I just wanted to give you guys a quick update on whats going on in my life at the present. I am currently working again, this time in a small town called Jabiru in the Kakadu National Park. The place is called the Aurora Kakadu Lodge and I'm managing their bar/bistro. I know, I know...how on earth did I get qualified to tell people what to do...especially when it comes to bar tending. The answer is I have no idea but I'm having fun nonetheless. I'm planning on being here till the beginning of November probably, and then hopefully meeting up with my parents somewhere in the south of Australia. I will post pictures of where I work etc when I get the chance, but I thought I should fill you all in.
For those of you that are reading this blog for advice on traveling and finding work in Australia. I managed to find this job through the Backpacker Job Placement Office in Darwin. The woman who works there is very nice, and they only charge you $10 to look for a job for you and $50 if they find you a job and you get hired. Overall I think its a pretty good deal and they managed to find me a job the same day that I turned in my resume. So good luck and happy job hunting!
Until next time!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
2 Weeks with the Fam in Brisbane and Cairns
I'm not even going to apologize guys...you've heard it enough. So here's the next installment.
For 10 days during the end of June I spent some time with my Grandma, second cousin...and a whole bunch of lovely relatives that I really don't know how they're related to me. First we hit Brisbane, to hook up with Melissa, my second cousin who is living in Brissy and going to law school, and to give those who had just flown from the states a few days to adjust to the time change. After that we headed to Cairns for some serious beach time, complete with snorkeling, outback tours, and driving around like maniacs. Instead of giving you a play by play of the time (mostly cause its been a while and I can't remember exactly what happened when) I'm just going to post pictures and describe whats going on in the them etc. So enjoy!
My crazy 'sort of' relatives
My Grandma feeding the birds at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane
Me petting a Kangaroo at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (p.s. I am in love with kangaroos, they're faces are like little old man faces..its adorable)
A wombat for Emily!
Me holding a Koala...they are surprisingly heavy for being so small, but cute nonetheless.
All of us on the beach in Palm Cove (the small town we stayed in about 30 minutes from Cairns)
Obligatory photo of Hartley's Croc Farm...we didn't actually go there but it's my Dad's name
The whole gang at an abandoned mine that we visited on our Outback Tour, we also visited a very pretty cave, a lake...and pretty much no actual outback. Good thing I'd been on the west coast for the past 3 months and had seen plenty of outback.
All dressed up in our stinger suits and ready to go snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. We went with a company called Quicksilver which I would highly recommend. It was around $200 for the whole day, but they take you out to this floating island type thing which has all kinds of different things to do. Like snorkeling, and underwater viewing area, a semi submersible, and then diving and helicopter rides for an extra fee. Definitely worth the money.
My Grandma went on the helicopter ride...and here's a picture from the air of the floating island and the surrounding reef.
So that was pretty much our family adventure in Brisbane and Cairns. It was great to see everyone and spend some time away from the hostels and cup-o-noodle dinners. If you get the opportunity to go to either place I definitely recommend the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and the Quicksilver Tour in Port Douglas.
Until next time!
For 10 days during the end of June I spent some time with my Grandma, second cousin...and a whole bunch of lovely relatives that I really don't know how they're related to me. First we hit Brisbane, to hook up with Melissa, my second cousin who is living in Brissy and going to law school, and to give those who had just flown from the states a few days to adjust to the time change. After that we headed to Cairns for some serious beach time, complete with snorkeling, outback tours, and driving around like maniacs. Instead of giving you a play by play of the time (mostly cause its been a while and I can't remember exactly what happened when) I'm just going to post pictures and describe whats going on in the them etc. So enjoy!
My crazy 'sort of' relatives
My Grandma feeding the birds at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane
Me petting a Kangaroo at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (p.s. I am in love with kangaroos, they're faces are like little old man faces..its adorable)
A wombat for Emily!
Me holding a Koala...they are surprisingly heavy for being so small, but cute nonetheless.
All of us on the beach in Palm Cove (the small town we stayed in about 30 minutes from Cairns)
Obligatory photo of Hartley's Croc Farm...we didn't actually go there but it's my Dad's name
The whole gang at an abandoned mine that we visited on our Outback Tour, we also visited a very pretty cave, a lake...and pretty much no actual outback. Good thing I'd been on the west coast for the past 3 months and had seen plenty of outback.
All dressed up in our stinger suits and ready to go snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. We went with a company called Quicksilver which I would highly recommend. It was around $200 for the whole day, but they take you out to this floating island type thing which has all kinds of different things to do. Like snorkeling, and underwater viewing area, a semi submersible, and then diving and helicopter rides for an extra fee. Definitely worth the money.
