Life in the Hunter

It has been a long time since I last updated this blog. If I’m honest, I kind of forgot all about it. We have been in the Hunter Valley for the last 8 months, sometimes it feels like a lifetime and others as if we arrived only yesterday. Today was our last day there, and as we locked up our house for the last time it was hard not to get emotional. We are now en route to Port Macquarie, a small town on the central coast. It is good to get travelling again but we will miss the friends that we have made during our stay in the Valley.  As there is so much to write about, I guess it is easier to start at the beginning.

We arrived in the Hunter Valley in November after another long, uneventful road trip across the Australian outback. My first impressions of our new home were not the best, and to be honest they never really improved much. Some parts of the Hunter Valley are incredibly beautiful and it is easy to see why it is a popular tourist area, especially for those who love good wine. Cessnock, however, is not one of those places. When we arrived we had one day so find somewhere to live as the hostel we were staying in was fully booked over the weekend. Not a great start. Luckily we had 3 house viewings lined up. One turned out to be with a crazy old lady who was sweet but had inspirational quotes all over the wall "to help her with her stress levels.” The second house we looked at sounded great on paper as it had swimming pool and pool table. However, when we got there all the curtains were drawn, there was a weird old guy sat on the couch who also lived there and the 2 rooms we were shown had enough room for a double bed but not much else.

The last house we went to was the best of a bad bunch and this is the one we chose. It was more expensive than the others but it was a nice place, already furnished and the guy told us that as soon as we moved in he was going to get unlimited, high speed internet which sounded perfect. We had our misgivings as soon as we moved in. The place was a mess. They told us they were in the process of moving in, but after a week we found the guy we lived with was more interested in sitting in his man cave then sorting out his belongings. Even though we were paying rent we had no place to put anything, so all our food and clothes were being kept in our bedroom.

 It wasn’t long before we were looking to move out, and with Richard and Caroline planning on heading back our way, it seemed like a perfect solution for us all to move in together. Unfortunately for us, but happily for them, they got offered a job on the Gold Coast that came with sponsorship so obviously they took it. As we couldn’t afford a house by ourselves we began to look into house sharing again. Just after Christmas, an ad came up on gumtree for a brand new unit. The woman who owned it lived in Sydney and had bought the house as an investment and somewhere for a weekend getaway. It was perfect, she charged us less rent for the whole house than we had been paying for one room and we had it all to ourselves.

Just before we moved in, Dean started his new job at the Crowne Plaza and I headed down to Sydney to spend New Year with my friend Ben from home, and Jules who I met in Karumba. Sadly, Dean had to work but I had managed to guilt trip my bosses into letting me be the only staff member who didn’t have to work NYE. It was a great night, although very drunken and I don’t remember as much of the firework display as I would’ve liked to due to some surprisingly strong vodka drinks.

 

After New Year things started going downhill for me at Harrigans. They were starting to cut everyone’s hours and there never seemed to be enough staff on so we were all unnecessarily stressed. I couldn’t seem to save any money as I was doing stupid split shifts, where I would work for 3 hours, have a 4 hour break, then another 3. Dean was really enjoying Crowne and he was getting a lot of hours and managing to save almost double what I was. On St. Patricks day, him and a lot of his friends from work came to Harrigans for drinks and I joined them after I had finished. Everyone seemed so nice and I loved how they all socialised outside of work. They were saying how they needed more staff so I gave Dean my resume to hand in and a few weeks later I started there. I never regretted my decision. I felt bad leaving my friends at Harrigans but I know I made the right choice. We’ve made some awesome friends at Crowne and I hope it will stay that way for a long time.

At the end of last month, and after more than a year without seeing them, my mum and Megan came over to Australia for a holiday. It was amazing to see them and after a few days it felt as though we had never been apart. They arrived in Sydney on the Thursday and we were really lucky with the weather. After a week of constant rain it was the first  (and only) day that the sun made an appearance. By the time we made it to Sydney, they had already been to see the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. I’m a bit controversial and I don’t really think much of Sydney, I prefer Brisbane by far and I’m looking forward to seeing Melbourne too. After you’ve seen the few touristy bits, there’s not a whole lot to do there for such a big city. We only had 2 days there before we headed up to Cairns, and as the heavens opened once again on the Friday, we were all looking forward to getting back to the 27 degree heat awaiting us in the tropics.

