Thursday, May 10th ‘07
Well, this town hosts about 280 people mixed white and aboriginal. I went to the Info tourist as I get free internet there and was so happy that my mom ended up going on about 10 mins after I got on. T’was nice chatting with her. I also went to the general store.
Je dois ecrire ceci en francais parce que 1 – j’ai pas ecris en francais depuis un bout et 2 – pour ma famille. Le magasin general est comme le magasin general Le Brun a Masquinonge. C’est trop cool! Ils ont un peu de tout et je dois demander a la dame au comptoir pour avoir quelque chose. Il y a plusieurs etageres en bois remplis de choses. C’est vraiment cool! On dirait que je suis revenue dans le 19eme siecle. J’adore le magasin. Ce village est vraiment situe a St-Clin-Clin des Meu Meu, 3 villes apres jamais. Le « vrai » fin fond de St-Creu, en plein milieu de la savanne.
About the general store, all I’m gonna say is that it’s just like being in Road to Avonlea. It’s so freaking cool. I’m just going back into time. Got olives, cheese and canned pineapples, it cost me 14,04$. It’s soooo expensive here. That’s what happens when you’re in the middle of nowhere.
Started work at 2 and I had a lot of fun. It was slow at the beginning so I did some washing but then some people came in and I started serving, mostly beer. It great, I’m having fun and enjoying my job. Just got some kids that got drunk, when a little overboard and left, drunk-driving. They also took out a sign and my boss had to call the cops. My boss is a good guy, very laid back. He’s been nice to me and helping me out if I had a question or didn’t know how to make a drink or something. It a bit ironic that I don’t drink but work as a barmaid. There’s a TV and we’re only allowed to have the sports channels or country on. Made me think of my friend Isabelle that love country and me whom hate’s it. Well, I guess I’ll have to get used to it. At lease the jukebox has all sorts of music. It’s quite something working in a bar in a small town. Feels a bit like a western movie or something. It’s pretty cool! I’m enjoying this.
Friday, May 11th ‘07
Got up late today and the girls were going swimming. They asked me if I wanted to join them. So I went swimming before I start work. These girls are friends from St-Louis, Missouri. They are really nice. I’m really glad that my co-workers aren’t some snobbish, “girly” type. They’re cool. T’was really slow today. I know I have only worked for 2 days but I really enjoy my job here and it’s nice to meet all the locals. Many are aboriginals, and being a barmaid I meet most of them drunk. It’s so ironic that I’m a barmaid. The bar is also the town’s bottle shop.
You guys wont believe this but they have poutine here. Yup, I said poutine! They call it chips with gravy and cheese. The gravy is not really the same but it’s still good. Whom would’ve taught that I would find poutine in the middle of nowhere (savannah), Australia. This is so cool! Just can’t believe it. It’s just so great. My boss was really nice and gave me an advance on my pay as I can’t take money out of my bank account. This was a good day.
I saw a snake on the stairs in front of where our rooms are. It was a really small snake, probably a baby. It was orange with a black head with white stripes. When I got close, it started jumping like it was a frog or something, it made me jump. I was just scared it would bite me. Almost all snakes are venomous here and don’t feel like being sick, get close to death or die. I told my boss, he says it’s venomous, he came to see it but it had left. Wow, all of this is really great. Now, “THIS” is an adventure. Wonder what’s next. Tomorrow I start much later so I’ll have time to walk around and go on the net.
Saturday, May 12th ‘07
I don’t work until 6pm today so I have all day to myself. Went to the hospital as my rash is getting to me. There’s a hospital but no doctors, just a nurse, Rhonda. The doctor comes once every 4th day and there’s a schedule with the dates were “specialists” are coming. This is really crazy. I then went to the post office to send some pix to my mom. I saw some really beautiful birds, they had a pink head and body but their wings are gray and when they fly it’s really nice. On my way back to the hotel, I took some pix of the junkyard as it has vintage “rusted” cars. As I was taking a picture of this vintage furnace, I saw an animal I taught it was a dog but didn’t take long to realize it was a wallaby (small kangaroo). I walked slowly towards it to take a picture but something scared it and I saw 2 others jumping out of a bush. That was sooooo cool!
Else, my evening at work was ordinary. They get busses of backpackers on weekend so we were very busy at the bar but it was nice. I had fun behind the bar. People here are very nice and haven’t meet one that becomes violent when drunk yet! That’s a good thing. The other good thing is that we close at midnight. Wooohoooo! Well, good night!
Sunday, May 13th ‘07
Yesterday, this old sliver haired bloke, Clyde, invited me to go fishing today and I accepted only to learn that we were to spend the night at the fishing spot. He seems like a nice guy but he could be my g-pa. I felt really awkward about it. I talked to the women here to see what they think and Val, the girl at the coffee shop (next door) said I should tell him that I have to get back tonight. Finally, I didn’t have to lie as I was put on schedule last minute. Great!
People here are very nice, I was offered to work at the coffee shop, extra hours, I’ll take that. When I spoke to Jeremy (the guy from the palace backpackers that found me this job), he said I’d do a minimum of 30hrs and on my schedule this week, I work every day 4h/day. That’s not 30hrs. Brent (my boss) is gone and this woman (a bit of a bitch) is in charge for the week. When Brent comes back, I’ll discuss it with him. Already, I was told meals where ½ price but it’s not true, I just get this small discount for meals over 9$. I hope I’ll be paid the amount I was told. It would be hell if what I was told I’d have, I didn’t get. Brent is a nice bloke I’m sure he’ll make it work for me.
Now, I have to tell you about Bucky. Bucky is the town drunk. Well, most of the man here are drunks but Bucky is the “famous” one. He’s a giant bloke that spends his nights at the bar. He’s nice but he just doesn’t know when to stop drinking. He’s quite the fellow! He’s a bit special and overwhelming but you just get used to him.
Wednesday, May 16th ‘07
Haven’t written for awhile as there’s noting much happening. The other day, I went to take a walk towards the train station don’t get excited, there’s no train that comes here or except for the tourist train that goes from Normanton to Croydon once a week. I took a walk around sunset to see Wallabies, and I did see many of them. It was really nice, I tried to take some pix, I did but they won’t let me get close, they pretty much get “scared” and hop away if I get closer than about 25 meters. Else than work, there’s really not much to write about. I work everyday and watch movies on my laptop. Else than that, there’s really noting to write about.
Sunday, May 20th ‘07
Well, I have the day off. What am I gonna do on my day off. I worked double shift on Friday and Saturday night, I didn’t mind it as I love this job especially working night shift when there’s many customers. I had many compliments on my work by clients on Saturday when I was working the bar alone in a big rush, t’was my favorite part. I love running behind the bar taking orders making drinks and getting the payments. Now that I’ve cleared that off, I still don’t know what I’m gonna do with myself today. I could take a walk to lake Belmore.
Started to walk towards lake Belmore and stopped at the Chinese temple ruins, there’s also a lookout. Took some time to take pictures and enjoy my walk but the heat was too much, I forgot my water bottle and wanted to go to the toilet so I started to walk back towards Croydon when this couple offered me a lift back and I took it happily. This is not a place where you’re scared of taking a lift as there’s not many places to go and it’s easy to know where we’re going. Well, I haven’t seen the lake yet but I’ll get there sometime.
Saturday, May 26th ‘07
Once again, I haven’t written for a long time, mostly because there’s noting happening. Today, I decided to write so I can give you an idea of what it is like to live in this village. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t have enough habitants to be called a town. There really isn’t no more than 200 something people here. It’s a mix of white and aboriginal people not to be called abo as it is a discrimination just like calling black people niggers. People here like to drink a lot, something I understand as there isn’t anything else to do in the evening, no movies, no clubs, no restaurant, noting but the village bar. There isn’t even a casino or slot machines or something.
