A trip to the emergency room

It's been a pretty crazy week here at Ohana.

Firstly, we somehow managed to break the tractor. It conked out right down the back of the farm, and Josh had to tow it with the ute (and me steering the tractor) back to the shed. He drove way too fast and the tractor was being towed backwards, so I'm surprised we made it back in one piece. We aren't exactly sure what has happened, but Geoff assures us that it's nothing too bad and is definitely fixable. He's got it working again for now, and will fix it properly in a few weeks once we've done all our urgent jobs.

Secondly, Josh has been feeling pretty unwell this last week, with a really tender tummy and pain when you poke around. After a quick Google, we thought it may be his appendix - so I took him to the Childers Hospital on Tuesday night.

The doctor there poked around, made him jump up and down, took his blood pressure etc. and decided that he was "too fit and healthy" to have anything wrong with him. He prescribed some Panadol and said to go to Bundaberg if it got worse overnight, otherwise get some blood tests and a CT scan the next day.

Wednesday morning, Josh had all his tests done and waited around for his results that afternoon. In the meantime I went to Bundaberg to run a few errands, with strict instructions to be home by 4pm, so Josh could take my car to the doctors, instead of his bumpy ute.

By 4:30pm, I was on my way back to Bundaberg. The scans showed up appendicitis and Josh needed surgery. We arrived at the emergency room with a copy of his results and he ushered into a bed.

The nurses asked him all the same questions, took more blood, poked around some more and then we waited for the doctor.

The doctor asked him all the same questions, checked we had a blood sample, poked around some more and then we waited for the surgeon.

The surgeon asked him all the same questions, checked we had a blood sample, poked around some more and then we waited for the verdict.

The surgeon wasn't 100% convinced that he was sick - he was too fit and healthy. He wasn't doubled over in pain, he could still move around freely, it only really hurt when poked in the appendix spot...and yet the CT scan showed up appendicitis. The surgeon said that while he wasn't 100% convinced, Josh couldn't go home and they'd operate anyway.

The next morning, Josh went into surgery and despite the dodgy scan, no "typical" symptoms, no hints in his bloodwork, he did indeed have appendicitis. The surgery went well and aside from a sore belly, he's fine. He's scheduled to come home sometime today.

In the midst of all this, we also had a group of 46 booked in for lunch, wine tasting and orchard tour...terrible timing. I had called the bus driver to explain the situation and he was totally fine with it and said he'd help me out as much as he could. Despite the unusual circumstance, the tour group were absolutely fine with it and had a really great time. They loved their lunch and enjoyed the tastings and tours, even though it took a little longer and the group was a little larger than what we usually do. It was a massive effort for Josh's mum and I to do by ourselves, but we pulled it off.

All in all, a ridiculous week at Ohana.

Our tour group happily posed for a picture to send to Josh

Poor Joshy :(

Bundy Flavours

Yesterday Josh and I went to the Bundy Flavours, held by the river in Bundaberg.

We had a strange little spot, tucked away near the tasting test and the sausage man (easy access for Breakfast). It wasn't the best spot on the day, but it was ok. The weather, however, was a nightmare! From about 9am (when the festival opened) til at least 1pm (two hours before it finished) the weather was switching between being windy and bitterly cold, to raining and windy, to 'hold onto the tent, I think it's about to blow away' windy.

It wasn't ideal.

Weather aside, the festival was ok and we sold a few bottles. Nothing major and nothing as good as some of the other festivals we've attended, but we covered our costs. Josh's mum held the fort back at the cellar door and sold nearly as much as us!

I did get to meet Matt Golinski and Alastair McLeod though, and that was pretty cool. Matt said he'd heard our interview on the radio (yep - it went State-wide!) and said he was hoping we'd be at the festival, because he wanted to meet us. He was telling Alastair all about our farm and even about some of the fruits we grow!

And Josh got to catch up with a few old friends and meet Bert, the brew master of Baffle Creek beer (his new favourite brew).

All in all, not a complete waste of a Sunday.

Me with Alastair McLeod and Matt Golinski

New Toys!

Once in a while, something pretty awesome happens.

For us, it was working "full time real jobs" for six months, and then not earning a cent for the next six months. This means we paid "full time real job" tax for six months, and then nothing since then - meaning we're due for a colossal tax refund!

Between us, we collected a little over $9000 (minus the accountants exorbitant fees :( ) ...aaaaand we've already spent it. All on the business, of course, but still, we have new toys!

1) A new tractor!
Our old beast of a tractor - with no doors, leaking oil, smashed windows etc - has finally conked it for good. After scouring Gumtree, we found a pretty good deal on a tractor in the next town. The owner is moving interstate and has slowly been reducing the price from over $25k to the measly amount we bought it for. Naturally, I don't know too much about tractors - but it's red, comes with a bunch of attachments and Geoff reckons its good, so that's good enough for me!

2) Grapes!
What's a winery without grapes!? For now, we have been sourcing our grapes from the Stanthorpe region (further south, in Queensland) where it's a little colder and there are a lot of vineyards. We've been slowly preparing to plant some vines ourselves, by removing about 100 finger lime trees (and having that epic burn off). With the new tractor, Josh will be able to turn over the ground and dig the holes for the support trusses. In a few weeks our new grafted tempranillo vines will be here! Tempranillo is a Spanish variety of red grape which doesn't mind the warmer climate. It ripens early, meaning we can hopefully harvest before the summer rains come. Our gorgeous red volcanic soil isn't ideal for wine grapes (the fruit will likely grow rapidly and produce big, plump fruit full of seeds - but not a lot of dense flavour for winemaking).  BUT - tempranillo is the best chance we've got! It'll be a great learning opportunity for us, and it'll be awesome to have our own vines.

3) Fruit Trees!
Daley's fruit tree nursery are having a sale on their spring plants - and we indulged a little. We've purchased a nice selection of trees to add to our exotic fruit orchard. We have about 10 new tropical fruit trees (mangosteens, coffee, lychees, miracle fruit and a few more I can't remember!) that we'll plant alongside our current fruit trees. We are really interested in building our fruit orchard (and orchard tours) side of our business - people love looking around the trees and it's a great activity for groups who visit, who aren't necessarily interested in wine tasting.


In other news 

• I think I might have got my first QLD speeding ticket (still waiting for the bad news in the mail) 
• Josh and I finally got our QLD drivers licences (still waiting for them in the mail too!)
• I hit my second kangaroo in Betsy (Bets and I are fine - not sure about the roo, but I think he's ok too, it was just a bump)
• I went to Rockhampton for a work conference. I was up there for three days, learnin' stuff and meeting people. I didn't get to see much while I was up there, it would have been great if I could have visited Yeppoon and a few other tourist towns while I was up there, but hey, no such luck. I got to stay in a really nice hotel on the Bruce Highway though, where my bedroom wall backed onto the 24 hour Maccas drive thru. 
• We're going to the Bundy Flavours festival on Sunday. I love festival days!
• We have more jaboticaba fruit ripe - here we go again!

Josh and his new toy!