As we touched down in Cairns, I felt like I was home. I love that city. As soon as you arrive it just hits you how much brighter everything is.  The sky was blue, the mountains in the background were covered in greenery and the sun was shining. The house we were staying at in Trinity Beach was beautiful. We had our own pool and a great outdoor deck. That night we had our first family Aussie BBQ.

 

One of the best things about Cairns is that there is just so much to do. I’ve been there 3 or 4 times now and I still haven’t done everything. The first thing we did was go white water rafting. I did it last year and loved it and I knew Meg, Rob and Dean would too. The water levels were a lot higher this year than the last time I’d done it so I enjoyed it even more as well. We had a great day, and it was definitely one of the highlights of the holiday for everyone. We also did the waterfalls tour that I’d done last year as well. We weren’t as lucky with the weather this year though so only Rob and Dean braved the cold water.

 

There were a couple of first time trips for me too, we went to Fitzroy Island and to Kuranda on the skyrail. If you’re scared of heights, the Skyrail is not for you, as myself and Dean soon discovered. To get there you go on an old train, up a rickety mountain track until you are about a thousand feet high. The train kept lurching precariously towards the edge and the track kept creaking, safe to say I was clinging to the edge of my seat for the majority of the journey.

The way back down was even worse, you go in pods like those on the London Eye, down what can only be described as a ski lift. It is about a thousand feet up in the air and every now and then it just stops unexpectedly and you start to drop. Luckily for me, Dean found it even worse and his ranting and raving kept me and mum thoroughly amused. We were literally crying with laughter at some points.

As always, it was hard to say goodbye. The 2 weeks we were with them went so fast and when mum started to choke up it was all I could do to stop myself from breaking down. I held it together but only until we were in the taxi. It took me a few days to get over it and I think it was harder because I knew they were still in the country.

As we landed back in Sydney on a Saturday night, we decided to meet up with Lee and George from the farm and head out on our first night out in Sydney. It was great to see them. I’ve seen Lee a few times now but it was the first time we’d seen George in about a year. We’re not sure if we will see them again so it was great to get the chance to say goodbye properly.

 

It was my birthday a few days later so around 15 of us went for a meal to Harrigans. It was also our chance to say goodbye as we were leaving for good the next day. We were given a photo album from the guys at work, with pictures and messages from everyone. It was so nice and we are planning on filling it up with pictures from the trip we are on now. My friend Sarah, who I thought was currently in London, also made a surprise appearance as she’d flown in the day before to spend a few weeks at home. It was so nice to see her before we left and I hope to catch up with her and Jen when I’m back in the UK.

 

After that mammoth entry, I am about up-to-date on what happened before this trip. It’s taken me a few days to write this so we have already been to Port Macquarie and Coffs Harbour but that is another entry for another day.

Love to you all at home <3

Castaway and Fraser Island

Despite my promise to update more regularly it has been a while since my last post so I will try my best to remember what we have done.

The trip to 1770 was eventful to say the least. Already one of our longest journeys, the trip ended up taking us around 14 hours as I left my bag in a service station and added 4 hours onto the drive.  By the end of it we were so tired we would have slept anywhere, good job really as the reception was shut by the time we arrived so we had to huggle together in a single bed with no sheets. We were meant to be leaving for the castaway trip the next day but as the plane was broken we had to wait until Thursday.

The hostel itself was amazing and nothing like any other hostel we had stayed in. We upgraded the next night and stayed in a double room which was lovely.Unlike a lot of hostels, the rooms were in wooden cabins with 2 rooms per cabin and each room had their own toilet and shower. The grounds where it was set were really pretty, and it had an outside screen, a wood fire, lake, hammocks and bbqs.

