As promised, I am writing finally another blog as so much has happened in the world of Dave since my last personal diary entry. So I moved to Melbourne, found myself on my feet straight away by chancing upon an old mate who had a spare room with the best view in all of Victoria, walked into a dog daycare centre and was offered the job of manager.

Well, I still wake up with the best view in Victoria. I will have to post a photo as seriously it is absolutely insane. Looking out right now, the view starts with the new city of Docklands, the western suburbs, the Westgate Bridge, Albert Park, Port Phillip Bay, St Kilda, the magnificent St Kilda Road (one of the world's great boulevards), the leafy green eastern suburbs, and all the way to the Dandenong ranges.

My flatmate is absolutely awesome. As a barrister he really keeps me out of the trouble I continuously get myself into, and I repay him for his gratis ongoing legal work by cooking him lamb roast at least once a week. Being as busy as I am running my farm practically remotely, as well as still being heavily involved in the operation and marketing of Farmerdave Free Range Lamb, as well as my many charity commitments, and holding down a full-time  job at Dog Central, I have been lucky enough to meet some really awesome mates. I reckon that is the best thing about these big cities, the fact that they may be full of people who would never get along within a blue fit, but they are just as full of down-to-earth decent characters and thankfully I tend to be meeting a hell of a lot of the latter.

For a while there life really started to get on top of me. All the commitments, the workload, and my lack of ability to make the most of the little sleep that I was getting....so something had to give.

I have had more jobs in more variations of industries than you could poke a stick at, even including a 9-to-5 desk job, which I must say I only did because I wanted to live out a childhood fantasy of actually living Dolly Parton's most famous of tracks....yes, I could be considered a little odd.

I moved to Melbourne for a couple of projects that needed me to be here and to be hands-on, so it was properly foolish of me to take on a full-time job "on the side"....But in true David-can-do-anything style, I jumped in boots and all. I suppose I'm one of those people who believes absolutely in the addages 'You never smacked a gift horse in the mouth"and "If a door is opened for you, it's rude not to walk in and at least say G'day".

Originally the goal of working at Dog Central was to placate my innate desire to be surrounded by those souls I love the most on this earth....dogs. The last couple of times I spent periods in the city, especially whilst in Melbourne for the three months of 'Dancing with the Stars', being away from my dogs and stock  almost sent me stir crazy....and I was hoping to volunteer a couple of days a week just to hang out with the canines. However, the job soon morphed into a heck of a lot more.

As part of my role I rehabilitated dogs with dysfunction, that is, those dark cool calm collected members of the family. You know the ones...they bark like crazy when someone comes past, they jump all over guests, they pull their owners like sleigh huskies along the footpath, they dig up the backyard, get their passports stamped in all the other backyards but yours, and show you up in front of onlookers by totally ignoring the most basic of commands.

It seems that due to my upbringing within the working dog pack on the farm, my observance of feral, domestic and wild dogs throughout the world, as well as my runnings with a pack of Mongolian Wolves whilst traversing the Siberian border, I seem to have an incredible ability to help families understand and communicate, and therefore train, their own dogs to be the perfect family members of the household.

It was the rehabilitation of dogs and the training of their owners that has truly made my time in Melbourne so special, however, the other requirements placed on me as an employee didn't really fit. I'm not sure if that makes me arrogant or realistic, but hey today is my last day working as an employee.

Since I gave my notice, so many of my new friends in Melbourne, the ones that haven't known my rather different approach to life thus far, were absolutely shocked that I could give up a full-time job, and yes, whilst I desperately do need to have a greater income to support my farm debt commitments, I do reckon that being happy, content and excited about waking up each morning is paramount for all of us.

So for me, after I rehabilitate my last dog for Dog Central tonight, I race to meet my plane to Brisbane where I will attend the Powerhouse Farmers Market, where we have the most loyal customers, so many of whom bowled me over the first day my mates and I started selling my Free Range Lamb nearly 18 months ago. Then I will head up to the National Dorper Sheep Society showcase AGM inToowoomba, then skip the dinner and make it back to Brisbane in time for my old friend Camilla's 25th Birthday.Hopefully I can stick by my new resolution of not drinking (....yes I have become a gym junkie and realised the effects of alcohol when on the benchpress), so I can get up by 5 AM to make it to all our Sunday farmers markets in Brisbane.

Sunday night I get to relax by visiting my sister, who is a bit crook and will be in hospital, before a series of uber exciting meetings on Monday with the Farmer Dave Free Range Lamb team and a host of chefs and specialty fresh food stores who are keen to be part of our family farming story. Then on the flight back Monday night let's see what crazy new adventure I can come up with.