I just spend my time working, watching TV (3 channels with just movies), sleeping and sometimes swimming in the pool. My life is soooo exciting right now. I’ve also started to write this “book” (not really a book as I don’t think I’m good enough to do so and it won’t be long enough, let’s just say I would love it if a movie would sprung from it) about travel’s pros and cons, the sacrifices and pleasures of my way of living (thru travels).
Then, there’s Mike or Mike Dundee as he likes to be called whom’s full of shit and trying to get the attention Bucky has. There’s Eva and Val who works at the café and they are really nice. They are the ones “you” like to talk to and would go to if there was any problems or “you” weren’t sure about someone. Tony, the cook, he’s a grumpy old man that never seems happy and makes us do all the work he doesn’t want to do. He also have no trouble holding his end as my boss would have a hard time finding someone to replace him permanently. My boss, he’s known to be 2 faced, up ‘till now, I haven’t seen that side of him though he makes it really hard to talk about “work” stuff with him.
Most of the others are 50 year old man that couldn’t get a wife or hang on to them so ended up alcoholics, they are also in huge need of sex (I’ve had too many offers or tries). As for the aboriginals, they don’t mix a lot with the white people, they also play a lot of pool and darts. The most popular drink is the 4 X Gold, pot (tap), stubbie (bottle) or can.
School : The school has only 3 teachers (that are only there to get some experience) and 5 or 6 grades out of 12, the grades are also mixed together. If you want your kids to get a good education, you have to send them to boarding school.
Water : Water here is either rain water which is gathered into tanks that’s after rolling on the house roof, thru the leaves, dead birds, dead rats, bird shit, ect. Than going in a tank that is not washed very often. The other option is “lake” water which is a nice brown color from the dirt, bacteria, animal shit, ect.
Hospital : They have a nice hospital here it’s just a pity there’s no doctor. There’s a nurse/paramedic (drives the ambulance), she’s really nice. The doctor is in once every 4th day. As for dentist, psychiatrist, gynecologist and other specialist there’s a schedule with dates they’ll be in town. If you’re in a life or death situation, your chance here is 5% of survival. They’ll fly the doctor in here but it’ll take some time and depending on the injury they might or might not fly you to a “proper” hospital. Now how great is that! Careful g-pa wouldn’t want to get a heart attract! (Being my sarcastic self).
Food : Groceries are very limited and extremely expensive, lunch is only served at the café from noon to 2 and diner is served at the café from 5:30 ‘till 7 and at the hotel from 6:30 ‘till 8 any other time, there’s noting at all. Food is often outdated, chocolate bars, chips even milk (sold full price). The joys of living in a small town in the middle of nowhere! I tried burger rings, not too bad, twisties smells like those kitty treats my mom likes to give to cats she meets on the streets, probably tastes the same as well (never tasted the cat treat) and crakling which is the crust from the roast pork really good and popular it’s available in a “chip” package and tastes a bit like my favorite sugar shack food (Oreille de Christ) don’t know the name in English.
Entertainment : The bar, Lake Belmore which is a bit far by foot but apparently nice and there’s some waterskiing. The pool which is nice and not used by anyone else than me and the other barmaids. There’s a tennis court, sports area and a golf course which I haven’t seen.
Tourists : Weekdays there are many Australian tourists that comes around apparently it’s very popular with old retired people to take an RV and tour the country, Croydon is a common stop for them. Weekends, we get backpackers that does this trip from Darwin to Cairns or Cairns to Darwin, it’s a guided tour that lasts 4 days including one night in Croydon.
Today, we had a meeting with miss boss. Apparently all the working conditions I was told I’d have, I’m not getting. I was told I’d get free accommodation, half price on food and transportation from Cairns to Croydon paid. In fact, I pay 50$ per week for accommodation, full price on food under 9$ over it’s 8,80$, they don’t pay my buss ticket from Cairns to Croydon. Plus, I have to pay for laundry but the maid told us about this washing machine that is broken and works for free if you press this white button. Oh and it’s full price on all drinks, did I mention I work at the bar!? Mainly, I work for money I’m giving back to them, if I was a drinker it would be worst. I came here to save money not to “live” here and they make it impossible to live and most important, they lied about the working conditions. Therefore, I don’t have to keep my end of the deal and I’m leaving ASAP. Just went on the net and looked at 2 possibilities. I could take a the bus on Saturday and take the cheap flight on Sunday or ask the bus driver of the backpacker bus if he’d take me on Monday and take the other cheap flight on Tuesday.
Spoke to the bus driver tonight and he’ll take me on for that leg of the trip which is great as they stop to do some touring on the way and he’ll take me on for free. That’s really nice of him, I’ll pay him a drink next weekend, it’s the least I can do, I’ll be saving 90$ on the bus fare. By the way, the “regular” bus only passes once every 2 or 3 days. The only thing is that my mom sent me some stuff here yesterday and I don’t know if I’ll be getting it before I leave. I asked one of the other barmaids if she would send it to Richard’s place if it doesn’t get here on time, I’ll give her some money and his address. The sad part is that I like being a barmaid here, it’s nice, no “big” drink concoctions, just beer, rum and coke (very popular), vodka-orange, scotch and coke, and other easy drinks like that. It’s pretty easy and nice.
Well, I think I made up for the days I didn’t write. I’ll go to bed now, g’night!
Sunday, May 27th ‘07
Today, I got the day off again but this time, I’m going to lake Belmore with a local. I’m just glad I’ll get to see it once before I leave. I’ve booked my plane ticket to Brisbane and my hostel in Cairns just have to find a hostel in Brisbane. I should be doing more job applications this week hoping to have some job interviews waiting for me when I get to Brisbane if not, I should go see my cousin just a couple days after I get to Brisbane. We’ll just see what happens.
We went to lake Belmore, it’s really nice just sad he doesn’t have a boat and skies. We then went to this gold mining museum where old tools that where used for mining here are still there all rusty. Croydon used to be a huge town filled with gold miners during the gold rush. There’s still some gold and miner can come digging if they want to. Afterwards, we went to the hospital to see the nurse for my “prescription” for the cream she gave me for my rash. There was 2 horses completely loose in front of the hospital without a fence. They were scared of me. There was also chickens and a rooster in a box. It was quite something! Only in a small town would a hospital have farm animals.
Tuesday, May 29th ‘07
These past few days, these guys selling cattle farm equipment have taken shelter in Croydon, they go from cattle station to cattle station by means of air with this great Helicopter. Anyways, I’ve been talking to these guys and the pilot is letting me on the chopper today. This was great! Lauren came along and we went up for 5-10 mins on top of the village and the lake. It was sooo freaking cool! I loved it! I got to go on a Heli ride.
Afterwards, I did something I don’t usually do, I hung around at the bar. I spent the night talking to this guy and it was quite interesting. The bar closed and as I was going to my room, I saw the heli guys and Lauren talking and drinking so I joined them. Everyone slowly left, the pilot and I were the 2 left. We talked until 1am. Didn’t see the time go by. He gave me a number to some good people that owns a Cattle Station if ever I want to do some Cattle work, I really hope to do some when I’m here. It was really nice of him!
Thursday, May 31st ‘07
After work, I went to the hospital to get my “prescription” from the nurse for the cream she gave me to get rid of my rash I got from accidentally brushing my arm on coral while diving. Then, I went on the net and took a swim in the pool. That’s pretty much what my days look like just add the hours of watching TV (at lease there’s 3 channels of none stop movies).
For dinner, Eva from the café cooked the Barramundi fish Clive gave me. It was so delightful, I really loved it! The Barramundi is a fish you can only find in the north part of Australia. Many fisher amateurs like to come here to catch one of these.
My boss is such an ass. He won’t put me on closing hours thought I’ve asked him often, every week, the girls have been having more hours than me. He puts the schedule up last minute (about 10pm the day before, sometimes he puts it up in the morning). Now, he gave me off for tomorrow and put everyone else on schedule including the 2 new girls.