The town of 1770 was pretty boring with nothing there except a local supermarket and the travel agents. I wouldn't recommend stopping off there unless going on the trip.

Although we had had to wait until Thursday to go on the trip, we were all glad we did. We got flown over in a tiny 4 seater plane to a private beach that could not be reached any other way. Once there all you were left with was wood for the fire, ingredients to make a stew, tents to sleep in and a few beach activities such as sea kayaking and a few bush walks.

The area was lovely and views from the plane were stunning. Plus the pilot kept doing tricks which scared the life out of me but that Dean loved. I think he could've crashed the thing and Dean would've been happy just to be back in a plane again!

After we spent the night there we got flown back early as we had another 5 hour drive that day to get to our next stop at Rainbow Beach. This is where we were spending the night before leaving for Fraser Island. Even though we left early, we still only just made it in time for the briefing.

Fraser Island is the world's largest sand island. The best way to explore is to go on a 4WD tag-along tour which is what we did. Basically, you get split into groups of 8, otherwise known as your 'Fraser Family' and get your own landcruiser to drive around the island. You get enough food for 3 days and all sleep at the private camp site. It is called a tag-along tour as even though you are driving your own car, you are led by a tour guide and there are 4 vehicles in total.

The first day started off well. Our group was made up of me, Dean, Richard, Caroline, 2 deutch girls, a guy from Hong Kong named Jeremy and a german girl called Cindy. The best part was the trip up to Lake Macenzie, an off road track that was pretty crazy. It had lots of dips and we found ourselves getting thrown off our seats a few times. This wasn't helped by the fact that it was one of the deutch girls driving and she didn't have much experience driving a manual car. That said we made it to the lake in one piece.

Unfortunately, on the way back we weren't so lucky. Dean was driving and we had decided to take the track fast and hard as everyone was enjoying getting chucked around.This meant that the 2 deutch girls were sat at the back, the worst possible seats in the jeep if you don't like getting thrown about. what we didn't know was that one of the girls had a weak spine and as we went over a particularly bad bump her back got jarred and she was in a crazy amount of pain. We were right at the top of the track as well and so she had to be given really strong pain killers and moved to the lead vehicle. It then took us 2 hours to get down a track that should've taken 20 minutes at the most. We were met at the bottom by an ambulance and she was taken to hospital, along with her friend.

We didn't get to camp until around 7.30, by which time it was pretty dark and we were all starving, tired and completely sick of being in the car.

The next day, Neil and Vicki, a scottish couple that we had met the day before joined our group. They had been in the lead car before but they were with a group of french that spoke little english. Plus they hadn't been able to drive the day before and none of us wanted to drive anymore so it worked out well.

It was through these two that I heard about the farm where I am currently finishing off my farm work but I will get to that later.

The next 2 days were pretty disappointing. The weather took a turn for the worst and fraser island is really a place to be enjoyed in the sunshine. As it was so cold, none of us wanted to go swimming- one of the highlights of the trip - and as we viewed the famous wreck of the S.S Maheno, we were all doing our best to ignore the wind and rain. I can see how people could love the island, it is unusual and some of the spots are beautiful, it is just a shame that the weather ruined it for us.

The next stop for us was Brisbane. I had been looking forward to this and it didn't disappoint. Although it is a big city, it didn't feel too big. Unlike london, it was really modern and I just thought it was really pretty. There were random pieces of art dotted all around the centre of town and the walk along south bank was really picturesque - probably one of my favourite parts of the city. I also got the chance to catch up with Laura and Keziah, the two girls I met on my very first day in Oz.

From here we were supposed to make our way down the rest of the East Coast and on to a place called Cessnock, near Sydney. I had a job lined up in an irish bar/ restaurant/ hotel there. However, after Neil and Vicki told us about the farm here on Kangaroo Island I decided to try my luck and see if they had any work here. We were in luck and they had work for both of us. Although it is pretty much only working for accomodation it meant that I could get the rest of my regional work done so that I can stay for a second year. It took us 2 ad a half days of driving through the outback to get here. We crossed 4 states and drove over 2,000km. It has been worth it though. The boss is really laid back and work is pretty easy, if just a little boring.

