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Spend a day or 3 with David Farmilo...


Have you been thinking of taking a trip to SouthAustralia?
David lives in South Australia in the beautiful Adelaide Hills and offers a unique live-in opportunity to horse people wanting to understand more about Hoof Care and to see the tourist spots in South Australia.

Courses for overseas and interstate visitors can be tailored to suit YOUR individual needs. Horse owners, farriers, veterinarians, trainers, riders, breeders and horse lovers welcome.

Increase your skills by learning from Australia’s Favorite Farrier.

ALSO if your time permits, you can choose to visit local properties with David while he trims (and shoes
where necessary) and teaches Hoof Care on

  • Brood Mares
  • Racehorses
  • Clydesdales
  • Donkeys and Shetlands
  • Foals

Pickup and return to Adelaide airport is included, if required.

Bunkhouse accommodation included - 9 bunk accommodation with kitchen, 2 bathrooms and laundry

Air conditioned comfort.
All linen, meals provided as needed.


Styled on the Outback bunkhouse, stacked with David's horse memorabilia, books, DVDs, photos and hoof-care information.

Up-market accommodation can be arranged in local Bed and Breakfasts if preferred.

For a complete horse-heaven-holiday package, you can elect to continue on to other live-in horse venues in South
Australia – dressage, horse handling or horse riding.

PLUS David can also suggest horse venues in other Australian states.

Dining

Dine with David and Anne in their beautiful old stone home, enjoy home cooked food and local gourmet foods
and produce, accompanied by wines from boutique Adelaide Hills wineries OR Choose from the huge variety of
Adelaide Hills restaurants ranging from Cafes to 5* cuisine – be guided in your choice by Anne & David – be driven there and back.



overseas visitors - Tourism and Information


For couples – maybe just one of you wants to spend time with David while the other can choose to go with Anne and be driven around the Adelaide Hills to enjoy the shopping, wining, the dining and the café scene.

Two couples or a group traveling together? Just decide on your preferred itinerary and leave the rest up to us.

Day Trips available –

  • Victor Harbour
  • Barossa Valley
  • Yorke Peninsula
  • River Murray
  • Jetty Fishing

ALSO

  • Local wineries
  • Shopping
  • Antique and second hand shops
  • Gourmet Food stops
  • Markets
  • South Australian beaches
  • Surfing
  • Rock climbing
  • Public Gardens and plant nurseries
  • Wildlife Reserves
  • Galleries
  • Walking trails
  • City Walks
  • Guided Tours

Contact David


Never been to Australia?

The following gem is by Douglas Adams of "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" fame. It is an amazing insight into Australia - prepare yourself!

Australia is a very confusing place, taking up a large amount of the bottom half of the planet. It is recognizable from orbit because of many unusual features, including what at first looks like an enormous bite taken out of its southern edge; a wall of sheer cliffs which plunge deep into the girting sea. Geologists assure us that this is simply an accident of geomorphology and plate tectonics, but they still call it the "Great Australian Bight" proving that not only are they covering up a more frightening theory but they can't spell either!

The first of the confusing things about Australia is the status of the place. Where other land masses and sovereign lands are classified as either a continent, an island, or country, Australia is considered all three. Typically, it is unique in this.

The second confusing thing about Australia is the animals. They can be divided into three categories: Poisonous, Odd, and Sheep. It is true that of the 10 most poisonous arachnids on the planet, Australia has 9 of them. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that of the 9 most poisonous arachnids, Australia has all of them. However there are curiously few snakes, possible because the spiders have killed them all.

But even the spiders won't go near the sea. Any visitors should be careful to check inside boots (before putting them on), under toilet seats (before sitting down) and generally everywhere else. A stick is very useful for this task.

At this point, we would like to mention the Platypus - estranged relative of the mammal, which has a duck-bill, otter's tail, webbed feet, lays eggs, detects its aquatic prey in the same way as the electric eel and has venomous barbs attached to its hind legs, thus combining all 'typical' Australian attributes into a single improbable creature.

The last confusing thing about Australia is the inhabitants.

