A Prickly Job in the Tablelands

Tweezers. I never thought I would be so thankful to have a pair, nor think I would need to put them to such constant use. But I should have predicted such a situation working on a cacti nursery. Erwin, an immigrant from Holland had found his quiet life in the Tablelands, sleeping under the stars and cooking in his caravan kitchen, spending his days tending to prickly plants.
With our work at Deeral delayed for a few days we spent a few minutes looking through the WOOFING book to find a host for the next few days. Our chances we thought at finding someone who needed help at such short notice was slim. The first number I tried already had all the workers they needed, the second host had very recently passed away and the third was Erwin. We secured directions to his nursery within two minutes of speaking and we had our next job lined up.
On Arrival we were treated first to a welcome us Brits could really appreciate: a cup of tea and some nice biscuits. Refreshed and introduced properly we were put straight to work; the boys, removing plants whose roots, too strong, had wound themselves around the meshed and rusting table top, moving them to a new home; me, put to work on a stool by a wheelbarrow full of sand and coconut husk mix to re-pot some small cacti free of prickles, of which I was very thankful for.
This would probably be a good time to explain why I am no stranger to the annoyance of cacti thorns. My little mother, otherwise known as Little Mam, had for as long as I can remember as a child, kept cacti on all the first and second floor window sills. These were always a mix of those with big spiky thorns and those which look harmless but contain millions of tiny hair like prickles which don’t hurt until they are found on your body in the most inopportune places and take days to drop out after causing much discomfort. Clever Little Mam kept the cacti there incase we were ever burgled, thinking that the thorns would deter, or at least punish, anyone who would think to rob us. While they have never as of yet been put to the burglar test, they did act as a way to deter child prints on windows and I can recall on countless occasions trying with all my might to remove the tiny red hairs from inbetween my fingers and toes. Erwins very open outdoor shower in the garden

Knowing all too well that the cacti which look the most innocent to be the most painful I warned Gareth not to touch the cacti then touch any other parts of his body. Half an hour later Gareth comes towards me with his tongue out motioning for the tweezers. Erwin in his old Asian Food Takeaway Caravan kitchen
In his mouth, on his face, all over his fingers, his neck and on his tongue, I tried to remove as many as I could but the amazing thing about this plant is that it is extremely hard to see the irritants even though you can feel them and they are easy to transfer to other parts of your body if you have them on your hands. Apparently he had gotten them all over his fingers and thought he should try and get them off before he transferred them all over himself so he decided to gnaw at his digits, transferring them all over his face and his mouth. Poor Gareth, lets hope he didn’t go to the toilet too soon after the perforated greeting from PR Nursery.

After the bathroom at Strathdickie I thought I would be able to deal with any toilet but I was yet again to be astounded by my lack of bravery. Erwins outdoor livingroom
With my wind up torch in hand, giving me tunnel vision of the finest non peripheral vision, I begain my journey to the toilet strangely placed in the middle of the nursery. A labyrinth of deadly prickles on every side and a path covered in cane toads. And I know, having visited the outhouse during the day that I would have to fight my way through the spider webs, check under the toilet seat for Red Backs and then sit in the dark to relieve myself. I made an attempt for the loo at least four times and then finally gave up thinking it much easier to go bush toilet than fight my way through the perilous path to Erwin’s ceramic bowl.

The Tablelands are beautiful, peaceful and scenic. A great drive out.

Thank you for everything Erwin, we really enjoyed learning from you and hope to see you again someday! If anyone would like to join Erwin as a WWOOFer then please refer to PR Nursery in the WWOOFing handbook, he always need a hand with his cacti.