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?
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;
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
http://chickinavan.com/ - one woman conquering the USA in her van
http://www.miss-sweet.co.uk/ - living life to the full l
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