My Grandma went on the helicopter ride...and here's a picture from the air of the floating island and the surrounding reef.
So that was pretty much our family adventure in Brisbane and Cairns. It was great to see everyone and spend some time away from the hostels and cup-o-noodle dinners. If you get the opportunity to go to either place I definitely recommend the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary and the Quicksilver Tour in Port Douglas.
Until next time!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Coral Bay and Beyond Part 2
After having such a wonderful time swimming with the whale sharks the 5 of us decided to go with the same company (Coral Bay Adventures) and swim with the manta rays the next day. The day started off the same with a morning snorkel before the spotter plane took off to spot the manta rays. That snorkel was definitely the most incredible one I have ever done. First I saw a reef shark...which was a bit scary to be honest. And then I saw a giant loggerhead turtle. It was the most peaceful, majestic creature I have ever seen and it was a privilege to have swum with it. After we got out of the water one of the guides told us that she had been doing this tour and diving in the area for 5 years and she had only swum with loggerheads three time, so we definitely got lucky.
Our turle
It was huge!
Can you tell I really liked it?
Right after we got out of the water and got under way again the captain came down to tell us the spotter plane had seen some manta rays. It didn't take us nearly as long to get to where the rays were as it did to get to the whale sharks so we didn't have too long to get nervous. Soon we were in the water, looking down this time, and searching for the rays. The manta ray that we spent the next hour or so with was about 3 meters across with a beautiful pattern across its back. Our guide told us that manta rays are often very curious and social. The rays can only see to the side and down when they are swimming upright so when they turn upside down underneath you its so they can look at you. This manta ray was very social and kept turning to look at us and came right up to us several times. After a while it settled down on the bottom and headed to a cleaning station where the little fish clean out its mouth. We watched it for nearly an hour just swimming around on the ocean floor. After a while we decided to let it be and headed back in for another lovely lunch, another snorkel, and then back to shore.
Upside down Manta
Our Manta
The day with the manta rays was another incredible experience. To be honest I think if I had the choice to only do one thing in Coral Bay it would be to swim with the mantas. The whale sharks were wonderful but it was such a hectic experience, whereas the day with the mantas was so calm and you really go to spend time with the animals.
---------------------------------
A day or so after we did the manta ray tour Andrea, Lauren, Rachel,Leroy and I decided to take a three day trip up to Exmouth. Exmouth itself is a pretty small dumpy town but about 20 k's out are some gorgeous beaches. Because of this we decided to rent a car for one day (cost about $30 each). Renting the car was definitely the way to go because we couldn't have found enough to do to spend a whole day in Exmouth. We spent the day driving up the coast, stopping at all the beaches and snorkel sites. It was very pretty and a good idea of something to do if you're on your way up there but not a necessity by any means.
Sandy Bay in Exmouth
All of us in Exmouth
Next on the agenda was a few days in the sunshine and then the 19 hour bus journey to Broome. The bus journey was very very long with the most interesting thing being all the kangaroos we hit during the night. It was rather difficult to get to sleep because every 20 minutes or so you would hear a loud thump and we ran over yet another kangaroo. Its so strange to think about how much we love kangaroos in the states and yet in Australia they are considered nothing more than pests and are killed in the thousands every year.
Eventually we did make it to Broome and then to our hostel in Cable Beach called Cable Beach Backpackers (about 10 minutes out of the actual town of Broome). In Cable Beach we met back up with John, who had left Coral Bay while we were in Exmouth, and had a bit of a reunion party at the local pub. Most of our time in Cable Beach/Broome was spent sunning ourselves on the beach and generally being bums.
Beautiful Cable Beach
Easyrider out on the town
Towards the end of the week it was time to say goodbye to all of our Easyrider Crew. First John left to head back to England, then Rachel up to Darwin, and finally Lauren off to Brisbane. It was hard to say goodbye to them all. Even though we had only spend a few weeks together it felt like we had been friends for ages and ages. By that time all that was left of the group was Andrea and I. We decided to treat ourselves and go to the hostel next door called Beaches of Broome. It was $2 more a night to stay there but it was definitely worth it. Since it is both a hostel and a resort you get to use all of the resort facilities but only pay hostel prices, and it was brand new so there hadn't been time for the backpackers to turn the bathrooms and bedrooms into a real hostel.
We spent another two days lounging around and exploring the town of Broome. There isn't a whole lot to see in Broome unless you like and can afford to like pearls but we had a good time window shopping. All too soon it was time for Andrea and I to go our separate ways. Andrea was heading up to Darwin by bus and I was on my way to meet my family in Brisbane. So we said our goodbyes, promised to keep in touch and were off.