Friday, June 1st ‘07
Have the day off today, didn’t ask for it and I’m a bit upset about it. Asked my boss Brent why and he gave me some lame stupid ass excuse that he knew I knew it was a lie and bullshit. I asked him if I’ll work tomorrow and he said, I don’t know I’ll have to check on the roaster. Whatever! This guy offered to bring me to Normanton for diner. Normanton is about an hour and a half drive east from here. On our way here, we saw many hawks and falcons but you can see them around here, especially when the tractor is passing by in the morning. Well this time, I got to see an Eagle, it was huge and eating on a wallaby road kill, it didn’t want to leave it when we passed so we drove around it. As it was sunset when we left, we saw loads of wallabies on the side of the roads, they also like to jump in front of the car while where passing by. It’s like they want to be run over.
We got to Normanton at the Purple bar for some diner and the girl working at the bar was really nice. She’s from the Netherlands and we spoke for quite a bit, she’s much better paid and treated there then we are at the “Crap” Hotel. I do think that Croydon is nicer though it’s smaller but it’s not worth the way we are treated. I so have a feeling I’m not gonna work tomorrow or Sunday. I’m leaving on Monday morning but I still need my work hours.
So we ate diner and drove back to Croydon. I hung out at the pub and spoke with some people. They are really nice people here. I spent most my time with Carl, Bryannah (both from Croydon) and Nigel (from Canada). At the end of the night, Carl and Bryannah wanted to go swimming at the lake. We invited Bucky but the copper was making a round (he’s replacing the other cop that left), so I drove being the only sober one and for the first time in my life I was stopped by the copper. He made me blow in the little machine to check if I drank (I can hear you all laughing, oh ya!), checked my car license and let us go. We went to the lake, took a swim talked for a bit, tried to take Carl’s towel off as he had noting under and went back. It was a nice night. I got to see an eagle!!!
Saturday, June 2nd ‘07
Not on schedule again, I could’ve bet 100$ on it. I gave him a week notice and he’s spacing me out what a jerk. Electricity was out today from 8:30am ‘till 2 and my room got so hot I woke up at 11am and couldn’t get back to sleep, it was hotter inside my room than outside, it was like a boiler. There was noting to do, I couldn’t wash my clothes, take a shower go on the net, watch TV, it really sucked. When the electricity came back, I went to do my laundry but there was a load in there already. So I went for internet and the visitor’s info closed all internet for today and tomorrow. I went back to do laundry and Brent locked the machine so we couldn’t do it for free, now we have to pay 3$ for every load. He also told the maids to not clean the lady’s room or to put some TP (toilet paper) in it as it is up to us to buy TP and clean the lady’s room. Did I mention that we are paying rent here.
He is such an ass hole he really want’s us to give him back all the money we make here. I also heard that he doesn’t pay the last week of work. I hope I’ll be paid for the 15 and a half hours he put me on schedule this week. Ass hole. I’m so going to give him a bad reputation everywhere to every “backpacker work agencies”, I don’t even have to lie the truth is good enough. He lies all the time, he’s 2 faced, he takes advantage of his employees, he can’t tell you things in your face even if you ask and he’ll go behind your back all the time. He’s one of the worst bosses I’ve ever had, the good news is that if I don’t get paid as I’m working legally here, I can take action against him. I’d love to see his reputation go into the toilet and not be able to get any new employees. He’s done the same thing to the girls before us, he took them off the schedule went Lauren and Katie came in and one of them didn’t get paid for her last week of work. I just want to take him down, way down. It really sad as I like this town, the people and I loved the job when I was treated right now, I’m going to have a sour taste because of this ass hole. Well, I’ll stop writing about it ‘cause I’m so pissed.
I ate another piece of that barramundi tonight and it was great. I was supposed to go to Karumba tonight but the guy that was taking me there was too tired to drive there. Ah well! That’s about it, I’m taking the backpacker bus on Monday morning to Cairns and an early flight to Brisbane on Tuesday morning. Then, we’ll see! G’night mates!
Sunday, June 3rd ‘07
Yesterday night, there seemed to be a party in front of our rooms, not being able to sleep, I joined the party. I didn’t drink but got to talk with people. Lauren was invited to do some mustering in Esmeralda (a cattle station) and she didn’t want to go alone so she asked me if I wanted to go since I was not working. I said yes without a doubt. So, the station’s manager, 2 of his employees, Lauren and I left for Esmeralda at 2am. The boys were drunk except for the 15 year old and since it’s a manual he was the one who drove. Lauren and one of the employees Laury, went in the “trailer” as per Neil (the manager), Jughead (his nickname, the 15 year old) went in the car. Along the way, we stopped to fill the gas tank and I switched with Lauren. The wind was so cold that Laury and I cuddled the hole way (1 hour in the freezing wind) to keep/exchange body warmth. We got there at about 4am, I took a hot shower and went to bed. Neil has many rooms so I had my own.
6am
We were woken up as we had to go work. Neil had a really hard time getting up and took a 20min shower. He’s the boss he can do whatever he want’s! Then, we went for morning tea and breakfast but Lauren and I didn’t eat (felt a bit shy). We saw a deer being taken out of the propriety. I didn’t know they had deers here in Australia. We then drove for awhile off-road to where the cattles are. Lauren found a loaded hand gun in the truck one like in western movies. I never held a gun before, made me a bit nervous as I know there are many accidents that happens with loaded guns. This is so much fun! We waited for the Jackaroos (men mustering) and the Jillaroo (women mustering) to “train” the cattles to walk together and walk not run. Then, they took them out of the fences and we followed with this 4 wheeler. So we are bringing the cattles back to the station. This is such a great experience. I’m really enjoying it.
The cattles bring up a lot of dirt when they walk, I was breathing dirt, I was full of dirt, my clothes where dirty it was crazy. I was dirty but it was outback mustering dirt and it was great, I liked it! At some point, we couldn’t see the cattles because of the cloud of dirt they were making. It was so hot, it was unbearable! I felt like I was being sunburned. The sun was always on my right side so my right arm, foot and ankle tanned more than the left side. So funny! I did tan a lot and I didn’t burn at all. We stopped to eat the sandwiches we made before we left (one each with noting else than cheese as we were to shy to tae out food). There was 3 on horses, the Jillaroo was on a 4 wheeler and Neil was on a motor bike but he left us half way. The landscape was really nice! The experience was totally awesome! I’m so happy I got to do this, beats doing noting in Croydon. I was thinking I would go do some mustering for a month and now, I definitely want to do it but I want to learn to ride a horse properly to do it by horse. It would be so much fun but I don’t think I could do it for more than a month or so.
So, we brought the ~600 cattles to the station 12-15km away and it took about 7 hours excluding lunch hour. We were glad that we shared a 4 wheeler as we where able to talk to each other while mustering. If I’d be doing it, I’d listen to my mp3 player as I’m doing it. You’re not alone but you’re a bit far from each other to chat. The lifestyle is quite peculiar as they live on the station and eat in a common dining room. When we got to the station, I went to wash my hands and face as Lauren talked to this guy and ended up driving around in the motor bike for the first time. I went to meet her with the 4 wheeler and got to see my first kangaroo (bit one, not a wallaby). It was nice and surprising at 2pm. We drove around for awhile as there was noting else to do but it was nice and fun.
Then, we went to the horse stables as they brought the horses back. We talked with Neil and Jughead for awhile before we went to feed the cattles we just brought in. They “drink” this mixture that has some malaise in it, it is bad for humans and will kill horses if they “drink” it, it kills some cattles if they drink lots of water afterwards. This mixture is made to make them strong and big. We just took care or the hay. We placed them around and took the net off for them to feed on. The nets are burned in a small open fire. It was great, I got to learn a lot about cattles, the mustering and a bit about the lifestyles. T’was great! After feeding the cattles, we just hung around drank (coke for me) and talked. I was hanging out with a bunch of “cowboys”, never would’ve thought I would do this once in my life. We left a bit before 6 as Lauren was working at 7.
