First of all ... 

Well it has come to that time of year again where it is common place to reflect upon the events of last 12 months.  So here are my top three highlights  …. 

Christmas in the UK 2012. 

Ok so technically this was last year, but I am counting this one as my number one event from the past year (and a bit).  I had a wonderful Eastman – Manley family Christmas, with an open log fire, lots of laughter, lots of love and plenty of tipple.  Sadly this was to be the last Christmas that we were all fortunate enough to celebrate with my uncle, John Manley.  What more can be said than he is sorely missed and warmly remembered.  I don’t sway toward religious sentiment often, but in this instance I like to think that my Dad and John are knocking around somewhere together like they did in their younger years.  Not one to dwell on sadness here are the rest of my highlights from home….

·         That first, post 26 hour flight hug from Mum and the big sis, Nikki.

·         Watching Breaking Dawn (Part 2) with Carly Bean.

·         1920’s flapper NYE party with Bex.

·         Watching Breaking Dawn (Part 2) again but this time with Lozza.

·         Being seen off at the airport by Row and her two gorgeous little ladies, Maria and Isabelle. 
          Special highlight was dancing around the airport restaurant like a looney tune with Maria! 

·         Culinary highlights included Marmite on toast (the first thing I had to eat back on British soil)

·         Bacon and egg sandwich (the second thing I had to eat)

·         CHESTNUT STUFFING (and fighting my cousin Mark for it)

·         Having a proper curry and Chinese takeout

·         Consuming waaay too many Sainsburys melt in the middle chocolate puddings (salivating right now           thinking about those delicious little bits of  yumminess)

This is by no means an extensive list of all the wonderful things I did back home… but it’s a good start.

Living out my Cowgirl Dream at Colwell Station. 

I HATE the dentist.  It scares the be-jesus out of me.  The noise, the smell, the white overalls, the out of date magazines in the waiting room, that sucky thing that they jam around in your mouth … HATE HATE HATE it.  But the overwhelming fear I get before stepping into that sterile environment, paled in comparison to the absolute terror I had when I closed the door behind me at the wonderful apartment I resided at in Fitzroy, Melbourne.  (Which also came with the best house mate ever, Alex  … see later highlights).  I mean I was leaving my comfortable life of routine, my fab friends, Ben & Jerrys Cafe and mobile signal to go and live literally in the middle of outback Australia, with a man I had never met, his dogs and a whole heap of cows.  It would have been wrong not to be nervous really.  I pacified myself with the knowledge that I only needed to stick it out for 88 days in order to get my 2nd year visa...  Turned out it was more difficult to leave Colwell Station than it was to get there in the first place, much more difficult.   Credit for all the amazing experiences I had at Colwell go to Luke (aka the boss).  Highlights are too many to mention really and are pretty well documented in previous blog entries.  Instead I will just say a massive THANK YOU to Luke McNeven for making a lifelong dream a reality.

Wonderful People (and characterful animals)

I’ve come to a very significant realisation about my travelling experiences, which goes a little something like this...  I have been blessed to have seen some of the most beautiful and historically significant places in the world and although these are awe inspiring in themselves, for me their true beauty and significance lies not just in the place itself, but in the people who I was able to share their beauty with.  I guess this point is a bit of a cheat, as technically I am not just talking about 2013 highlights but I feel it is an important one to note. In order to keep it 2013 focused though here is a summary of just a few of the characters I have met this year …

·         Alex, the bestest housemate in the world.  Late night trips to the Ben & Jerrys Café are particular             highlights, but just hanging out watching TV and yarning about the days events was wonderful. (Again         this is a wee bit of a cheat seeing as I moved in with you September 2012 buuut whatever … this is             my blog after all!)   

·         Suzy D, Luke’s mum and one of the most welcoming and accomplished women I have met. 

·         Luke, the best teacher I have ever had with unlimited patience and a wicked sense of humour. 

·         Amy, Toby, Charlotte, Cameron, Nena, James, Jasper & Jonny aka the McKinlay  Friday night tennis             crew/ houseparty hustlers/ dirt disco-ers/ races ravers/ rodeo revellers … We shared far too many             Bundy’s and had more fun than you can shake a stick at.  Who knew that you could meet so many                 likeminded wonderful people when living in the middle of nowhere?!

·         Clare & Lou from Glassy’s Hat Pub … FYI guys I LET you win at Monopoly Deal :D

·         Glassy’s Hat Patrons.  Too many to mention individually, but what a bunch of ragamuffins they are,             admittedly some are more tolerable than others and one I am particularly fond of…

Again the above is by no means an extensive list of the fantastic people I have met.  Now this sub title also included “Characterful Animals” so I must not forget the following;

·         Yum Yum, the fluffiest, craziest cat you would ever dream to meet who had an uncanny ability to                 go all Matrix on you and climb the walls.

·         Heidi the Party Cow, totally spoilt with love and leftovers this poddy calf knows how to party, has a             penchant for headwear and can skull a stubby faster than a thirsty cowboy. 

·         Pumpkin & Toffee, mums two beautiful kittens.  Snuggling with them whilst I was back home was just            gorgeous. 

So that’s my top three for 2013.  Hanging out with family, getting to see out a lifelong dream and meeting a wealth of wonderful people along the way.  Not bad really, not bad at all…

Ok so after a few months absence (sorry I never have been good at keeping a diary), and reading some of my friends inspiring blogs (see links below) I am back on the blogging band wagon.  So what’s new?