Tomorrow I'll update on whats been going on since then. I am still currently with the family although we are now in Cairns having a great time and seeing all the sites including the Great Barrier Reef tomorrow!
Until then!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Coral Bay and Beyond
Ok so I've finally got the pictures from Coral Bay available to me so now I can update on the past month or so.
Coral Bay is a cute little down on the west coast that caters to holidayers who love the water. The beach is gorgeous, although at certain times during the day the tide is so high that there actually is no beach. When there is a beach though it is lovely to just lie on all day, read, drink some goon (boxed wine), and relax. I spent a few days doing that while the rest of the Easyrider group went to Karijini National Park. Once they got back we decided to go swimming with whale sharks. We chose to go with Coral Bay Adventures which cost about $360 but pictures of the trip was provided. There was another less expensive tour but the pictures weren't provided and to purchase them afterword would have ended up costing more in total.
The trip started at 8 am and we were driven to the boat that we were going to be on for the day. There were 20 of us on the tour, 5 of us from Easyrider.The companies in Coral Bay use a spotter plane to find the whale sharks. The plane takes off around 10am and can fly until 3pm, so until the the plane took off we were taken to place to go snorkeling. The snorkeling in itself was pretty amazing, lots of different fishes, some small rays, and beautiful coral.
The Gorgeous Coral
Then we got back in the boat and just started motoring around the area until the plane said they had spotted a whale shark. As we were traveling someone spotted a splash that turned out to be two Humpback whales. We followed them in the boats for about 15 minutes which was really nice. Then our captain decided we should leave them be as they were trucking pretty fast. We continued traveling up the coast and along the way we saw a turtle, a breaching Eagle Ray, lots of dolphins, and a bunch of tuna feeding. Then it was lunch time, which was a smorgasbord of fruit, meat, veggies, and pretty much everything else you could think of. After lunch we still hadn't heard anything from the spotter plane so the captain decided to take us to another snorkel area while we waited.
Food!
We were all getting a little anxious since it was coming up on 2pm and the plane could only stay up until 3pm and we still hadn't seen a whale shark. The tour does offer a second chance option which allows you to go on the tour again another day if you don't see a whale shark the first day. After the second chance though you are out of luck if you don't get to see a whale shark so we really wanted to see one the first time.
The 2nd snorkel was just as amazing, lots of fish again, and apparently a very large shark that I thankfully didn't see, but did cause several people to get out of the water very fast. As soon as we all got out of the water and stripped our wetsuits down to the waist the captain came down and very calmly said, "Just to make your day a bit better the spotter plane has just a whale shark." We all clapped and the boat took off in the direction we had came from. We were all so relieved because it was 2:45pm...so we were cutting it close. It took us over 30 minutes to make it to where the whale shark was. Then we all lined up on the end of the boat in our two separate groups and were given instructions on what we were going to do when we got in the water. All of us Easyrider were in the second group so we got to see how it worked the first time. Suddenly it was our turn and we all slid into the water. We were told to make sure we looked level with the water and not down into the depths otherwise we might miss the whale shark all together.
And then there it was, this massive 7 meter fish swimming right below us, just cruising along completely ignoring us. We all fanned out to the sides of us and started swimming with it. It was really cruising and so we were all swimming at full speed, it was quite tiring. Then they pulled us up and let the next group go in again. In total we go to go in 3 times. The third time was by far the best because the whale shark was much closer to the surface. That time when I got in the water I went all the way under, like past my snorkel. So when I came back to the surface I put my head above the water to dump out my snorkel. When I put my head under water again I looked forward and there was the whale shark heading right toward me. I screamed into my snorkel and then kicked as hard as I could to get out of its way. That night I had a nightmare about looking up and seeing that whale shark, except in the dream it actually ran into me. Aside from that minor moment of terror though it was great that third time because it was so much closer than the last few times and it was moving a bit slower.
Our Shark
Just to show you how big it was in comparison to a person
After everyone had had three times in the water with the whale shark we got back in the boat and started heading back to shore. Then there was a splash in the water and we looked down to the see that the whale shark had turned back and was swimming around the boat. It was great to see the whale shark from out of the water because it wasn't so distorted and you could really see how gigantic it was. After another hour or so, and some delicious cake, we had made it back to the shore.
Swimming with whale sharks was truly an amazing experience. It was a bit hectic with everyone jumping in and out of the water and swimming as fast as they could. The whale shark was an incredible animal and I would definitely do it again. In fact we all love it so much that we decided to go back the next day with the same company and swim with the Manta Rays. But that update will be for tomorrow.