We also got to spend the night in Adelaide where I caught up with an old school friend who worked at the zoo there. He got us in for free which was pretty cool and he took us out around town that night. It was good to be out and experience adelaide like the locals do, rather than visiting the usual backpacker places. It was the first time i'd worn heels in 6 months, so that was different!

Anyway, as this is a mammoth entry i'll leave it there. As it is, we only have a few weeks left here then i head to Cessnock to start my work at the bar where I will stay until I come home in April. I'm looking forward to it as we will also get the chance to catch up with some friends from the first farm while we are in Sydney.

Much love to everyone who has bothered to read this essay of an entry.

xxx

Airlie Beach and the Whitsunday Islands

Airlie Beach is beautiful, one of the most picturesque places I have visited in Australia so far. As we drove in along the coastal cliffside road we were greeted with an unbelievable view. Hundreds of gleaming white boats were moored up in the marina and the sun was just starting to set over the bright blue water.

This is what I came travelling for, to see places like this. The whole town is really laid back and our hostel was no different. It was so unlike the other hostels I have stayed in. Outside there were hammocks, big enough for 2 people to lie in (we know, we tried) that over looked the bay. On a night we would just lie there and look at the stars,

On Friday morning we parked up the car and walked along the boardwalk to the marina where we were to catch our boat, the Wings 3. We had decided to avoid the notorious party boat and opted for a more relaxed trip instead and we were glad we did. The boat held around 22 passengers and three crew members. Although we were expecting it to be a lot bigger, it was still deceptively spacious.  The group we went with was an eclectic mix made up of every nationality. Everyone was really friendly and the crew were great.

 

In typical Lucy style, within the first half an hour of being on the boat my bikini top popped open and I flashed to half of the boat. Mortified doesn’t even come close to how I felt but everyone else, Dean in particular, thought it was hilarious!

Embarrassing moment aside, we had chosen the perfect weekend to go sailing. There was no wind and the sea was like glass, good news for our seasickness as this is one of the things we had been worried about beforehand.

Our first port of call was the famous Hayman Island. This is where the rich and famous come and stay when they visit the Whisundays. It is privately owned and Rich, one of the crewmen, told us that Will Smith had once paid $40,000 to dive there. Luckily for us, the other side of the island is a national park and owned by the Australian government, meaning we could moor up the boat and go snorkelling.

As the water was so calm, it also meant it was perfectly clear. This by far stands out as my favourite snorkelling spot so far. It was so relaxed and peaceful and the fish we saw were beautiful. Now if I’m honest, I kind of had the attitude that a fish is a fish, you see one and you’ve seen them all but some of the ones we saw there were really incredible.

That night, as we were sailing towards our overnight destination and watching the sun go down, we saw Dolphins jumping next to the boat. I have seen dolphins in marine parks but never in the wild so this was really special for me and I think I will remember it for a long time.

 

The next morning, we woke up early to go and explore the stunning Whitehaven Beach, known for its beautiful white sands. It didn’t disappoint. The water was crystal clear and the views from the lookout were spectacular.  As far as views go, this is going to be pretty hard to top. Whitehaven is paradise.

 

 

Although nothing could top the morning, the afternoon was also pretty incredible as I saw my first sea turtle. It was huge and nothing like I expected. I have been diving and snorkelling about 4 times now and I had missed them every time so this was definitely one of the highlights of the trip for me.

We are now back on dry land and at the beginning of an eight and a half hour drive to our next stop at 1770. This is where Captain Cook first landed when we discovered Australia. We are supposed to be going on the castaway experience but have been told that the plane that takes us there is broken so we aren’t sure if we will be able to now. Both myself and Dean will be pretty gutted if this is the case as it is one of the things we were both looking forward to.

Anyway, that’s all for now. If we don’t get to go on the trip I’ll update again after Fraser Island this weekend.

