were very sporty and athletic children, always playing team sports or just running around outside in the vast amount of space that was available to them. Therefore the house and all their clothes would constantly see a hell of a lot of mud. It was my job to ensure that the mud didn't stick around for too long. I would start my day by helping the kids, mainly assisting Georgie with getting ready for school. The two older boys seemed perfectly capable of sorting themselves out for the day ahead, but they were often asking me where lost items had ended up, so I'd be trying to dig out things I had no idea where they could be. I would help Georgie with her hair, tying her shoelaces and generally getting her ready for her day at school. Once the children were on the bus, I'd make a start on putting away the breakfast items, loading and unloading the dishwasher and washing any items that had to be hand washed. I'd then wipe down the numerous kitchen counters, the oven, vacuum around the kitchen, make the beds, tidy up the playroom and generally spruce everything up. Once my daily routine of tidying up the whirlwind had commenced I'd find myself with a list of tasks set by Sal of what she wanted done for the week. On top of all my usual cleaning, tidying and sorting jobs, I also had the never ending mountain of washing and ironing to contend with. After the three months I spent at Deltroit, I find I have well and truly become a domestic goddess, and I've had very good training for the day that I myself become a housewife. As I've said before, I've never really considered myself to have the qualities of a good housewife, as I'm far too lazy and extremely messy. Well not anymore! You're now looking at a fully fledged domestic goddess, maid, nanny, housekeeper, housewife...whatever you want to label it, I feel I have the right qualifications and experience. I've learned a lot since I arrived here three months ago. For example, I've always thought I was perfectly capable of ironing a shirt in the correct way. But after ironing a LOT of shirts, I decided it was time to really find the correct technique as I just kept leaving more creases in the shirts than I was smoothing out! Ok ok I know that's ridiculous but we all have to start somewhere right? And I'm not going to pretend I'm an expert at these sort of things, so I did what I always do when I'm stuck in a tricky situation: I looked it up on the good old internet. It may sound stupid but I typed into YouTube 'how to iron a shirt' and you know what? I'll never look back. This man was a complete genius, promising me I'd be able to iron a shirt in just three minutes! One shirt was taking me at least ten minutes and I found I was dreading having to do them, but after a few minutes of watching the guy on the video and a few practise runs, I now feel I have mastered the correct technique, and dare I say, I'm a little bit of an expert. I'm not afraid to admit that something I thought I'd been doing correctly the whole of my adult life actually turned out to be wrong. Hats off to my dad, he did teach me correctly, but I think I just failed to grasp it. I was lazy then, remember? So I've learned two things here: 1. How to iron a shirt correctly in just three minutes and 2. That you should never just settle with what you think you know and you shouldn't be afraid to admit you can't do it. Hmm I feel as if I've grown as a person already... I've always wondered where these amazing mums and housewives have learned all their skills. How on earth do they run a household with all the other things they have to do? I feel I have a new appreciation for the hard work that goes into keeping up a house and looking after a family. As I said, I have wondered in the past if I'd ever be cut out to be a mum or a good wife or any of those things, as I just feel like I don't know enough about what I'm supposed to be doing. But then does anyone? No one walks into it knowing exactly what they're doing, and whether people learn things from the internet or from skills passed down from their parents, it all comes down to the same thing; it's all just a matter of learning and trial and error. Learning from your mistakes and trying out new things and techniques. I realise now that no one just KNOWS all their housekeeping/mothering skills, it all just comes with time. So as I've said, I've started to learn a lot about something I previously had no idea about. And that one day maybe I could do this. And that really if you put your mind to it, you really can do anything. Another skill that I think I've mastered is baking. I used to bake with my dad as a child and used to enjoy it, but it's never something I've attempted in my adult life. I have fond memories of my dad and I making things in the kitchen, and so I got to recreate some of these memories with the kids. For two weeks the children were off school for their end of term holidays so it was my responsibility to look after them while their parents were working. Most of the time, I left them to their own devices but on a couple of occasions we did some baking together, which was just so lovely, fun and of course very messy. Sal had asked me to bake some cookies and after the first time that I did it, I was addicted! I tried to make it a habit to bake something at least once a week, so that the kids had something new and different for their lunch boxes. I used to enjoy cooking when I was living and working in Southampton, but baking cakes and cookies had never really appealed to me before. But I can safely say it's something I want to continue doing. I'm by no means a master chef or anything, but I think I do alright. The cookies and cakes that I baked certainly didn't seem to last too long in the Hayes household and that's always a good sign. I'm excited to get back home and get my floral apron on and try out some of my baking