Until then!
Coral Bay is a cute little down on the west coast that caters to holidayers who love the water. The beach is gorgeous, although at certain times during the day the tide is so high that there actually is no beach. When there is a beach though it is lovely to just lie on all day, read, drink some goon (boxed wine), and relax. I spent a few days doing that while the rest of the Easyrider group went to Karijini National Park. Once they got back we decided to go swimming with whale sharks. We chose to go with Coral Bay Adventures which cost about $360 but pictures of the trip was provided. There was another less expensive tour but the pictures weren't provided and to purchase them afterword would have ended up costing more in total.
The trip started at 8 am and we were driven to the boat that we were going to be on for the day. There were 20 of us on the tour, 5 of us from Easyrider.The companies in Coral Bay use a spotter plane to find the whale sharks. The plane takes off around 10am and can fly until 3pm, so until the the plane took off we were taken to place to go snorkeling. The snorkeling in itself was pretty amazing, lots of different fishes, some small rays, and beautiful coral.
The Gorgeous Coral
Then we got back in the boat and just started motoring around the area until the plane said they had spotted a whale shark. As we were traveling someone spotted a splash that turned out to be two Humpback whales. We followed them in the boats for about 15 minutes which was really nice. Then our captain decided we should leave them be as they were trucking pretty fast. We continued traveling up the coast and along the way we saw a turtle, a breaching Eagle Ray, lots of dolphins, and a bunch of tuna feeding. Then it was lunch time, which was a smorgasbord of fruit, meat, veggies, and pretty much everything else you could think of. After lunch we still hadn't heard anything from the spotter plane so the captain decided to take us to another snorkel area while we waited.
Food!
We were all getting a little anxious since it was coming up on 2pm and the plane could only stay up until 3pm and we still hadn't seen a whale shark. The tour does offer a second chance option which allows you to go on the tour again another day if you don't see a whale shark the first day. After the second chance though you are out of luck if you don't get to see a whale shark so we really wanted to see one the first time.
The 2nd snorkel was just as amazing, lots of fish again, and apparently a very large shark that I thankfully didn't see, but did cause several people to get out of the water very fast. As soon as we all got out of the water and stripped our wetsuits down to the waist the captain came down and very calmly said, "Just to make your day a bit better the spotter plane has just a whale shark." We all clapped and the boat took off in the direction we had came from. We were all so relieved because it was 2:45pm...so we were cutting it close. It took us over 30 minutes to make it to where the whale shark was. Then we all lined up on the end of the boat in our two separate groups and were given instructions on what we were going to do when we got in the water. All of us Easyrider were in the second group so we got to see how it worked the first time. Suddenly it was our turn and we all slid into the water. We were told to make sure we looked level with the water and not down into the depths otherwise we might miss the whale shark all together.
And then there it was, this massive 7 meter fish swimming right below us, just cruising along completely ignoring us. We all fanned out to the sides of us and started swimming with it. It was really cruising and so we were all swimming at full speed, it was quite tiring. Then they pulled us up and let the next group go in again. In total we go to go in 3 times. The third time was by far the best because the whale shark was much closer to the surface. That time when I got in the water I went all the way under, like past my snorkel. So when I came back to the surface I put my head above the water to dump out my snorkel. When I put my head under water again I looked forward and there was the whale shark heading right toward me. I screamed into my snorkel and then kicked as hard as I could to get out of its way. That night I had a nightmare about looking up and seeing that whale shark, except in the dream it actually ran into me. Aside from that minor moment of terror though it was great that third time because it was so much closer than the last few times and it was moving a bit slower.
Our Shark
Just to show you how big it was in comparison to a person
After everyone had had three times in the water with the whale shark we got back in the boat and started heading back to shore. Then there was a splash in the water and we looked down to the see that the whale shark had turned back and was swimming around the boat. It was great to see the whale shark from out of the water because it wasn't so distorted and you could really see how gigantic it was. After another hour or so, and some delicious cake, we had made it back to the shore.
Swimming with whale sharks was truly an amazing experience. It was a bit hectic with everyone jumping in and out of the water and swimming as fast as they could. The whale shark was an incredible animal and I would definitely do it again. In fact we all love it so much that we decided to go back the next day with the same company and swim with the Manta Rays. But that update will be for tomorrow.
Until then!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Tales from the West Coast
I know I know, its been ages since I've updated. I'm just having too much fun to bother with turning on the computer and writing! The good news is that I have lots of excellent things to write about so settle in for some serious reading.