Much love to you all,

Luce xxx

Dalbeg and life after the farm

Life in Dalbeg was...interesting. When Amy and I pulled up at the Dalbeg Inn, I immediately thought I had landed in my own personal version of hell. My phone had stopped picking up signal about 5 minutes before we reached the farm which meant no calls, texts or, worst of all, internet.

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I thought of the 'Dalbeg Inn'. I was used to outback pubs looking a little run down, even by English standards. That said, I was still expecting the Inn to at least be an Inn. What greeted us was a house with a shop/ common room tacked on to the side of it and a shed in which we were to pay $140 a week to sleep in.  One look at Amy's face and I knew she was wondering whether we had made a mistake going there.

That said, we soon settled in. The '1st generation' only had a couple more days left at work before getting their 2nd year visas signed off and everyone was in a really good mood.They all told us they had loved working on the farm and that their three months had gone so fast. They warned us that the boss was very strict and that at least half of the group they had started with had either quit or been fired. Luckily, the first week was pretty easy, especially for me (I had something like 5 days off out of 7) and we were still getting signed off for the days we didn't work. We were drinking every other night for various leaving parties and the days we worked we were usually finished by about 2 so we spent the rest of the day lazing about or heading into town.

After the old group left, the work started picking up and some days could be really tough. We were working from 7.30am to 6.30pm at night and everyone was exhausted. The only thing getting us all through was the thought of our second year visas and everyone else on the farm. In a short time we had become a family, eating and socialising together.

Unfortunately, 7 weeks into our stay, there was a crash in the market and our boss was failing to make a profit. We all went out one morning and when we came in for lunch she called a meeting and told us that she was closing the farm effective immediately. I was ok, I had another 7 months to do another 6 weeks worth of regional work and it meant that I could leave with Dean, the guy I had been seeing on the farm. He had already got his visa and was due to leave a month before me so in some ways it worked out well for me. It wasn't such good news for some of my friends who didnt have a lot of time to complete their regional work. We all had one last party that night to say goodbye before a group of us headed back up to Cairns the next morning.

As you all know, I had visited Cairns twice previously but I was happy to go back as I really love the place. I wanted to show it off as most of the people we were travelling with had never been and I wanted them to love it as much as I did.

While on the farm I had promised Dean that I would do a skydive once we got to Cairns so when we got there that was one of the first things we looked into. There was also a number of things we wanted to do as we travelled down the East Coast so myself, Dean and our friends Caroline and Richard all went into the travel agent and booked a reef trip, a 14,000ft skydive, a trip to fraser island, a trip around the Whitsundays and a castaway experience.

I had already been scuba diving on the great barrier reef but I didn't mind doing it again. I think I actually preferred it this time as I was more used to the feeling of breathing underwater so I could relax and enjoy it.

The thing I was most scared about was the skydive. We rang up on the Monday and booked it for the following Saturday. At the time, it felt like it would never happen but all too soon it was upon us. Saturday morning my stomach was in knots and by the time we were in the bus on the way to the airport my nerves had really kicked in. My instructor was great. He was a dick and kept winding me up, but in a way it made me relax. I think just having someone reassuring me would've just made me over think it all, he kept me distracted. The worst part was watching two girls jumping at 11,000ft.in what felt like no time at all we had climed the other 3,000ft and it was my turn. Happily, my friend Rich had to go first and watching him look so scared kept me from thinking about how scared I was. It turned out I didn't really have time to be scared anyway. Before I knew it I was out of the plane and trying to remember how to breathe, not easy when you are falling 200km an hour.

It was the most incredible experience of my life and by the time I reached the bottom I just wanted to go up and do it again, I can see how people get addicted. The one thing I was disappointed about was that I couldn't afford the video and if I do it again I will definitely get one.

I am now in Airlie beach for 2 days before going sailing around the Whitsunday's on Friday. The place is absolutely beautiful and the hostel is the most chilled out place I've stayed since I came to Oz. I've been here five months now and I am excited I am finally getting to travel as I haven't been able to since I arrived.

Once we finish our trips I am going straight back to work so I am treating this as a mini holiday.

