“It’s not great everyday”

Eight smitten months after Tom Molineaux and Georgie Lavery declared their devotion to each other in front of the whole of Australia on Farmer Wants A Wife, the country boy can fairly say it’s been a baptism of fire for his love to go from city nurse to part-time farmhand.

“We’ve had a few mishaps along the way… I’ve been trying to teach Georgie and I assume she knows more than she does so that’s backfired a few times,” Farmer Tom, 32, tells Woman’s Day from the sheep farm at Borambola, NSW, where Georgie has just come home from night shift at the nearby Wagga Wagga Hospital and is about to clock on for her second “job”.

“There’s a lot of assumed knowledge that’s not knowledge!” Georgie laughs. “It’s a big adjustment coming from the city to the farm,” Tom admits. “I’ve been trying to teach her and I’m not that good a teacher apparently…”
Farmer Tom and Georgie have gone from strength to strength since appearing on the FWAW (Credit: Phillip Castleton)

NEW WAY OF LIFE

Although it’s been a while now since the couple’s TV life came to an end and their real life away from the cameras began, Tom and Georgie, 28, didn’t jump into living together right away. When Georgie’s plans to buy a house in Wagga – just 25km from the farm – ended up falling through, she moved into Tom’s place in April and it’s been a whirlwind ever since.

“I am enjoying learning it all, don’t take that the wrong way,” the nurse says of the challenges she’s faced so far.

“It’s been a lot to learn but it’s very interesting and I like this lifestyle a lot. Just spending every day with Tom and the animals and learning a completely new way of life that I’d never been exposed to… I feel quite peaceful and at home.”

So, what does a typical day on the farm look like under Farmer Tom’s direction? He explains, “Tom goes and does his thing, Georgie’s got two poddy lambs that she looks after, and the dogs, and sometimes she’ll come out and look at the lambing…”

She adds, “Feeding the sheep…”
Georgie says while she loves farm life, she’s still adjusting from the city life (Credit: Phillip Castleton)
Tom says, “I think she’s trying to book in the nursing days every time that happens, though she’s quite selective with that!

“Her family have been coming up to see her so there’s a bit of that too.”

Both families have met and “they all like each other”, says Georgie.

Given the pair found each other on a reality show centred around marriage, it would be remiss not to broach the topic of a pending engagement. Tom’s already given Georgie a sweet gesture about their future, gifting her a “commitment” ring to mark them moving in together.

“I thought I should do something nice. I was trying to be a sweet partner,” he says.

“We’ve spoken about [getting married], I had this brilliant plan of how to do it – my parents live on the farm up in Adelong in gold country, so I was planning on actually panning for some gold for 
a handmade ring.”

It sounds like something from a rom-com film, and while Tom says that making things official with Georgie is “the plan” in the long run, they admit they’re a bit more realistic about the timeline of things now. “It’s very early on in the relationship and it’s not great every day, so we’ve got to get through that first and really get to know each other – and then do it after that.”
While they’re already talking marriage and babies, the couple admit they’re still taking it day by day. (Credit: Phillip Castleton)

TALKING KIDS

Along with his responsibilities on the farm, Tom is also a dad to seven-year-old son Bolton. The topic of fatherhood didn’t really come up during his time on FWAW, and Tom explains that it’s not a black-and-white situation with his ex.

“I have a young son and he actually lives right next door now,” he says. “I don’t actually get to see him, not at all. I’ve asked and [my ex] doesn’t really want to go down that path.”

Though Georgie hasn’t met Bolton or been able to see Tom in dad mode, she’s hoping children are on the cards when the time is right.

“I would like kids in the future, but yeah, get married first and then have kids, I think!” she says.
Georgie admitted she was definitely keen to start a family (Credit: Phillip Castleton)

FARMER FRIENDSHIPS

As Tom and Georgie have navigated their new life together in the spotlight and out of it, they’ve found some welcome support in the friends they met on the show.

Tom grew especially close to Farmer Thomas Freer, whose relationship with his chosen lady Clarette is going from strength to strength.

“Thomas and Clarette popped in two days ago, they did a little trip to New South Wales from South Australia. It was really cold that day, it was shocking weather, but it was great to catch up and they are going so well,” Tom says.

“They’re definitely loved-up and enjoying life.”
(Credit: 7 Network)
While Tom and Georgie’s on-screen romance was relatively drama-free, the 
same can’t be said for their mates, who had to deal with Clarette getting the reality show “villain edit”.

“We went out for dinner and swapped stories and talked each other through things,” Tom says, adding Clarette struggled with the way she was perceived on the show “but the people who actually know her, know her for who she is so it’s all good”.

Georgie agrees that Clarette is a “lovely lady”, and she now counts her among the circle of Farmer girlfriends she bonded with over their shared experience on FWAW.

“I talk to Emma and Eliza every day which is nice, keeping in touch with them,” she says. “It was good to talk to each other when the show was being aired, to be able to talk about the experience and relive it with them.”
(Credit: Phillip Castleton)