First, a short history:

Sometime around 40,000 years ago, some people arrived in boats from the north. They ate all the available food, and a lot of them died. The ones who survived learned respect for the balance of nature, man's proper place in the scheme of things and spiders. They settled in and spent a lot of the intervening time making up strange stories.

Then, around 200 years ago, Europeans arrived in boats from the north. More accurately, European convicts were sent, with a few deranged and stupid people in charge. They tried to plant their crops in Autumn (failing to take account of the reversal of the seasons when moving from the top half of the planet to the bottom), ate all their food, and a lot of them died.

About then the sheep arrived, and have been treasured ever since. It is interesting to note here that the Europeans always consider themselves vastly superior to any other race they encounter, since they can lie, cheat, steal, and litigate (marks of a civilised culture they say) - whereas all the Aboriginals can do is happily survive being left in the middle of a vast red-hot desert, equipped with a stick.

Eventually, the new lot of people stopped being Europeans on Extended Holiday and became Australians. The changes are subtle, but deep, caused by the mind-stretching expanses of nothingness and eerie quiet, where a person can sit perfectly still and look deep inside themselves to the core of their essence, their reasons for being, and the necessity of checking inside your boots every morning for fatal surprises. They also picked up the most finely tuned sense of irony in the world, and the Aboriginal gift for making up stories. Be warned.

There is also the matter of the beaches. Australian beaches are simply the nicest and best in the entire world. Although anyone actually venturing into the sea will have to contend with sharks, stinging jellyfish, stonefish (a fish which sits on the bottom of the sea, pretends to be a rock and has venomous barbs sticking out of its back that will kill just from the pain) and surfboarders.

However, watching a beach sunset is worth the risk. As a result of all this hardship, dirt, thirst and wombats, you would expect Australians to be a dour lot. Instead, they are genial, jolly, cheerful and always willing to share a kind word with a stranger, unless they are American!

Faced with insurmountable odds and impossible problems, they smile disarmingly and look for a stick. Major engineering feats have been performed with sheets of corrugated iron, string, and mud. Alone of all the races on earth, they seem to be free from the 'Grass is Greener on the other side of the fence' syndrome, and roundly proclaim that Australia is, in fact, the other side of that fence. They call the land "Oz", "Godzone" (a verbal contraction of "God's Own Country") and "Best bloody place on earth, bar none, strewth." The irritating thing about this is they may be right.

There are some traps for the unsuspecting traveler, though Do not, under any circumstances, suggest that the beer is imperfect, unless you are comparing it to another kind of Australian beer. Do not wear a Hawaiian shirt. Religion and Politics are fairly safe topics of conversation, (Australians don't care too much about either) but Sport is a minefield.

The only correct answer to "So, howdya' like our country, eh?" is "Best (insert your own regional swear word here) country in the world!". It is very likely that, on arriving, some cheerful Australians will 'adopt' you on your first night, and take you to a pub where Australian Beer is served. Despite the obvious danger, do not refuse. It is a form of initiation rite. You will wake up late the next day with an astonishing hangover, a foul taste in your mouth, and wearing strange clothes.

Your hosts will usually make sure you get home, and waive off any legal difficulties with "It's his first time in Australia, so we took him to the pub", to which the policeman will sagely nod and close his notebook. Be sure to tell the story of these events to every other Australian you encounter, adding new embellishments at every stage and noting how strong the beer was.
Thus you will be accepted into this unique culture.

Most Australians are now urban dwellers, having discovered the primary use of electricity, which is air-conditioning and refrigerators.

Typical Australian sayings:-

* "G'day!"

* "It's better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick!"

* "She'll be right mate."

Tips to Surviving Australia:
* Don't ever put your hand down a hole for any reason WHATSOEVER.
* The beer is stronger than you think, regardless of how strong you think it is.
* Always carry a stick.
* Air-conditioning is imperative.
* Do not attempt to use Australian slang, unless you are a trained linguist and extremely good in a fist fight.
* Wear thick socks.
* Take good maps. Stopping to ask directions only works when there are people nearby.
* If you leave the urban areas, carry several litres of water with you at all times, or you will die.
* Even in the most embellished stories told by Australians, there is always a core of truth that it is unwise to ignore.