Thinking back, I have done so much other stuff but this is turning into one mammoth entry so I will make the conscious effort to update more in future.

Hope everyone is well at home.

Much love to you all,

Luce xx

Ravenswood and my 23rd

I can’t believe it’s been nearly a month since I last updated, no wonder Alex has been bugging me to do more blogs ha

Just re-read my last entry and there’s quite a lot to update everyone on.  After spending 2 weeks and far too much money in Cairns, me and Amy had been ringing farms around Queensland trying to get a job on a farm. Everyone we spoke to told us to ring back in two/three weeks. We were just about to give up when we got a break, a pub in a small town near Townsville badly needed workers and they’d agreed to sign off our paperwork to enable to get us our second year. This was risky because bar work doesn’t qualify you for a second year, no matter how remote the town is that you work at. In order to get around this, the owner said he would claim we were doing maintenance work. So, a few days later Amy, Alex and I headed off down the coast in awesome paul (Alex’s car) and came down to Townsville. We had been out the night before for the final state of origin, which was a really good night but we all felt slightly delicate the next day so the drive took a little longer than it normally would. We got to Townsville around 4pm and after a quick nap we headed out for some food and to explore. Amy and I were getting picked up early the next morning so we didn’t get to spend as much time in Townsville as we’d have liked but we both said we will go back there for a few days once we finish work.

The town we got a job in is called Ravenswood. It is another old mining town but it is even smaller than either of us had thought. The population here is a mere 150, compared to Karumba’s 500 and minus the tourist trade. It is so quiet here. We can go a whole day without serving any customers and the hours are long. We start at 9am most days and won’t get finished till around 10pm. Me and Amy usually relieve each other for a couple of hours each afternoon but we are still doing a lot of hours for hardly any money. It quickly became clear to us that we wouldn’t be able to complete three months here and we kept up the search for regional/farming work.

There have been some good bits to working here. The owners, Jill and Charlie are great. They look after us like we are their own kids and they do so much for us. We have ended up buying one of their old cars from them and they dropped the price to $800 for us. It needed a bit of work but we are hoping that after parts and registration it will still come to around $2000 so its cost us less than a $1000 each all in all. We also ended up getting a new job on a farm through some people who came in to the bar. We are starting there on Saturday, the money is better and it will enable us to legitimately get our second year visa signed off so we are happy about that. It is only an hour and a half drive from where we are now so we are hoping the car is up and running by Friday.

Last Wednesday was my 23^rd birthday and although it was sad that I wasn’t around my friends and family at home I still had a great day. We went into Townsville on Tuesday night and my girls treated me to an indian which was lovely. We then got ready to hit the town for the first time. That night reminded me why I love backpacking. While me and amy had been working, Alex had stayed in Townsville and had made friends with some people at the hostel so we got introduced to them and they got dressed up for my birthday as well and we all started playing drinking games. As we sat there more people came over and got involved and by the time we were ready to head out there was a good group of us. They all sang happy birthday to me at midnight and the night out was good. Townsville nightlife isn’t as good as Cairns but the people I was with made up for it. I didn’t get my cards from my mum and everyone until Friday and my parcel only arrived yesterday (Monday) but that just made it feel like my birthday lasted longer. My present from my unorganised sister is still to come too so that’s something else to look forward to J

Although we are looking forward to starting our farm work and meeting the people we are going to be working with, both Amy and I have spoken about how we are starting to miss travelling and we are hoping to get out and about on our days off now that we have the car. We have a plan to road trip up to Darwin then down to Alice springs and Ayers rock once we finish working so we will see how that works out.

Think that’s all for now. Thanks again to everyone for my birthday wishes, I miss you all lots!

Big love xxxxx

Goodbye Karumba, hellooooo Cairns!

So after hardly updating my blog in the past 2 months, I find myself writing a new entry after only 2 weeks.

Although we knew it wouldn't be the same in Karumba after our little group left, Amy and I were still undecided about what to do. We both needed the money and we knew our manager Dawn was relying on us. That said, we needed to start our regional work to get our second year visa and we were finding it increasingly hard to get on with our manager Tim.