When I last wrote I was about to get on the Easyrider bus on my way up the west coast and I have to say that was probably the best decision I've made so far. Easyrider made everything very simple and we had a lot of fun as well. They picked me up at my hostel in Geraldton and then we were on the road to our first destination, Kalbarri. In Kalbarri we went to a restaurant called Finlay's in the middle of no where and had the most amazing fish and chips ever. That night was mostly spent getting to know everyone and the next day we headed out bright and early to go canoeing on the Murchison River. Canoeing was pretty ridiculous as we were all really hungry for the first bit (breakfast was provided after the first section of the river was travelled) so all we could think about was food. I canoed with a lovely Canadian girl named Lauren and aside from our boat not turning right we did pretty well. Rachel and Andrea had a bit of trouble though and spent a fair amount of time doing donuts in the middle of the river. After canoeing we hit the pub and found out who the drinkers in the group were!
Andrea and Rachel giving it a go!
Rachel and I at the pub in Kalbarri.
The next morning we were up bright and early to head to Denham with a few stops on the way. The first stop was at Natures window, basically a naturally made hole in the rock that looks out on some absolutely stunning scenery.
Nature's Window
Next stop was to look at the stromatolites which look like a bunch of rocks in the ocean. They are actually living organisms that act sort of like trees in turning CO2 into oxygen. They're not much to look at but the walk was a welcome break from sitting in the van. Last stop before Denham was at shell beach. Shell Beach is exactly what it sounds like, a beach made entirely out of shells. It was very beautiful and would have been an excellent place for swimming if it hadn't been threatening rain the whole time. Then we finally made it into Denham and had a quiet night since we had a 4wd tour in the morning.
We started out the morning by going to Ocean Park with our very good looking tour guide. I would definitely recommend a stop at Ocean Park for anyone that's in the area. The guide was very knowledgeable about all of the animals they had, which included baby turtles, sea snakes, eels, lots of massive fish, and of course what they are known for, sharks!
Sharks!
Then it was time for the 4wd drive tour. It was a pretty long and very bumpy drive but we had good music and good people. We stopped at several different places and even managed to see a dugong (sea cow type thing) which is very rare. After the tour we headed to pub for one of the best nights I've had in Australia. At first we all just went to pub for a drink which turned into quite a few drinks and an invitation to go out to Monkey Mia for a "full moon party". Of course we said yes so me, Jenny (the driver and tour guide), Rachel, Lauren, and Andrea jumped in the car and we drove the 20 minutes to Monkey Mia. One of the men that was with us used to be a park ranger at Monkey Mia so he knew alot about the area and the dolphins of course. For those of you who don't know Monkey Mia is famous for its dolphins which come to the beach every morning to be fed. They apparently hang out there most of the time because they were there at night and it was absolutely incredible to see them coming right up to the dock with the moonlight reflecting off their backs and bellies. We were all up quite late that night and didn't make it back to the hostel in Denham till about 4:30 in the morning but it was definitely worth it.
The next morning, with about 3 hours of sleep under our belts, we headed out to see Monkey Mia in the daylight. Seeing the dolphins at Monkey Mia was a very strange experience. They line up about 100 people on the beach and then the dolphins come up the sand and just swim back and forth a few feet away from you waiting for fish. It was great to see the dolphins up close but it felt a little sad to see so many people fighting each other for a spot to see them and the dolphins just waiting to be fed.
Dolphins!
From Monkey Mia we headed to Coral Bay where I am now. Coral Bay will definitely require another blog entry so for now I'll leave you with my travels up the coast. As soon as I get access to a computer with a cd drive so that I can upload some more pictures I will update about the gloriousness that is Coral Bay, so until then!
When I last wrote I was about to get on the Easyrider bus on my way up the west coast and I have to say that was probably the best decision I've made so far. Easyrider made everything very simple and we had a lot of fun as well. They picked me up at my hostel in Geraldton and then we were on the road to our first destination, Kalbarri. In Kalbarri we went to a restaurant called Finlay's in the middle of no where and had the most amazing fish and chips ever. That night was mostly spent getting to know everyone and the next day we headed out bright and early to go canoeing on the Murchison River. Canoeing was pretty ridiculous as we were all really hungry for the first bit (breakfast was provided after the first section of the river was travelled) so all we could think about was food. I canoed with a lovely Canadian girl named Lauren and aside from our boat not turning right we did pretty well. Rachel and Andrea had a bit of trouble though and spent a fair amount of time doing donuts in the middle of the river. After canoeing we hit the pub and found out who the drinkers in the group were!
