I’m pretty sure people had money riding on how long it would take for me to leave Queensland; two weeks, three weeks, maybe six for the ones that had a bit more faith. Lots of people didn’t think I was going to make it – hell, I didn’t even think I was going to make it. However, here I am, on the plane back to Sydney, with an astounding 97 days of farm work ticked off. That’s right, I didn’t even fuck off the moment I was entitled to a new visa, I actually stayed on for a couple more days to help the family out so they could go on holidays. I know, I don’t know what’s wrong with me either. I guess I have come to really like my farm family – and I actually had a hard time leaving them behind. There is still lots of opinions and thought processes I don’t agree with – I still cannot believe you think you can decide for someone else whether they can get married or not – but I have really enjoyed my last couple of weeks in the Outback. Can we please all take a moment to appreciate that I actually managed to not get bitten by a snake?

Lord knows – and more so than Him/Her, everyone with a working internet connection who didn’t get too fed up with me to open the messages I had sent them knows – even in the last weeks, when all was well, there were moments I was scared shitless. One of my wonderful friends gave me this amazing pep talk on how well I was doing, and how not many people would dare to be doing what I was doing, but truth be told, more than once I felt too scared myself to be doing what I was doing. I’m pretty proud of myself for sticking it out, for making a great memory out of something that, at first, seemed to be nothing but a disaster waiting to happen. Resilient as fuck, one could even say – and by ‘one’ I mean obviously me, no one has actually called me that (yet). I do feel strong, empowered even – because of course, the more the patriarchy tries to tell me to be a certain kind of girl, the stronger I will rebel against it – and I’m ready for the next adventure. But like, next week or so, I’m really tired.

They drove me into town yesterday, and I met up with one of the girls working for Boss man’s sister. We went out to the local pub, had tons of food and ever more beer, and played pool with questionable company. We had fun, went to bed way too late, and lots and lots of stuff happened. I’ll fill you in next time, but turns out, it only takes about four hours for a good girl to go bad.