This time, it was just Neil, Lauren and I in the truck. Neil was drinking while driving witch I didn’t mind as it is common in small towns, what bugged me was how much he was drinking. The reality here is that everyone drives drunk but there’s no accident, not saying that it’s safe but it is the reality. I just comforted myself by the fact that he’s done that heaps before. Lauren was drinking as well but not driving. We did get back to Croydon in one piece and did not hit any wallabies. I was very grateful towards Neil for letting us experience mustering. He’s 23 years old (most were younger than me), he makes loads of money, has a house to which he’s a landlord, a house in the cattle station and another in some other town. There’s lots of money to be done in mustering. Many teenagers from the country leave school to muster like Jughead, it’s pretty common. Many locals in Croydon don’t know how to read and write except for their signature.
Got back into Croydon and ran everywhere. I did my last laundry, took a shower (still don’t feel 100% clean) went for food and as the café is closed on Sundays went to the diner in the bar but I was not allowed the employee discount as according to my boss, I’m not an employee anymore. I did give my weeks notice and he’s the one who fazed me out of the schedule. I technically am still his employee. He’s such an ass hole. I can’t believe he’s that bad. So I didn’t eat for 2 reasons, I’m not getting the discount and I don’t want to give him any money. I only paid for a drink to the bus driver that is letting me in for free tomorrow and to Neil. Therefore, I only ate a cheese sandwich all day. I’m so hungry after all that “work” I’ve done today. Ah well, I’ll eat tomorrow. He’s also started to treat Lauren and Katie bad. I’m so glad I’m leaving tomorrow, I’m just scared I won’t get paid or that they’ll charge me 50$ per night for the last 3 nights he didn’t put me on schedule. I also hope that he’ll give that letter that my mom sent me here to Lauren so she can send it back to Richard. I just don’t trust Brent at all.
My mom called tonight and it was nice to talked to her but the minute Brent saw me talking on the phone, he asked for it. Such an ass. I’m so tired as I haven’t slept much last night and the night before. I have to get up at 6:30am tomorrow morning as the bus leaves at 7am so I’ll be going to bed early. I’ll be in Cairns tomorrow evening and in Brisbane Tuesday morning. Said goodbye to everyone, did as much of my luggage as I could and now, I’m going to bed. Good night!
Monday, June 4th ‘07
Finish! I’m leaving Croydon this morning. Got up at 6:30am bus leaving at 7. Great! As I was leaving my room, I saw the bus leaving. I ran after it and he stopped. Thank god! I would be screwed if he didn’t take me as I already paid my flight ticket to Brisbane. There’s something about this trip where I always end up running when I’m leaving a city or town in this case it’s like it want’s me to stay. I’m just glad I’m on the bus. Thought, we went to lake Belmore and if he wouldn’t have stopped, I could’ve waited until they came back as they had to come back thru Brisbane to go to Georgetown. I didn’t know they were going there first or else I wouldn’t have ran earlier. Ah well! Didn’t get to see my ex-boss to ask him why he was treating me like crap this week.
This is so nice of the driver to take me in for free. This bus goes from Darwin to Cairns in 4 days touring as the bus driver is also a tour guide. We left at 7am and we’ll get to Cairns at 6pm, it doesn’t take that long on the regular bus. I’m still saving 90$ and getting a free guide. We stopped in Georgetown then Mt. Surprise. Got to eat an apple and a muesli bar. We kept on going until we left the outback and went into the rainforest. It was just great having him explain everything. I also got to get a bit of sleep in the bus. We got some lunch and then went into the tablelands up in the mountains. Passed thru Milla milla which means water in aboriginal dialect and since it’s said twice, it means lots of water. We went to some waterfalls to swim, well only the guide and I then, we went to Inisfail and some other waterfalls in a rainforest, it was nice at first then it rained like hell. It was really nice. I’m really grateful towards the driver for letting me on for free.
Something happened to me that I didn’t expected, one I felt a bit nostalgic leaving Croydon, two I thought a lot about the people I would miss, three I found myself wanting to go back to Esmeralda to do some more mustering. It’s pretty funky to me. On our way to Cairns, we went pass the company where the helicopter guys work. They were really nice and fun! It’s sad ‘cause if I wouldn’t’ve booked my plane ticket earlier, I’d be in a cattle station at the moment. Ah well, that’s life!
Well, I’m back into Cairns and it’s 6pm. I’ll charge my battery, take my bathing suit off and go for food. I hurt my food as I slid on the rock in the water going for a swim and now, I’m really feeling it. Hope the pain won’t last long. Gotta get up at 3am as my bus is leaving at 3:55 to catch my flight at 6:10. Not much sleep for me tonight either as last night I was sleeping well until the girls woke me up. That’s life!
Monday, May 14, 2007
Saturday, May 12, 2007
I'm in Croydon, Middleofnowhere!
Hey all,
Just got a job as a barmaid at the Club Hotel in a town called Croydon. It's a small town in the outback middle of the savannah. It has about 280 habitants, there's one bar/hotel/liquor store, one general store (imaging you're living in the 19th century with today's products), one hospital (one permanant nurse and one doctor that only comes in every 4th night) and lots of drunk people. Mobiles don't work here. So I'm only reachable on the hotel phone (011 61 7 4745 6184). Here's the town website if you're curious : http://www.croydonshire.com.au/ and if you want to see a map of where I am, go to www.whereis.com.au put Croydon in Town and Queensland in state. Else than that, I'm having fun. It's quite an experience and I'll give you more news when I can. Take care!!
p.s. Haven't had much news from you guys, still waiting for e-mails!!!
p.p.s. You can see most of my Brisbane pix thru this link : http://s127.photobucket.com/albums/p136/lindy_rocks/(will be adding more when I can). If put some videos here http://youtube.com/profile?user=lindyrocks
Enjoy!
Just got a job as a barmaid at the Club Hotel in a town called Croydon. It's a small town in the outback middle of the savannah. It has about 280 habitants, there's one bar/hotel/liquor store, one general store (imaging you're living in the 19th century with today's products), one hospital (one permanant nurse and one doctor that only comes in every 4th night) and lots of drunk people. Mobiles don't work here. So I'm only reachable on the hotel phone (011 61 7 4745 6184). Here's the town website if you're curious : http://www.croydonshire.com.au/ and if you want to see a map of where I am, go to www.whereis.com.au put Croydon in Town and Queensland in state. Else than that, I'm having fun. It's quite an experience and I'll give you more news when I can. Take care!!
p.s. Haven't had much news from you guys, still waiting for e-mails!!!
p.p.s. You can see most of my Brisbane pix thru this link : http://s127.photobucket.com/albums/p136/lindy_rocks/(will be adding more when I can). If put some videos here http://youtube.com/profile?user=lindyrocks
Enjoy!
Friday, May 11, 2007
Cairns
Tuesday, May 1st ‘07
Leaving today for Cairns. I’m both happy to go and sad to leave. I’m spending the day packing and getting ready to leave. His parents are really very nice. I wish I could’ve found a house warming gift yesterday. Helmut, Drew’s father is driving me to the train station downtown this afternoon. Patricia, Drew’s mother, just made a sandwich for me. They are great! They’ve really taken care of me. I’m so grateful and a bit embarrassed that I have noting for them.
Oh crap! Helmut just dropped me off and I dropped my glasses in his car. Called Patricia telling her that I’ll wait for him where he dropped me off. Then Drew called me as his father found my glasses in his car and would send them to me by mail. I told Drew I really needed them if he could bring them back to me. I could wait as I was 20mins early for my train and the next one would also get me there on time. So Drew called me again telling me his father’s home and I said ok, I’ll wait for them thru mail. On my way to the train, Drew called me again telling me his father already left the house. Now, I’m really embarrassed to have him do this much traveling. I definitely have to find something.