Andrea and Rachel giving it a go!
Rachel and I at the pub in Kalbarri.
The next morning we were up bright and early to head to Denham with a few stops on the way. The first stop was at Natures window, basically a naturally made hole in the rock that looks out on some absolutely stunning scenery.
Nature's Window
Next stop was to look at the stromatolites which look like a bunch of rocks in the ocean. They are actually living organisms that act sort of like trees in turning CO2 into oxygen. They're not much to look at but the walk was a welcome break from sitting in the van. Last stop before Denham was at shell beach. Shell Beach is exactly what it sounds like, a beach made entirely out of shells. It was very beautiful and would have been an excellent place for swimming if it hadn't been threatening rain the whole time. Then we finally made it into Denham and had a quiet night since we had a 4wd tour in the morning.
We started out the morning by going to Ocean Park with our very good looking tour guide. I would definitely recommend a stop at Ocean Park for anyone that's in the area. The guide was very knowledgeable about all of the animals they had, which included baby turtles, sea snakes, eels, lots of massive fish, and of course what they are known for, sharks!
Sharks!
Then it was time for the 4wd drive tour. It was a pretty long and very bumpy drive but we had good music and good people. We stopped at several different places and even managed to see a dugong (sea cow type thing) which is very rare. After the tour we headed to pub for one of the best nights I've had in Australia. At first we all just went to pub for a drink which turned into quite a few drinks and an invitation to go out to Monkey Mia for a "full moon party". Of course we said yes so me, Jenny (the driver and tour guide), Rachel, Lauren, and Andrea jumped in the car and we drove the 20 minutes to Monkey Mia. One of the men that was with us used to be a park ranger at Monkey Mia so he knew alot about the area and the dolphins of course. For those of you who don't know Monkey Mia is famous for its dolphins which come to the beach every morning to be fed. They apparently hang out there most of the time because they were there at night and it was absolutely incredible to see them coming right up to the dock with the moonlight reflecting off their backs and bellies. We were all up quite late that night and didn't make it back to the hostel in Denham till about 4:30 in the morning but it was definitely worth it.
The next morning, with about 3 hours of sleep under our belts, we headed out to see Monkey Mia in the daylight. Seeing the dolphins at Monkey Mia was a very strange experience. They line up about 100 people on the beach and then the dolphins come up the sand and just swim back and forth a few feet away from you waiting for fish. It was great to see the dolphins up close but it felt a little sad to see so many people fighting each other for a spot to see them and the dolphins just waiting to be fed.
Dolphins!
From Monkey Mia we headed to Coral Bay where I am now. Coral Bay will definitely require another blog entry so for now I'll leave you with my travels up the coast. As soon as I get access to a computer with a cd drive so that I can upload some more pictures I will update about the gloriousness that is Coral Bay, so until then!
Monday, May 24, 2010
Goodbye Meekatharra...Hello West Coast Australia!
Seeing as it's now been exactly 20 days since my last update I supposed I'd better fill everyone in on whats been going on.
After spending 7 excellent weeks at the Commercial Hotel in Meekatharra it was time to go. My last day of work was Tuesday but I decided to stick around until Friday just to say goodbye to the town properly (ie drunkenly). The lovely Aimee let me stay at the Royal Mail Hotel for free so I was free to spend all of my money on booze. :) Actually I had a very relaxing last few days, a very drunk last few nights, and a very sad last morning. It was very hard to say goodbye to Meekatharra and to all the people I had met there. My last night at the Mail was great, everyone came out to say goodbye, lots of drinking, dancing, and general merriment ensued. Carrie and Russell met me at the bus to say goodbye and Russell brought me a bunch of Meekatharra souvenirs from the Post Office. I was really touched by the gesture since I had no idea Russell really cared one way or the other about me. I boarded the TransWA bus on Friday morning and reached Geraldton by about 4 in the afternoon.
I had decided to treat myself and stayed at a real hotel (the All Seasons) for the first two nights. It was nice to have a place to myself but it was too far away from downtown for me to walk there, and it was pouring rain, so I pretty much slept for two days. I did get out of the room for a little while and got lucky enough to miss the rainshowers and get down to the beach. Thats the nice thing about Geraldton, you're never more than a few blocks from the ocean. The beach I found was pretty much deserted so I just wandered around, took some pictures, and (even though its was cold and windy) put my feet in.
On Sunday morning it was time to get back to reality so I packed up my stuff and taxi'd over to the Foreshore Backpackers. The Foreshore is actually quite a nice little hostel right on the beach, I mean I can hear the waves crashing in my room kind of close to the beach. This is the first hostel I've stayed in where I've actually gone for the group room and its not so back. My room only has three beds in it and last night they were all full but tonight there's only two of us. Since it is right on the beach and near all the shops its a little loud at night but for $25 a night I really can't complain.
