A Stranger in the Valley

A couple of months ago a family friend named Leti stayed with us (there was a post about her). She had been travelling around Australia CouchSurfing www.couchsurfing.org Couch Surfing, for a traveller, is about staying in someone's home for free - usually you do something for them in repayment - like clean or cook. The traveller gets to experience the real Australia and not just the Harbour Bridge. For the host it gives the warm feeling that you are sharing, and you get to meet some great people. Leti loved the farm so much and recommended we give other people the chance to visit. Myles was a little wary but I liked the idea because often I am here alone and only speak to the neighbour, or occasionally friends and family - and even though I am a hermit I do get lonely.

I set up my profile quickly and suddenly was flooded with requests to stay - thought that was strange.  I accepted a couple and then they cancelled on me.  Then Myles' Mum passed away and we had other visitors so the place wasn't free. Finally I young guy called Andreas, from Austria, requested the opportunity to stay. His profile looked OK - he had positive reviews - so emailed him my contact details. Andi told me he was arriving on Wednesday by bus from Byron Bay - I got the impression that Byron wasn't all that entertaining for him.

I left early to pick Andi up from the bus station so that I could also go food shopping in 'Glamourous Coffs Harbour'. I picked up a few things that I thought a visitor might like, Kangaroo Steak, some German biscuits (I love them too) etc. I left the supermarket early as I thought I would be late and texted Andi what clothes I was wearing. He arrived and we awkwardly said hello. He didn't know me and I didn't know him - there was no other way of meeting. We loaded the ute up with his bags and he broke 5 of my eggs - I thought it was actually funny. I drove Andi to the farm and tried to let him know I wasn't an axe murder and that driving 20minutes wasn't an Ivan Milat thing. When he got out of the ute, on the farm, he just said "Wow". I showed Andi to the cottage and let him get comfortable before showing him around the property. I got the impression that he liked the place. That night I made Kangaroo Steaks for him and he cleaned up - he asked me how I got the steak to taste like butter - I didn't use butter BTW. He also helped me make  Käsknöpfle - the dish of his region - if he eats Kangaroo again I hope it will taste even better. We then watched Kick-Ass - a favourite of mine. I had been feeling sick all-day and now felt boring - surely there were better things to do than watch a movie.

When I finally went to bed I wondered what we would do the next day - Coffs has some sites but I wasn't prepared to travel too far away. However when I woke I was feeling better. There was even a koala near the cottage that I knew Andi would think was fantastic. When he did get up (10am) the koala had left but we made our way into town to see the Big Banana and Jetty area. Andi then bought me lunch and we ate it watching the sea - he commented he could watch the ocean for hours because Austria is landlocked. I then found out he liked electronica music. We came back home and built a fire and made some cauliflower soup while he updated his blog and applied for university - and booked his bus down to Canberra. Andi told me his bus was at 12pm and asked if it alright for me to drop him off. I put on some music but in true Steve fashion never let a song finish. We watched 'Scott Pilgrim vs the World' which he thought was strange - agreed.

Myles arrived the next day and we both picked him up from the airport and again Andi bought me lunch - Maccas. Then I almost got booked for parking illegally at the airport. I made Crispy Pork Belly with Coconut Chilli rice for dinner with home-grown vegetables and watched 'Terminator 2' - Andi hadn't seen it. All through the movie we asked Andi to repeat some of the lines - and what do you know - he sounded like Arnie. At the end of the movie Andi said the movie wasn't as bad as he expected. We dropped him off to continue his adventure - but Canberra?