Now, I’m on the train to the airport. Getting closer and closer to Cairns. In the airport a couple of mins before boarding the plane. Texting Richard a last goodbye. On board the plain on my way to Cairns on a 2h25 min flight. Surprised about how nice I’ve been treated by Virgin Blue. My watch’s bracelet broke and it bugs me to not have a watch. I’ll have to find a replacement bracelet.
Arrived in Cairns waiting for the shuttle to the hostel. I should be happy being on the coast of the great barrier reef but all I can think of is how lonely I feel. I went from having friends and a social life to being alone and restarting all over again. I know that’s the deal that comes with traveling how I do and it’s not a reason to stop traveling but it really does get very lonely and making real good friends is not that easy. I had luck with finding Jane in Poland, Denisa in Greece, Jan-Kees in Holland and Richard, Drew, Mark, etc. in Brisbane. I guess money ( as in work), people (as in family and friends) and possessions ( as in cars, houses, etc.) are the 3 top reasons why people stop themselves from traveling. And then, once again I’m at the “yes it’s for one” when people asks “how many”. I’m feeling a bit depressed now and slightly excited. Such contradiction is hard to deal with and is bumming me out.
This airport is really very small. The smallest commercial airport I’ve seen yet. Right now, I’m waiting for my shuttle to the Cairns City Backpackers, it’s 7:45pm and it’s dark out. I’m a bit hungry as I only ate the sandwich Patricia made for me and a chip I bought at the airport. I just realized looking at this guy smoking not far from me that there isn’t many smokers here in Australia. Shuttle is here time to go.
In the shuttle, a girl from the Gold Coast started talking to me and this German girl got into the conversation. The Australian was staying at a hotel but the German girl and this young English “couple” (boyfriend/girlfriend) were staying at the same hostel. When we got there, the guy at the reception was nice and we had a free diner (comes every night). The diner is at a restaurant somewhere in the city and it closed at 9:30. We decided to all go together but by the time we got there (9:33) the kitchen was closed so we went to McD’s. We were all hungry and we were all hopping to get that free meal. Ah well! We walked around a bit and were happy that a lot of stored were still open at this time then, we went back to the hostel. That about it for today. Lets see what’s in store for tomorrow.
Wednesday, May 2nd ‘07
Barely sleeped, the AC wasn’t very strong but better then noting! T’was very hot and I have huve pain on my left shoulder just like the one I had a couple of weeks ago on my right shoulder. I hope it’ll go away soon as it kept me from sleeping as well.
Today, I’m going to the beach. No beach! OK! All the have here is a lagoon which is manmade and reminds me of the “Beach” in South Bank. This city is a huge tourist trap. There are hundreds of Dive stores, souvenir shops, restaurants and seems like all of those are info tourists as well (makes me wonder how impartial they are with their recommendations). Last night, we walked in front of Asian masseuse that offered a 45min full body massage for 15$.
I’m at the lagoon being burned up by the sun slightly disappointed about the look of this place. I think the tours and dives are the only things here. I might just go to port Douglas where Helmut told me to go. Yesterday, I saw an employment center and I might go there to see what they have to offer. I feel like a hot dog. Wonder where I could get one?!
Didn’t find my hot dog. Went to get that free diner and it was horrible. As I was eating, the German girl saw me and sat next to me. We spend the rest of the evening together walking around town. Went to get a replacement bracelet for my watch. We were looking for that nice little market we saw yesterday and asked some old guys walking around and they walked us there one was Australian and the other one his Italian friend. The Italian was so glad to tell me he lived in Toronto. They were really nice. We then went to the casino to get a look and there was not much there to see. She’s young and blond very blond and makes me laugh a lot.
Thursday, May 3rd ‘07
I’m going diving today. Oh ya! Great Barrier Reef here I come. I’m so happy and excited. Got to the Reef terminal and it’s like an airport where you check in at the counter, they give you your boarding pass and tell you what gate your boat is leaving from. There’s even a reef tax I had to pay.
This boat is going so fast, I’m getting a little sea sick. It’s 10$ more to go with an instructor but I think I can deal with a buddy. Great! (sarcastic) Just got back from my first dive and my buddy (a young Korean girl) didn’t have enough weight and I had to “baby-sit” her. She definitely should’ve gone with the instructor. I spent a lot of time pulling her down and it took a lot of air so we had to get back early and did only a 28 min dive. I did get to see many fishes including Nemo (yah, it’s a clownfish but I think it’s name has unofficially changed). The colors were great and the coral magnificent. I did though accidentally scrape my arm on the coral. I might tell you, it really hurts. Sure hope my buddy from my next dive’ll be better.
I’m also thinking about what I should do tomorrow, where I shall go. Tomorrow’s my last day and I’m doing an expedition of some kind. It’s from 10-4 but then I gotta move forward and go somewhere find a job. Very important. We’ll see when I get back to the hostel.
Did my second dive and was much better not having someone to baby-sit. I got to see a sting ray and no, I did not get stung. I’m still alive to talk about it. The fishes here are huge and the coral reef is magnificent. It’s incredible! All the beautiful colors and corals. It really looks like in the movie Finding Nemo. T’was great! I’m getting a bit seasick from the boats movements.
As we’re getting to port, I’m a bit nervous thinking that I’m leaving tomorrow and have no plans what so ever and no job for that matter. At the hostel, they were not very helpful. I’ll have to call Richard and ask him to go see that guy at Palace Backpackers that was really nice and helpful last time. Richard went but they are closed. He will go again tomorrow morning. That is soooo nice of him! Some times I wonder how I would be holding up here without him around for help and moral support. He really is great!
I’m starting to panic a bit and I’m nervous thought the lack of sleep and being slightly food deprived does not help. I’m starting to brake down a bit. Called my mom for support. I really need a job for a couple of weeks just to save money, feel useful and to know I’m not gonna go home sooner than expected. I think this time I’ll really feel like a big failure if I go home before the end of my visa. I have to do this and stay here all this time, there’s no good reason why I shouldn’t be able to do this. Many have done it and are doing it right now. I just have to get more food in my stomach and better than the free meal I get here. It’s a small portion and doesn’t taste very good so I don’t really eat all of it.
Friday, May 4th ‘07
Should be my last day today. I’ve checked out and I’m going on a tour. We are 4 girls and the male tour guide. So there’s one Finnish, one Irish, one English and me the Canadian with the male Australian tour guide. Quite a bunch! We started with going to a lookout where there was a small waterfall of drinkable water. Our tour guide is young and of course, he went to take a drink to prove it to us but of course it was just because he was thirsty (being slightly sarcastic).
Then, we went to some other waterfalls and this time, he tried to get us to “eat” a liquid coming out of a green ant’s arse. He of course did it more than once. As the start of the walk to the waterfalls, there’s a sing warning us about this stinging tree that in contact can cause severe pain. Apparently, the pain comes back for several months and some people committed suicide because of the pain. Great! I’ll have 2 of those with a plate of green ant’s arse and a drink of this waterfalls water, thank you! We saw an iguana and went swimming in the waterfalls that was drinkable as well. He also got us to slide down them.
Australian man! There is something about Australian man that reminds me of orangutans. Oh ya! They seem to want to impress women with what they can do or how brave they are. Every time one of the does that, I just see a huge monkey yelling and hitting his chest with his hands. They have huge pride! Very proud of themselves. Please not that this does not correspond to Richard. Richard being a great “guy” is more of a tall skinny girl that just happened to be born with guy parts. lol!! Our tour guide is a very typical Australian man, the kind you’d expect to see. Wears the Akubra hat, walks bear feet born and raised here in Cairns knows a lot about nature and the animals and has the personality traits I just described. He also wasn’t bad looking at all.