Australian People – What are they like?

They swear, they use slang, they drink beer, are sometimes hard to understand and have a wicked sense of humour and hearts of gold.

The terminology can be different – they wear thongs on their feet, the tourists wear bum bags, and the word fanny is not to be mentioned in polite company.

Food is similar but different. Australians are brought up on Vegemite ( like very salty Promite) and they drink Milo ( a chocolatey energy drink). Maple syrup is not well known, and eggs and bacon are not served with either maple syrup or jelly or with anything else that is sweet. Bread is not sweet. A salad is only eaten with the main meal, not after or before, and a salad is salad vegetables with a light vinaigrette style dressing. An entrée is an optional small course served before a main meal, while a main meal is called a main course. Australia does have McDonalds, KFC and Subway (where green peppers are called ‘capsicum’). Cookies are biscuits. Soda is soft drink. Candy is sweets. Australians eat a lot of chocolate. Coffee is served with the milk already in it. Pop is someone’s grandpa. Bottomless soft drinks or coffees are virtually unknown. Fries are chips, chips are crisps. Wedges are thick chips with the skin on, and a wedgie is not mentioned in polite company. Ketchup is tomato sauce and is not served with every meal. A sausage is often called a snag or a banger. If you are invited out for drinks, it means alcohol, even if its Sunday morning. If they are inviting you for coffee, they will say that.

A ranch is a station, 2 weeks is a fortnight. Everything in Australia is metric, and aluminum is aluminium. A trunk is a boot and a windshield is a windscreen. Women breast feed their babies, and to hold a baby is to nurse it. They change its nappy and a diaper is unknown. College is university. Queenslanders end a sentence in Eh or But. Don’t ask why, they just do. Gas is petrol. A cell phone is a mobile phone, and cell costs are relatively high – unlimited downloads and WiFi are rare. It is illegal to use a hand held mobile phone while driving.

Lifts start at the ground floor, not the first floor, then the next floor is the first floor. Tipping is rare and unnecessary. You can say what you think about the Prime Minister in public and you don’t need to refer to him as “Mr”. AND we now have our first female Prime Minister anyway.

A sample from Outback Australia:

Dear Mum & Dad,

I am well. Hope youse are too. Tell me big brothers Doug and Phil that the Army is better than workin' on the station - tell them to get in bloody quick smart before the jobs are all gone! I wuz a bit slow in settling down at first, because ya don't hafta get outta bed until 6am. But I like sleeping in now, cuz all ya gotta do before brekky is make ya bed and shine ya boots and clean ya uniform. No bloody horses to get in, no calves to feed, no troughs to clean - nothin'!! Ya haz gotta shower though, but its not so bad, coz there's lotsa hot water and even a light to see what ya doing!

At brekky ya get cereal, fruit and eggs but there's no kangaroo steaks or goanna stew like wot Mum makes. You don't get fed again until noon and by that time all the city boys are stuffed because we've been on a 'route march' – geez, its only just like walking to the windmill in the bullock paddock!!

This one will kill me brothers Doug and Phil with laughter. I keep getting medals for shootin' - dunno why. The bullseye is as big as a bloody dingo's bum and it don't move and it's not firing back at ya like the Johnsons did when our big scrubber bull got into their prize cows before the Ekka last year! All ya gotta do is make yourself comfortable and hit the target - it's a piece of piss!! You don't even load your own cartridges, they comes in little boxes, and ya don't have to steady yourself against the rollbar of the roo shooting truck when you reload!

Sometimes ya gotta wrestle with the city boys and I gotta be real careful coz they break easy - it's not like fighting with Doug and Phil and Jack and Boori and Steve and Muzza all at once like we do at home after the muster. Turns out I'm not a bad boxer either and it looks like I'm the best the platoon's got, and I've only been beaten by this one bloke from the Engineers - he's 6 foot 5 and 15 stone and three pick handles across the shoulders and as ya know I'm only 5 foot 7 and eight stone wringin' wet, but I fought him till the other blokes carried me off to the boozer.

I can't complain about the Army - tell the boys to get in quick before word gets around how bloody good it is.

Your loving daughter,

Sheila


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