skills on my friends. Watch this space! I've learned many other physical little tasks whilst I've been here and my list of talents are now endless. But as well as the little jobs that I've now learned how to do properly I've also learned some other important things too, and that's how to cope under some difficult situations. Among some of the more trivial little difficulties I've had to face seem silly now when I look back on them but were so frustrating at the time they took place. For example when I first arrived here, the family had told me that I was free to use their Suzuki 4x4 car to travel into Wagga when I wanted at the weekend. Well on my first excursion into the town it seemed as if the world was against me, as first of all I took the wrong turning as soon as I left Deltroit and ended up in a town called Gundagai, which is in the complete opposite direction. And so because I'd gone the wrong way, I'd used nearly all of the fuel that was left in the car. So now I had to double back on myself whilst panicking about whether or not I'd make it to a petrol station. Thankfully I found my way and located a service station, so this problem was solved although it was a very close call. What would I have done if I had broken down and had to call my employers on my first drive into town? They'd think I was a complete idiot! As it was raining and visibility was very low, I needed my lights on. Throughout the whole drive into Wagga I was telling myself again and again that I had to remember to turn my lights off, else I would be well and truly screwed! I'm used to my car at home beeping at me if I leave the lights on but no such luck with this little beauty, so the thought went completely out of my head. I spent all day in Wagga, returned to my car to realise I'd left my lights on the whole time. My heart sank and as predicted the battery was well and truly flat. I was on the verge of tears when I thought I'd have to ring Sal or Campbell to come and rescue me from the town that took forty minutes to drive to. What would they think of me? They'd think I was so incompetent and incapable. I asked so many people nearby if they had jump leads or if they could help me, and I was running around in the rain in a state of panic. Nobody wanted to help. I was at breaking point when I just thought I'd try one more man to see if he could assist me. He must have been sent down from heaven! He helped me to bump start my car and I could have squeezed him. Thank goodness for all the nice people in the world. I drove home thanking my lucky stars and praying that only good things happened to that kind, kind man. I could go on and on with a list of things that seems to have gone wrong for me since I've been here, like when I had to take the rubbish up to the skip. I drove around for about two hours, left the gate open and loads of cows had escaped so I had to round them all up. What a disaster! I won't talk about every single little thing that went wrong, as some problem always seemed to present itself to me. Nothing I tried to do would ever go smoothly. But hey that's another thing I've learned, that while I may get frustrated at things going wrong, eventually things all seem to work out in the end. Of course, amongst all those silly little trivial mishaps are some real difficulties that I've had to contend with along the way. For example, for Georgie who is only five years old, her mum is the centre of her universe, the true comfort and safety blanket of her entire existence. All she knows is that her mum is the best thing in the world. So of course, she wants to ask about my mother, because she wants to tell me all the amazing things about her mum, and ask me things about my own. This was very difficult for me as I did not want to have to explain to a five year old that I barely even know, that my mum had passed away when I was just her age. It reminded me that I was only five when I lost my mum, Georgie's very own tender young age, and it seemed to get me thinking how hard it must have been for my dad and my sister to try and explain to me what had happened. I didn't know how much Georgie knew about death, and did not fancy being the one to explain it to her so I never informed her about my mum. She's too young and I didn't want to be the one to sit down with her and start talking about people passing away. It was hard for me as often Georgie would ask me questions, like, "are you going to tell your mum you've learned to drive over here?" Or "does your mum still tuck you in at night?" Or "you can take this drawing home and give it to your mum." "Does your mum know you're wearing muddy shoes?" Her life is full of simplicity and I didn't want to rain down on her parade. The questions were just that of an innocent young girl, whose whole life revolves around her mother, like any other young child. But it got me a little bit choked sometimes when she asked these questions, as I myself have never remembered any of the things she asked me concerning my mum. I also had to deal with more than just questions about my mum from Georgie. The two boys were good as gold and generally did whatever I asked of them. Georgie, the majority of the time was also very well behaved but I did have to deal with a tantrum or two from her. At first I was not very confident when it came to this as I have never had to discipline a child before, and especially when it was someone else's child, I didn't feel particularly comfortable telling her off. Campbell had said to me from the beginning that if he or Sal heard me disciplining the kids, they'd back me up 100%. This was very nice to hear as I can imagine some parents not liking a nanny telling off their children. Georgie acted up with me a fair few times, and I'm not sure if it was her age or because she was the youngest or the only girl, or because she was trying to push her