The town of Geraldton itself is pretty boring. The beach is nice but there really isn't a whole lot of touristy type things to do. It feels more like a stopping off point for people on their way up or down the coast. I've spent most of my time reading, napping in the sun, and planning the next months worth of adventures.
And those plans are..
Well I purchased a hop on hop off bus ticket from Perth to Broome from Greyhound for around $450 and planned on doing my own thing cruising up the coast. NOT a good idea. I should have done a bit more research and realized that the Greyhound buses on the West Coast only operate four days out of the week (and are moving down to three next month) they don't go to a lot of the main tourist destinations, and their timing is very inconvenient. In light of that fact I decided to cancel my ticket, get most of my money back, and book an actual guided tour of the coast. Easyrider Tours (www.easyridertours.com.au) offers several packages up and down the west coast. What is really awesome about them is they are a Jump On Jump Off tour, which means you can get off anywhere they stop and stay for as long as you want, then jump back on again when you're ready. They still do all the guided tour type stuff, canoe trips, 4WD, paid accommodation for the nights they are scheduled to be there, but you have 6 months in which to use the ticket. This seemed like a pretty good idea to me so I e-mailed them and asked if I could jump on their Reef Cruiser tour in Geraldton instead of starting with them in Perth. I got a really fast response that said of course I could and they would knock $100 off the price since I was missing the first half of the first day. So I forked out the $650 and will be boarding the bus at 4pm tomorrow.
Thats pretty much all that I've been up to. I'll be sure to update on my current whereabouts as I head up the coast.
Oh and P.S. Grandma I've got my tickets all sorted and I'll be in Brisbane on the 17th of June (my birthday by the way!) and I will be on the same flight with all of you from Brisbane to Cairns.
Until next time!
After spending 7 excellent weeks at the Commercial Hotel in Meekatharra it was time to go. My last day of work was Tuesday but I decided to stick around until Friday just to say goodbye to the town properly (ie drunkenly). The lovely Aimee let me stay at the Royal Mail Hotel for free so I was free to spend all of my money on booze. :) Actually I had a very relaxing last few days, a very drunk last few nights, and a very sad last morning. It was very hard to say goodbye to Meekatharra and to all the people I had met there. My last night at the Mail was great, everyone came out to say goodbye, lots of drinking, dancing, and general merriment ensued. Carrie and Russell met me at the bus to say goodbye and Russell brought me a bunch of Meekatharra souvenirs from the Post Office. I was really touched by the gesture since I had no idea Russell really cared one way or the other about me. I boarded the TransWA bus on Friday morning and reached Geraldton by about 4 in the afternoon.
I had decided to treat myself and stayed at a real hotel (the All Seasons) for the first two nights. It was nice to have a place to myself but it was too far away from downtown for me to walk there, and it was pouring rain, so I pretty much slept for two days. I did get out of the room for a little while and got lucky enough to miss the rainshowers and get down to the beach. Thats the nice thing about Geraldton, you're never more than a few blocks from the ocean. The beach I found was pretty much deserted so I just wandered around, took some pictures, and (even though its was cold and windy) put my feet in.
On Sunday morning it was time to get back to reality so I packed up my stuff and taxi'd over to the Foreshore Backpackers. The Foreshore is actually quite a nice little hostel right on the beach, I mean I can hear the waves crashing in my room kind of close to the beach. This is the first hostel I've stayed in where I've actually gone for the group room and its not so back. My room only has three beds in it and last night they were all full but tonight there's only two of us. Since it is right on the beach and near all the shops its a little loud at night but for $25 a night I really can't complain.
The town of Geraldton itself is pretty boring. The beach is nice but there really isn't a whole lot of touristy type things to do. It feels more like a stopping off point for people on their way up or down the coast. I've spent most of my time reading, napping in the sun, and planning the next months worth of adventures.
And those plans are..