Tim is a 32 year old man with no hope of ever finding a wife! He does not have one single attribute. He is offensively ugly, way out of his depth in the position of manager and has no discernible personality or social skills. He is detested by most of the locals and only has a job because his dad knows the owner.

It was the night before Alex, Rachael, Jules and Dean were leaving Karumba and it was the second round of the State Origin. Most of us were working but our friends from Karumba, Dan, Robbie,  James, Issac, Isaac, Smeady and Reynolds etc were all in the pub. They had already been warned by Tim that if they made too much noise they would be barred, automatically putting them in a bad mood. It didn't matter though, it was such a good atmosphere and although we didn't finish work till late, the shift went really quickly. We had already planned an after party at the huts. I wanted to be in bed by one as I was up early the next day, but after not finishing work until midnight, I knew that wasn't going to happen. I think I got to bed about 4.30, standard. And I was at work 10-3 then 5-close :(

The night was pretty eventful, after being asked to leave the huts by the police because a bush fire had broken out, we decided to go back to the staff house. We aren't allowed to take people back to the staff house so we were just sat outside in the garden, with the music on quietly, all just having a chilled drink. The next thing I know, Tim is coming out screaming at everyone to 'get the fuck out of my house' and telling me to fuck off etc. I was so mad. Not surprisingly. the guys got so pissed off and a few of them got up in his face. I don't know what he expected, it was 3am and they had all been drinking since 11am the day before. If he had come out and asked us to leave in a nice way there wouldn't have been an issue. Anyway, we all left and went back to Dan and Robbie's house and the night ended pretty well. For some reason I decided I was a pro basketball player and we ended up having a game, I was shocking, even with my granny throws I was way off! I don't remember much after that but I woke up at 8am, still drunk in robbie's bed with Rach. Fun times! Poor robbie had had to sleep at james', ooops.

I got to work the next day and was told to expect a visit from the police. Tim had got the boys done for getting up in his face and had barred them for 12 months!! after an angry phone call from the owner about taking them back to the staff house I decided enough was enough and me and Amy agreed to leave. We told Dawn the next day that we loved the job but we could no longer work for Tim. She was understandably upset after losing so many staff in the space of a week but the atmosphere had just gotten so bad there was no other option.

2 days later, we woke to find Tim's dog had been through the bins and there was rubbish everywhere!! We all left it as it was his responsiblilty to clean up. When I got home that night I was just getting in to bed when I realised my bed was soaking underneath my pillows but the pillows were dry. I text amy to see if she had spilt anything. She text back saying she hadn't but had seen it earlier and assumed I had spilt something. Earlier that day, I had noticed that there were a pair of bloody pants on the porch that had obviously been thrown away. When amy got to work that night she said she had found a pair stuffed into her hand luggage. I asked her what they looked like and it was the same pair! we soon put 2 and 2 together and realised it wasn't a coincidence. We then found more rubbish stuffed under her sheet. We were both livid and rang tim to confront him. He denied it but he was the only one in the house at the time and was the only one with a reason. I confronted him the next morning and he admitted it. He said I deserved it and called me a little bitch. I have never been so angry.

We went straight to work and told Dawn who in turn phoned the owner. He was told to apologise but as Dawn was going on holiday this week and there was noone else with a license he held on to his job. It made me even more angry that Dean had been sacked for eating in the smoking area but that he can do things like that, leave the bar open full of money, steal cases of beer and turn up 2 hours late to work and still keep his job!

I am actually a little bit gutted to have left Karumba and I'm really going to miss some of the people I met there. On the last Thursday before we left we went for an all day drinking session at the other bar in town. Some of the boys came over and we had a really good night. We were in bed by about 11 but we were trashed! Amy had written some notes to Tim and she went into the tavern and read them to him in front of the customers, very amusing but far from professional haha.