limits with me, but she had me at breaking point sometimes. I began to feel more confident in dealing with the tantrums and telling her off, which many of my friends said they couldn't imagining me doing. Again, all good practise for the future, but sometimes I just felt so fed up that she was acting up all the time. Sal told me that she's like it with everyone, including grandparents, so thankfully it wasn't just me she was doing it to. These little tantrums tested me, but as with everything after a while I learned how to deal with them, and I'm sure it will be something useful I can remember for the future. The biggest problem I've had since being at Deltroit is the sheer isolation. I've always been very good at being alone and being in my own company. I love a bit of me-time, I think it's absolutely essential every now and then. But the me-time here is just on a whole new level. I've literally been on my own twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. Ok so I see the kids in the morning and for a little while after school, as I sit with them until Sal gets back from the office, but really that is it. I finish over at the house and go back over to my flat, where I sit all night alone in front of the TV. I then spend the weekends sitting in my apartment, trying to kill time. I'm so happy not to be working weekends but there's just absolutely nothing to do. I find myself looking forward to driving into Wagga so I can do my food shopping. Food shopping has become exciting and the highlight of my week. There are no shops or anything nearby at all to the farm. Sometimes I go for a run or a cycle just for something to do and to soak up the amazing surroundings. I think it's all very well having me-time but there's only so much TV you can watch, only so much you can read or bake or nap or twiddle your thumbs. It began to feel like a huge problem for me being out in the middle of nowhere all alone, day in, day out. I borrowed a book about the history of Deltroit, which I'll go into later, and one quote from the author really hit home with me; "Frequently riding my horse alone through the dusty paddocks, I began to lose the ability to communicate, becoming taciturn, and as mute as my surroundings." Nicola Crichton-Brown wrote this in regards to the fact that she was once a city girl and had moved out to Deltroit with her husband to be a farmer's wife and was finding the isolation very difficult. I too find it very difficult. Though I'm not a city girl, and come from a quiet village, I do at least live within civilisation back in England and near to other human beings, but here there really is nothing around. There's three houses on the Deltroit block of land. Three families on nearly 7000 acres of land. It gets lonely. I haven't suffered with homesickness too much on my travels. There has of course been the odd bout, but here it's reached a peak. I've had weeks where all I've wanted to do is walk out and just go home. To go to my friends, to my family, to the people that love me. I want to have fun, to spend time with loved ones at the weekend, to enjoy myself. I know I've been having the most amount of fun on my travels, which maybe is why I've found it so hard to suddenly find myself constantly alone with my own thoughts. It's been so tough just sitting in my flat every single evening and every single weekend just trying to think of something to do to keep myself occupied. It's not like work is even an escape from the loneliness as I work alone too. I feel as if I've forgotten how to make conversation. It's weird what isolation can do to you, but one thing for sure is I haven't given up. I've wanted to on so many occasions and it would have been so easy to do that. But I'm proud of myself that throughout the loneliest of times I've still managed to stay here and stick it out. Unfortunately the family I live and work for haven't really helped in that department. They've always been so lovely and nice to me, but I don't feel as I've ever really been liked by them. We're not friends by any means. There's a barrier up to prevent that. You can tell we're employer and employee, which is sad as it would have been nice to get to know them on a personal level too and perhaps make good friends out of them. A few weekends ago I met up with a friend I'd met in Sydney in Wagga. She was in the next town working in the same sort of job as me, and so we decided to meet up for some dinner. She also brought along her neighbour, who was also an au pair. We met up and had an absolutely amazing day together, where we did some shopping and had a nice meal. It was perfect for me to just have some company and do girly things and treat myself after so long of feeling lonely. The girls had described their relationships with their own families they were working for and they had said they felt as if they were part of the family. It made me sad as I certainly did not have anything close to that with mine. I sometimes felt as if I was inconvenience to my family and that I was always in the way. They were never rude to me or anything but I felt as if I was looking for more from them. It was a shame but I know that some people in these sorts of jobs can get treated very badly, so I'm just grateful that my whole experience was at least a good one. Although I was incredibly lonely throughout my time at Deltroit, I still feel as if I made the most of my experience. For the majority of the time that I've been here, I've been getting up every weekday morning for six o clock to go running with Sarah and Roz, the women who live in the two neighbouring houses. It was crazy, I know I wouldn't drag myself out of bed at that time at home to go running. But it was good that they did drag me as I ended up losing a lot of the weight I'd put on since I'd come away travelling and then some. I've been eating very healthily since