We went to Lake Placid (note not the one from the movie which is in the US). I ate my first famous Aussie Burger which is a burger with a bout everything in it : egg, pineapple, beef, bacon, lettuce, tomato, beet root (‘cause they don’t just call them beets), onions, cheese and BBQ sauce. The trick is to make all of this fit in your mouth. It was pretty good thought but I might say I’m not a big fan of having the egg in there. While at the restaurant, the owner told our tour guide of this endangered breed of possum that has seeked shelter in his roof. It was a nice black and white possum.
We went for a swim in the lake and our tour guide brought some fries for the ducks he said. We went in the water and he thru the fries on us to get all the fishes and eels next to us. Many of them touched me but only one made me jump when he touched my hand. He liked to try and give us a scare, especially grabbing our feet underwater (Aussie male!).
Last stop was a beach. This beach is surrounded with a shark net for the tiger sharks (they attack humans) and another square net to protect us from the stingers (a type of square box jellyfish) that can kill from their sting and it’s recommended to stay a distance from the net as their “tentacles” can reach 4 meters and they can get caught in the net. Always nice to feel protected by the sharks and stingers but not much from the crocks that lives around here as well.
On our drive back to the hostel, we made a small stop as there was some… yes finally you guys’ll stop bugging me about this, kangaroos well actually they were wallabies which are a smaller version of kangaroos. Happy now!?! Please don’t ask me about them again, I saw some. Done! I’m ending today on this note.
Monday, May 7th ‘07
Didn’t do much this weekend else than wait for Monday to come so I can call that guy from the hostel back in Brisbane to get a job. Great! (sarcastic) Today’s a holiday and he doesn’t work so I’m stuck here for an other day. This is just my luck. I guess I’ll have to wait for tomorrow. Went on the net for a bit. And did pretty much noting all day. I did get a massage this weekend at the night market it’s 15$ for a 40 min body massage. It felt really good.
Oh my god! Just took some money out and there’s over 1000$ missing from my account. I’m freaking out. I can’t breath! I feel really ill in the pit of my stomach. What the hell! Can’t breath, can’t breath! Need air! Freaking out! Can’t get a hold of my mother in Cuba right now! Need help, freaking out! I just called the bank and someone cloned my card. They will reimburse me but I still don’t feel good and I’m still freaking out. Tried to reach my mom but they put me on hold for 3 min and I lost all my credit (18$). Soooo expensive. What am I gonna do!? Money missing, can’t use my bank card anymore, have just a little money on me and in my Aussie bank account. Not feeling good at all. Feeling really sick. Help! Still freaking out! Can’t breath!
Tuesday, May 8th ‘07
Just got woken up by the guy from the hostel and he found me a job 5 hours from here in a hotel bar in Croydon. Leaving tomorrow morning 6H30 as the busses only goes there on certain days. Wow, that place must be really popular. I’m glad I at lease have a job. I need to take a walk as yesterday’s news is still on my mind. Think I’ll got to the botanic gardens.
Got on a bus to the gardens but the driver forgot to stop so went past it and had to go back. Bus stops aren’t easy to find here. Finally in the gardens. It’s really nice, I’m walking in a rainforest. There’s a boardwalk as it’s more like a swamp. So cool! There’s some board telling us to be careful as there Crocs around here. I’d like to see one. Just gotta make sure I spot it before it spots me. There’s this really cool huge spider in it’s web and I stopped to take a pic. It really feels good to walk around here. There not a lot of people and I’m literally in the middle of nature. I love it.
Back at the hostel and met these guys with whom we decided to go for a Dominos pizza as I found a coupon 6,95$ for a large pizza. Nice! Ok, the large pizza is like the size of a small pizza, wonder what the small looks like. Good thing we took 2 and garlic bread. We really enjoyed eating pizza instead of the crappy stuff at the Woolshed and it only cost us 5,83$ each. That’s a good deal! We then watch Cars on my laptop, I didn’t really watch it as I was too busy talking with this gorgeous Swiss guy that spoke French. Really cute and fun to talk with. That’s about it for today, tomorrow leaving for Croydon. We’ll see what’s in store for me next.
Wednesday, May 9th ‘07
What a morning! This trip surprises me and makes me nervous too often. Was taking the 6:24 bus to Croydon that only passes every 2nd day. Got up at 5am, got ready and left. The guy at the hostel told me the bus left from the train terminal which is 2 streets from the hostel, to make sure not to miss it, I left at 5:50am. When I got there, I asked around, checked my ticket and realized that it actually left from the bus terminal which is at the reef fleet terminal. Now, it’s 6:05 and it’s about a 20-25 min walk, without dragging a huge suit case. Left the train terminal, started walking towards the reef fleet terminal trying to catch a cab, 2 streets and 10 mins later, I did. Got me there on time but it was completely empty. Waited and a Greyhound bus stopped at the “gate” where I’m supposed to take the bus, it’s now 6:30am. Waited ‘till everyone got out of the bus and all luggages where taken out then asked the driver if this was my bus. He said no and that the bus would have Trans North written on it. Then, he looked at the front of the bus and there was my bus leaving. Me whom hates running, I ran as fast as I could (have I mentioned it’s raining like hell today). I taught I missed it but it slowed down to let a taxi pass it. I got to it and he started going again so I hit the window. The driver stopped, let me in and went back around to get my luggage. Luckily, the bus driver from Greyhound looked after my stuff, luggage, backpack, bad with water and a bit of food for the road. That was so nice of him. Now, I’m soaking wet and just glad I caught the bus. There was some backpackers whom seemed surprised at how fast I ran as I took off in an instant. Must’ve been quite something for those who watched me. Well, now I’m in the bus and there for about 9 ½ hours.
I’m in the bus and tired to sleep for the first part of it. We went across the mountains thru the rainforest and are now in the savannah. So cool! Not so cool is the dead kangaroos we just pass. I guess that’s life! We are 3 in the bus a fisherman, an aboriginal woman and me, a Canadian “tourist”. We make quite the trio. I’m pretty excited being in the savannah. It’s gonna be quite the adventure. I’m now at the hotel and I was shown to my room by the boss who had to take care of something. Yup! I’m in a small town in the middle of nowhere. This is great! Just wonder how long I’m gonna like this place. Just need to make some friends. At lease, I have my laptop but my mobile doesn’t work here. Hope there some internet here. I think there’s not much to do without a car around here. There’s a music festival at the end of June! I’m in a temp room for a week. Wonder if I’ll get an upgrade or a downgrade from this one. I have a mini fridge, AC and he said he’ll get a TV in here. Pulled the cover and there’s little bugs in my bed, wonder if they’re bed bugs or other kinds that doesn’t matter.
Took a bit of a nap and joined my boss at the bar. He introduced me to some people and I took a beer. Yup, I took a beer felt like I should take his offer not to disappoint him. Then, I played some pool with this guy that works on this “tourist” train that stops here. I surprised myself as I wasn’t that bad. Went to the bathroom and there are frogs “guarding” the entrance at night. OK, sure! Why not! Middle of nowhere, in nature! Well, I’ll go to bed, tomorrow’s my first day of work.
Leaving today for Cairns. I’m both happy to go and sad to leave. I’m spending the day packing and getting ready to leave. His parents are really very nice. I wish I could’ve found a house warming gift yesterday. Helmut, Drew’s father is driving me to the train station downtown this afternoon. Patricia, Drew’s mother, just made a sandwich for me. They are great! They’ve really taken care of me. I’m so grateful and a bit embarrassed that I have noting for them.
Oh crap! Helmut just dropped me off and I dropped my glasses in his car. Called Patricia telling her that I’ll wait for him where he dropped me off. Then Drew called me as his father found my glasses in his car and would send them to me by mail. I told Drew I really needed them if he could bring them back to me. I could wait as I was 20mins early for my train and the next one would also get me there on time. So Drew called me again telling me his father’s home and I said ok, I’ll wait for them thru mail. On my way to the train, Drew called me again telling me his father already left the house. Now, I’m really embarrassed to have him do this much traveling. I definitely have to find something.