So last saturday we were up bright and early to catch the bus back to cairns. We wasted no time and hit the town that night. It was Quebec's national day so we all dressed up in blue and white and Alex painted the canadian symbol all over us. It was a great night and it was so good to be back in a proper bar and just dance.

On sunday we decided to go for a 'quiet few' at the Pier bar as this is where the australians hang out and it was meant to be a good night. We met up with Teli, a miner from Karumba and he ended up coming out with us. It was another messy night, the Pier bar was busier than we thought it would be and then we went to some other bars that we hadn't been to before. It was nice going out with a local and doing something different. We still ended up in Gilligans just in time for the wet T shirt competition. I thought the boys eyes were going to drop out of their heads. Very amusing!

We've also taken the chance to blow some hard earned cash and have been shopping for the past 3 days. Its been nice to spend without worrying.

We've been in touch with a guy we met in Karumba and we think we have another job lined up which should count for our second year so fingers crossed that comes off.

Big congratulations to the lovely Mister and Miss Al who have just got engaged. Looking forward to a good old skype with you later.

Big hugs to everyone at home.

Love and miss you all lots xxx

Aye Karumba!!

I've been in Karumba a month now so I thought it was time i updated the blog. I haven't felt the need to update sooner as I haven't really been doing much and I don't want to bore people back home.

That said, I guess Karumba is a fairly big part of my oz experience so I don't want it to go by undocumented. I've made some great friends here and I think we will stay in touch after we go our seperate ways.

Last Tuesday was Amy's 23rd birthday so we surprised her with a sunset crab and croc tour and a party at the house.

Luckily, the 4 pommes, me amy, rach and Jules all had the night off to spend it with her. The tour was great. We didn't see any crocs but we got lots of free alcohol and we were on the water as the sun went down.

We'd spent the day decorating the house and getting ready for the party. we went all out and put up balloons, streamers and our own union jack flag. We also made vodka jelly and our version of pass the parcel. I couldn't believe that our german and french canadian housemates had never played pass the parcel! talk about deprived childhoods!

The party ended up being so much fun. The chefs cooked up a feast and there was more than enough alchohol to go around. Plus we all woke up with no hangovers, winner! vodka jelly is clearly the way forward ha

We've also managed to make friends with some of the local lads. They remind me of my male friends from Scunthorpe -Very loud but totally harmless. They definitely liven up the tavern a bit. They invited us to a party they were having on the beach last saturday so we all went down for a few hours. There was a fire and music, all you need really. It was just a shame I had to work at 8am on sunday so we couldn't stay longer. Hopefully we will be able to do it again before we leave.

One bad thing is that Dean got sacked last night. We both arrived at the same time and we get on really well so i'm gunna be sad to see him go. We are all so mad about it because he didn't even deserve to be sacked. it was just our shit manager trying to look good in front of the owner and make an example out of him. It was so unfair. It wasn't even worthy of a warning and yet they fired him.

To make it worse, him and Jules have been seeing each other so she is going with him. She wasn't getting enough hours anyway but because she had him here she stuck around. Now she doesn't have anything to stay for so she is leaving Thursday with Alex and Rach. I'm going to be sad to see them all go and we are going to really struggle with so few staff.

A guy I met in Cairns called Matt came up to start work on Wednesday so at least thats one more person here. Not sure what he will think of it but hopefully it will all work out.

I'm not sure how long I'm going to stay in Karumba for. It wont count for my second year visa and me and amy both want to get started on that. It is a shame because we like it here (most of the time) but there's no point staying here for 3 months to have to go somewhere else for another 3. We've been told that theres a pub in a place called croydon 200 km away that would sign off the visa if we worked there. Only thing is amy doesn't have 3 months as she has to go home in September for her Dad's birthday before coming back out again. We also have a contact that we made in the bar of someone that owns a cattle farm so we might call him and go work there instead. It is just deciding when to leave. We were thinking the 5th July but one pay day later would be the19th, the day after my birthday. It would be easier to be here for that but probably have a better night out in Cairns or
somewhere. So lots to think about atm!

Anyway, think thats everything for now.

Love and miss everyone lots xxx