Well I successfully completed my 88 days regional specified work at Colwell Station, in fact I loved it so much there I stayed well past the 88 days (and probably annoyed the heck out of Luke!).  Things on the station continued much as normal, although following his shoulder surgery Luke decided to be slack and make me do all the heavy lifting.  Quite literally too … my muscles certainly got a work out during my twice weekly lick run, which involved lifting 1+ tonnes of lick onto the back of the Nissan (and then taking it off again to feed the cows).  All those fancy gym classes I’ve been to over the years pale in comparison to doing real physical labour.  It’s probably best that I left when I did otherwise I’d be giving Arnie a run for his money on the bicep front!  Other crazy things I got to do during the final month included; driving the lorry with all my precious little weaners on the back and dropping them off in their new home, North Paddock.  Got a major case of empty nest syndrome the next day when I went out on my water run and they were no longer expectantly stood waiting in the yards for me L.  None the less it was lovely seeing them all running around North Paddock in their little groups, exploring their new surroundings and making friends with the older cool cows.  I wish I had taken a photo of them all when they were on the back of the truck; it was most bizarre looking in the rear-view mirror and seeing all their little heads bobbing in unison as I trundled over the dirt road’s lumps and bumps.

A stand out non station adventure was swagging it up Mount Wills with Jasper, James and Amy.  It really is beautiful up there, and what more do you need in life other than a comfy swag, good friends, some drinks, snags cooked on the fire and toasted marshmallows (remember blow don’t flick ‘mallows when they set on fire – safety first and all).

Anyway, regrettably it was soon time enough to move on from Colwell and seek a new adventure (and fingers crossed paid employment).  Fortunately the stress of trying to get all my worldly possessions into bags weighing no more than 10kg each (WTF?!) diverted my attention away from the devastation of leaving (seriously nearly 3 years into ‘backpacking’ and I still hate goodbyes).  Colwell was an experience that I will never forget, I really did get to explore my cowgirl tendencies – and man did I love it, I wonder if ranches/stations could exist at home? 

A quick touchdown in Townsville saw me readjust to dealing with traffic, people and living in dorm rooms.  I then set off to Airlie Beach to reunite with Amy (the bar maid from Walkabout) and ended up getting a work for accommodation job at Airlie Beach Nomads Hostel.  I started off doing 3 hours of house keeping every day, but soon switched to driving the hostels mini bus, picking up and dropping off people at the nearby Greyhound bus station (much nicer than scrubbing toilets!!).  I met some great people whilst at Nomads, best dorm room ever!! :D  It was also great being back near the sea again, having been landlocked for over 4 months in a very dry part of central Queensland.  Only bugger was that it happened to be stinger season, so you could look all you wanted at the beautiful blue hues of Airlie’s beaches, but getting in the water was a bit of a no no as I had no intentions of swimming the Box and Irukandji jellyfish gauntlet.
So to current times … right now I am living in a small town called Cataby 2 hours North of Perth in Western Australia.  When I say town, all there really is here is the pub (that I am working in), a petrol station next door and the miners camp just down the road.  It is possible that I have actually moved to somewhere smaller than McKinlay.  Crazy.  I’ve been working at the pub for just over a month now and it took no time at all getting used to the daily cleaning and restocking routine.  It has however taken some time to get used to the more eccentric aspects of working in an Outback country pub.  Take Wednesday nights for example, aka Skimpy night or as I refer to it, the-awkward-night-when-I-have-to-work-alongside-a-naked-girl-whilst-serving-drunk-leery-pervy-men.  Buut I can’t complain too much, after all I consciously chose to come here and work, the theory being that I want to experience things that are different to home, and I can say mission accomplished as you certainly don’t get pubs like this back in the UK! 

The clientèle range from people passing thorough, to truckies, farmers and unruly workers from the mine.  The first couple of weeks were challenging, being able to effectively deal with drunk people when you are on the other side of the bar, and sober, is a real skill.  The best tip I’ve had was from Shari the lovely lady that I work with who told me one day;

“Just smile like you have ‘fuck off’ written on your teeth”

Astonished that such a word existed in Shari’s vocabulary, the message took some time to sink in.  But I am pleased to say that I am well on my way to mastering the F*** You smile. 

Other than growing a slightly thicker skin and grinning, A LOT, in the past few weeks I have;

• Met Biker gangs asking for Tomato Juice.  What the?!
• Had a hairy biker slip me his number, for you know … when I am next in Perth and looking for a good time.  <shudder>.
• Experienced mild casual racism on a daily basis.  Especially at the moment during The Ashes, so much so I’ve given up explaining that I am not a POM, and who won the last Ashes series??.
• Been offered a job breaking in horses, by a man who goes by the name of Horse... not dodgy at all!
• Got up close to angry bulls at the Mogumba Rodeo.
• Taken up jogging as a way to get out, keep fit and run off residual stress.
• Cooked a Crayfish.
• Met an interesting fella called Shagga with even more interesting and diabolical stories.
• Cut someone off and felt the backlash of an angry drunk.
• Met some wonderful people and laughed a lot ….
  

Right that’s me for now at least…. If you are still looking for more inspiring and funny tales check out these two blogs by a couple of kick ass chicks I’m fortunate enough to have met;

http://chickinavan.com/ - one woman conquering the USA in her van

http://www.miss-sweet.co.uk/ - living life to the full l