Now, I’m on the train to the airport. Getting closer and closer to Cairns. In the airport a couple of mins before boarding the plane. Texting Richard a last goodbye. On board the plain on my way to Cairns on a 2h25 min flight. Surprised about how nice I’ve been treated by Virgin Blue. My watch’s bracelet broke and it bugs me to not have a watch. I’ll have to find a replacement bracelet.
Arrived in Cairns waiting for the shuttle to the hostel. I should be happy being on the coast of the great barrier reef but all I can think of is how lonely I feel. I went from having friends and a social life to being alone and restarting all over again. I know that’s the deal that comes with traveling how I do and it’s not a reason to stop traveling but it really does get very lonely and making real good friends is not that easy. I had luck with finding Jane in Poland, Denisa in Greece, Jan-Kees in Holland and Richard, Drew, Mark, etc. in Brisbane. I guess money ( as in work), people (as in family and friends) and possessions ( as in cars, houses, etc.) are the 3 top reasons why people stop themselves from traveling. And then, once again I’m at the “yes it’s for one” when people asks “how many”. I’m feeling a bit depressed now and slightly excited. Such contradiction is hard to deal with and is bumming me out.
This airport is really very small. The smallest commercial airport I’ve seen yet. Right now, I’m waiting for my shuttle to the Cairns City Backpackers, it’s 7:45pm and it’s dark out. I’m a bit hungry as I only ate the sandwich Patricia made for me and a chip I bought at the airport. I just realized looking at this guy smoking not far from me that there isn’t many smokers here in Australia. Shuttle is here time to go.
In the shuttle, a girl from the Gold Coast started talking to me and this German girl got into the conversation. The Australian was staying at a hotel but the German girl and this young English “couple” (boyfriend/girlfriend) were staying at the same hostel. When we got there, the guy at the reception was nice and we had a free diner (comes every night). The diner is at a restaurant somewhere in the city and it closed at 9:30. We decided to all go together but by the time we got there (9:33) the kitchen was closed so we went to McD’s. We were all hungry and we were all hopping to get that free meal. Ah well! We walked around a bit and were happy that a lot of stored were still open at this time then, we went back to the hostel. That about it for today. Lets see what’s in store for tomorrow.
Wednesday, May 2nd ‘07
Barely sleeped, the AC wasn’t very strong but better then noting! T’was very hot and I have huve pain on my left shoulder just like the one I had a couple of weeks ago on my right shoulder. I hope it’ll go away soon as it kept me from sleeping as well.
Today, I’m going to the beach. No beach! OK! All the have here is a lagoon which is manmade and reminds me of the “Beach” in South Bank. This city is a huge tourist trap. There are hundreds of Dive stores, souvenir shops, restaurants and seems like all of those are info tourists as well (makes me wonder how impartial they are with their recommendations). Last night, we walked in front of Asian masseuse that offered a 45min full body massage for 15$.
I’m at the lagoon being burned up by the sun slightly disappointed about the look of this place. I think the tours and dives are the only things here. I might just go to port Douglas where Helmut told me to go. Yesterday, I saw an employment center and I might go there to see what they have to offer. I feel like a hot dog. Wonder where I could get one?!
Didn’t find my hot dog. Went to get that free diner and it was horrible. As I was eating, the German girl saw me and sat next to me. We spend the rest of the evening together walking around town. Went to get a replacement bracelet for my watch. We were looking for that nice little market we saw yesterday and asked some old guys walking around and they walked us there one was Australian and the other one his Italian friend. The Italian was so glad to tell me he lived in Toronto. They were really nice. We then went to the casino to get a look and there was not much there to see. She’s young and blond very blond and makes me laugh a lot.
Thursday, May 3rd ‘07
I’m going diving today. Oh ya! Great Barrier Reef here I come. I’m so happy and excited. Got to the Reef terminal and it’s like an airport where you check in at the counter, they give you your boarding pass and tell you what gate your boat is leaving from. There’s even a reef tax I had to pay.
This boat is going so fast, I’m getting a little sea sick. It’s 10$ more to go with an instructor but I think I can deal with a buddy. Great! (sarcastic) Just got back from my first dive and my buddy (a young Korean girl) didn’t have enough weight and I had to “baby-sit” her. She definitely should’ve gone with the instructor. I spent a lot of time pulling her down and it took a lot of air so we had to get back early and did only a 28 min dive. I did get to see many fishes including Nemo (yah, it’s a clownfish but I think it’s name has unofficially changed). The colors were great and the coral magnificent. I did though accidentally scrape my arm on the coral. I might tell you, it really hurts. Sure hope my buddy from my next dive’ll be better.
I’m also thinking about what I should do tomorrow, where I shall go. Tomorrow’s my last day and I’m doing an expedition of some kind. It’s from 10-4 but then I gotta move forward and go somewhere find a job. Very important. We’ll see when I get back to the hostel.
Did my second dive and was much better not having someone to baby-sit. I got to see a sting ray and no, I did not get stung. I’m still alive to talk about it. The fishes here are huge and the coral reef is magnificent. It’s incredible! All the beautiful colors and corals. It really looks like in the movie Finding Nemo. T’was great! I’m getting a bit seasick from the boats movements.
As we’re getting to port, I’m a bit nervous thinking that I’m leaving tomorrow and have no plans what so ever and no job for that matter. At the hostel, they were not very helpful. I’ll have to call Richard and ask him to go see that guy at Palace Backpackers that was really nice and helpful last time. Richard went but they are closed. He will go again tomorrow morning. That is soooo nice of him! Some times I wonder how I would be holding up here without him around for help and moral support. He really is great!
I’m starting to panic a bit and I’m nervous thought the lack of sleep and being slightly food deprived does not help. I’m starting to brake down a bit. Called my mom for support. I really need a job for a couple of weeks just to save money, feel useful and to know I’m not gonna go home sooner than expected. I think this time I’ll really feel like a big failure if I go home before the end of my visa. I have to do this and stay here all this time, there’s no good reason why I shouldn’t be able to do this. Many have done it and are doing it right now. I just have to get more food in my stomach and better than the free meal I get here. It’s a small portion and doesn’t taste very good so I don’t really eat all of it.
Friday, May 4th ‘07
Should be my last day today. I’ve checked out and I’m going on a tour. We are 4 girls and the male tour guide. So there’s one Finnish, one Irish, one English and me the Canadian with the male Australian tour guide. Quite a bunch! We started with going to a lookout where there was a small waterfall of drinkable water. Our tour guide is young and of course, he went to take a drink to prove it to us but of course it was just because he was thirsty (being slightly sarcastic).
Then, we went to some other waterfalls and this time, he tried to get us to “eat” a liquid coming out of a green ant’s arse. He of course did it more than once. As the start of the walk to the waterfalls, there’s a sing warning us about this stinging tree that in contact can cause severe pain. Apparently, the pain comes back for several months and some people committed suicide because of the pain. Great! I’ll have 2 of those with a plate of green ant’s arse and a drink of this waterfalls water, thank you! We saw an iguana and went swimming in the waterfalls that was drinkable as well. He also got us to slide down them.
Australian man! There is something about Australian man that reminds me of orangutans. Oh ya! They seem to want to impress women with what they can do or how brave they are. Every time one of the does that, I just see a huge monkey yelling and hitting his chest with his hands. They have huge pride! Very proud of themselves. Please not that this does not correspond to Richard. Richard being a great “guy” is more of a tall skinny girl that just happened to be born with guy parts. lol!! Our tour guide is a very typical Australian man, the kind you’d expect to see. Wears the Akubra hat, walks bear feet born and raised here in Cairns knows a lot about nature and the animals and has the personality traits I just described. He also wasn’t bad looking at all.
