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