I got here too, mainly eating fruit, veg, meat and soup. It's been a hard slog but so worth it. Its been a chilly, cold winter, getting up and running in minus numbers but I'm so glad I had the girls to motivate me to do it. I'll be going home a lot happier that's for sure. At least for twenty or so minutes a day I did also have the company of the girls as we ran. It definitely helped. I feel it was such a good opportunity to really take care of myself again and shift that travelling weight. I knew being at home I'd be going out for drinks and food and socialising all the time, so it gets harder it get back into shape. That's the great thing about living alone too. I've been able to cook and eat what I want, and only buy food that I want to eat, so there's been (mostly) no temptation. I can't get to the shops easily and there's no takeaways nearby so it's been a perfect opportunity for me to get back to the way I was before I came away. And I'm feeling very good about it. I know it's been a massively long blog entry but there's just one more thing I want to talk about before I finish. It's so long because I've been here for three months and there's a lot that needs mentioning. I apologise now, so well done if you've made it this far. As I said earlier I borrowed a book from Roz about the history of Deltroit, which was absolutely fascinating to read. I felt so lucky to be living and working in an area so obviously steeped in years of history. The book was so interesting and it was so lovely to read about the past events in a place where I was now residing. After soaking up some of the history of the place, I tried to picture what it would have once been like in days gone past. Deltroit is situated in the valley of the Hillas Creek, exactly half way between Sydney and Melbourne and 30km to the nearest town, Gundagai. The beautiful homestead dates back to 1903 and the property covers almost 7000 acres of land, with the direct garden covering 15 acres. Forty years prior to the construction of the homestead, the Richardson family had emigrated over from a small village in England and set up their own livestock and wool business, continuing to purchase more land and widen the Deltroit property. They were amongst the greatest stock and wool producing families south of Sydney. It was all so interesting to read about and to really imagine what life must have been like all those years ago. The house itself has many references to English 19th century architecture and is built to keep cool even in the burning Aussie summers, but still remains bitterly cold in the winter time. The Richardsons could never have produced such an amazing property or developed such a successful livelihood for themselves if they had continued to struggle on with their daily lives back in England, but like so many from that era they found a better life in Australia and truly flourished out here. Walking around the homestead I was trying to imagine what it would have once been like. The kids' play room for example had an old fashioned stove, that made me imagine that once upon a time would have been in a bustling and busy kitchen, serving the family and the all the house servants. Every room had a fireplace and I just loved walking around imagining what would have been going on in the day to day lives of the Richardson family. Especially as I was the housekeeper of the modern day homestead so it was interesting to imagine myself as one of the many servants I'm sure this house once had. Another part of Deltroit that absolutely fascinated me was the little old pub, The Junction Hotel, which is a couple of kilometres down the road and is now home to my running partner and friend and worker of the Hayes', Roz. The old pub was so cosy and adorable, but I did wonder why on earth there was a pub in such a deserted location; who would be travelling through here to give the pub custom and to maintain its profit? I also found my answer in the book. As Deltroit was the exact halfway point between two of Australia's biggest cities, the Deltroit road was once the main access point between the two. The road had once upon a time been very busy with horses and carriages carrying travellers between Sydney and Melbourne on business and leisure trips. It was the only method at the time that the major cities could be accessed from the Hillas Creek district. The Richardsons had purchased The Junction Hotel in 1889, expanding their ever-increasing acreage, but the pub had first opened back in 1868. I could not believe just how much history surrounded me, and how many people must have journeyed through these parts on their way to make business in the cities. I found it all so fascinating and once again when I drove through the bumpy, hilly roads I tried to picture horse and carriage struggling up the treacherous hills. I feel incredibly lucky to have been given the opportunity to live and work in this beautiful, awe-inspiring place. I've learned so much and some days it's been unbelievably tough to be alone the majority of the time. I've been counting down the days until I leave but I have a feeling when I'm back home and the crazy hustle and bustle of every day life returns, I will look back in longing for this place that was once, so briefly, my home. It's been lonely and stressful, but once again I've learned many things about myself, the history of this stunning location and of course how to be a 'good housewife.' I've learned that every experience, good or bad can teach you so much and makes you appreciate when things are really good in your life. I can't fully describe Deltroit and my time here to really do it justice, but it will always have a warm place in my heart, no matter how hard it's sometimes been. It's been an absolutely amazing experience and it's all essentially a part of my adventure, so yes it's been hard, but so worth it.