We went to Lake Placid (note not the one from the movie which is in the US). I ate my first famous Aussie Burger which is a burger with a bout everything in it : egg, pineapple, beef, bacon, lettuce, tomato, beet root (‘cause they don’t just call them beets), onions, cheese and BBQ sauce. The trick is to make all of this fit in your mouth. It was pretty good thought but I might say I’m not a big fan of having the egg in there. While at the restaurant, the owner told our tour guide of this endangered breed of possum that has seeked shelter in his roof. It was a nice black and white possum.
We went for a swim in the lake and our tour guide brought some fries for the ducks he said. We went in the water and he thru the fries on us to get all the fishes and eels next to us. Many of them touched me but only one made me jump when he touched my hand. He liked to try and give us a scare, especially grabbing our feet underwater (Aussie male!).
Last stop was a beach. This beach is surrounded with a shark net for the tiger sharks (they attack humans) and another square net to protect us from the stingers (a type of square box jellyfish) that can kill from their sting and it’s recommended to stay a distance from the net as their “tentacles” can reach 4 meters and they can get caught in the net. Always nice to feel protected by the sharks and stingers but not much from the crocks that lives around here as well.
On our drive back to the hostel, we made a small stop as there was some… yes finally you guys’ll stop bugging me about this, kangaroos well actually they were wallabies which are a smaller version of kangaroos. Happy now!?! Please don’t ask me about them again, I saw some. Done! I’m ending today on this note.
Monday, May 7th ‘07
Didn’t do much this weekend else than wait for Monday to come so I can call that guy from the hostel back in Brisbane to get a job. Great! (sarcastic) Today’s a holiday and he doesn’t work so I’m stuck here for an other day. This is just my luck. I guess I’ll have to wait for tomorrow. Went on the net for a bit. And did pretty much noting all day. I did get a massage this weekend at the night market it’s 15$ for a 40 min body massage. It felt really good.
Oh my god! Just took some money out and there’s over 1000$ missing from my account. I’m freaking out. I can’t breath! I feel really ill in the pit of my stomach. What the hell! Can’t breath, can’t breath! Need air! Freaking out! Can’t get a hold of my mother in Cuba right now! Need help, freaking out! I just called the bank and someone cloned my card. They will reimburse me but I still don’t feel good and I’m still freaking out. Tried to reach my mom but they put me on hold for 3 min and I lost all my credit (18$). Soooo expensive. What am I gonna do!? Money missing, can’t use my bank card anymore, have just a little money on me and in my Aussie bank account. Not feeling good at all. Feeling really sick. Help! Still freaking out! Can’t breath!
Tuesday, May 8th ‘07
Just got woken up by the guy from the hostel and he found me a job 5 hours from here in a hotel bar in Croydon. Leaving tomorrow morning 6H30 as the busses only goes there on certain days. Wow, that place must be really popular. I’m glad I at lease have a job. I need to take a walk as yesterday’s news is still on my mind. Think I’ll got to the botanic gardens.
Got on a bus to the gardens but the driver forgot to stop so went past it and had to go back. Bus stops aren’t easy to find here. Finally in the gardens. It’s really nice, I’m walking in a rainforest. There’s a boardwalk as it’s more like a swamp. So cool! There’s some board telling us to be careful as there Crocs around here. I’d like to see one. Just gotta make sure I spot it before it spots me. There’s this really cool huge spider in it’s web and I stopped to take a pic. It really feels good to walk around here. There not a lot of people and I’m literally in the middle of nature. I love it.
Back at the hostel and met these guys with whom we decided to go for a Dominos pizza as I found a coupon 6,95$ for a large pizza. Nice! Ok, the large pizza is like the size of a small pizza, wonder what the small looks like. Good thing we took 2 and garlic bread. We really enjoyed eating pizza instead of the crappy stuff at the Woolshed and it only cost us 5,83$ each. That’s a good deal! We then watch Cars on my laptop, I didn’t really watch it as I was too busy talking with this gorgeous Swiss guy that spoke French. Really cute and fun to talk with. That’s about it for today, tomorrow leaving for Croydon. We’ll see what’s in store for me next.
Wednesday, May 9th ‘07
What a morning! This trip surprises me and makes me nervous too often. Was taking the 6:24 bus to Croydon that only passes every 2nd day. Got up at 5am, got ready and left. The guy at the hostel told me the bus left from the train terminal which is 2 streets from the hostel, to make sure not to miss it, I left at 5:50am. When I got there, I asked around, checked my ticket and realized that it actually left from the bus terminal which is at the reef fleet terminal. Now, it’s 6:05 and it’s about a 20-25 min walk, without dragging a huge suit case. Left the train terminal, started walking towards the reef fleet terminal trying to catch a cab, 2 streets and 10 mins later, I did. Got me there on time but it was completely empty. Waited and a Greyhound bus stopped at the “gate” where I’m supposed to take the bus, it’s now 6:30am. Waited ‘till everyone got out of the bus and all luggages where taken out then asked the driver if this was my bus. He said no and that the bus would have Trans North written on it. Then, he looked at the front of the bus and there was my bus leaving. Me whom hates running, I ran as fast as I could (have I mentioned it’s raining like hell today). I taught I missed it but it slowed down to let a taxi pass it. I got to it and he started going again so I hit the window. The driver stopped, let me in and went back around to get my luggage. Luckily, the bus driver from Greyhound looked after my stuff, luggage, backpack, bad with water and a bit of food for the road. That was so nice of him. Now, I’m soaking wet and just glad I caught the bus. There was some backpackers whom seemed surprised at how fast I ran as I took off in an instant. Must’ve been quite something for those who watched me. Well, now I’m in the bus and there for about 9 ½ hours.
I’m in the bus and tired to sleep for the first part of it. We went across the mountains thru the rainforest and are now in the savannah. So cool! Not so cool is the dead kangaroos we just pass. I guess that’s life! We are 3 in the bus a fisherman, an aboriginal woman and me, a Canadian “tourist”. We make quite the trio. I’m pretty excited being in the savannah. It’s gonna be quite the adventure. I’m now at the hotel and I was shown to my room by the boss who had to take care of something. Yup! I’m in a small town in the middle of nowhere. This is great! Just wonder how long I’m gonna like this place. Just need to make some friends. At lease, I have my laptop but my mobile doesn’t work here. Hope there some internet here. I think there’s not much to do without a car around here. There’s a music festival at the end of June! I’m in a temp room for a week. Wonder if I’ll get an upgrade or a downgrade from this one. I have a mini fridge, AC and he said he’ll get a TV in here. Pulled the cover and there’s little bugs in my bed, wonder if they’re bed bugs or other kinds that doesn’t matter.
Took a bit of a nap and joined my boss at the bar. He introduced me to some people and I took a beer. Yup, I took a beer felt like I should take his offer not to disappoint him. Then, I played some pool with this guy that works on this “tourist” train that stops here. I surprised myself as I wasn’t that bad. Went to the bathroom and there are frogs “guarding” the entrance at night. OK, sure! Why not! Middle of nowhere, in nature! Well, I’ll go to bed, tomorrow’s my first day of work.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Left Brisbane now in Cairns
Hi all,
I'm now in Cairns and have very limited internet access and not from my laptop. I went diving on the Great Barrier Reef today and doing some tour tomorrow. Don't know where I'm going next but I'll keep ya posted. I'm alwais reachable on my mobile : 011 61 420 840 581. Take care guys and give me some news!
I'm now in Cairns and have very limited internet access and not from my laptop. I went diving on the Great Barrier Reef today and doing some tour tomorrow. Don't know where I'm going next but I'll keep ya posted. I'm alwais reachable on my mobile : 011 61 420 840 581. Take care guys and give me some news!
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
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