Well I purchased a hop on hop off bus ticket from Perth to Broome from Greyhound for around $450 and planned on doing my own thing cruising up the coast. NOT a good idea. I should have done a bit more research and realized that the Greyhound buses on the West Coast only operate four days out of the week (and are moving down to three next month) they don't go to a lot of the main tourist destinations, and their timing is very inconvenient. In light of that fact I decided to cancel my ticket, get most of my money back, and book an actual guided tour of the coast. Easyrider Tours (www.easyridertours.com.au) offers several packages up and down the west coast. What is really awesome about them is they are a Jump On Jump Off tour, which means you can get off anywhere they stop and stay for as long as you want, then jump back on again when you're ready. They still do all the guided tour type stuff, canoe trips, 4WD, paid accommodation for the nights they are scheduled to be there, but you have 6 months in which to use the ticket. This seemed like a pretty good idea to me so I e-mailed them and asked if I could jump on their Reef Cruiser tour in Geraldton instead of starting with them in Perth. I got a really fast response that said of course I could and they would knock $100 off the price since I was missing the first half of the first day. So I forked out the $650 and will be boarding the bus at 4pm tomorrow.
Thats pretty much all that I've been up to. I'll be sure to update on my current whereabouts as I head up the coast.
Oh and P.S. Grandma I've got my tickets all sorted and I'll be in Brisbane on the 17th of June (my birthday by the way!) and I will be on the same flight with all of you from Brisbane to Cairns.
Until next time!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Reflections on Five Weeks in Meekatharra
OK Ok...I know I'm in trouble for not updating in ages but, well actually I have no excuse except that I've been busy and feeling to lazy after work to get down to the computer.
Anyways, things are going well here. I've officially given my last day as May 18th so I've got another two weeks to go. I haven't been up to a whole lot of exciting things, just working, drinking, working, etc etc. One of the patrons managed to scrounge up a bike for the pub so I got to go on my first bike ride in ages a few days ago. It was nice to get back on a bike but not so nice to realize that I'm getting out of shape again. Oh well...only two more weeks until the free food stops and I'll have to start scrounging.
Amy and I out on the town. And yes thats a tap in the fridge door...bloody brilliant!
One of the girls that works at the Shire office had a birthday this weekend complete with a fancy dress party (thats a costume party). It was supposed to be super hero themed but the options for costumes were rather limited so I went as "super cowgirl"...original I know. But it seemed appropriate what with the whole Arizona thing. The party was alot of fun. It was nice to get out and do some dancing and socializing outside of the pub.
The boys doing karaoke.
Since its been five whole weeks in this lovely town I thought I'd do a bit of a retrospective.
Living in Meekatharra has been a very eye opening experience. The first week was alot more difficult than I thought. The bar patrons are very...spoiled, they're used to you knowing what they want and getting it for them the second they want it. It was hard to not take they're teasing personally. After that first week though things got better. I am still amazed sometimes at how presumptuous some people can be. If they don't get a new beer within 5 seconds of finishing their first one they start harrassing you. Not everyone is like that of course, mostly just the older locals who are kind of stuck in their ways. But I get the impression that its sort of a lack of respect towards females issue.
On that note...my impression of Australian guys hasn't been all that great. Of course I've mostly only met miners, truck drivers, and the like but it seems like their views on women are not...respectful. Now I am a barmaid and so I see the drunken, depressed, and stupid part of the population and I'm sure there are plenty of good Australian guys out there but as of now I've only met a select few.
I think when it comes time to leave Meekatharra I will be ready. I miss being able to sit around with a group of friends, get drunk on cheap wine, and have somewhat intelligent discussions. I really miss having that close group of friends that I had in Arizona (yes Meetup! thats you) and in college. Hopefully after I leave here and kind of settle in somewhere for few months I'll be able to find some people that I really enjoy. Until then life in Meekatharra is still good, the money is even better, and people are opening my eyes to the world...and that is what I came here fore isn't it?
Until next time!
Anyways, things are going well here. I've officially given my last day as May 18th so I've got another two weeks to go. I haven't been up to a whole lot of exciting things, just working, drinking, working, etc etc. One of the patrons managed to scrounge up a bike for the pub so I got to go on my first bike ride in ages a few days ago. It was nice to get back on a bike but not so nice to realize that I'm getting out of shape again. Oh well...only two more weeks until the free food stops and I'll have to start scrounging.
Amy and I out on the town. And yes thats a tap in the fridge door...bloody brilliant!
One of the girls that works at the Shire office had a birthday this weekend complete with a fancy dress party (thats a costume party). It was supposed to be super hero themed but the options for costumes were rather limited so I went as "super cowgirl"...original I know. But it seemed appropriate what with the whole Arizona thing. The party was alot of fun. It was nice to get out and do some dancing and socializing outside of the pub.
The boys doing karaoke.
Since its been five whole weeks in this lovely town I thought I'd do a bit of a retrospective.
Living in Meekatharra has been a very eye opening experience. The first week was alot more difficult than I thought. The bar patrons are very...spoiled, they're used to you knowing what they want and getting it for them the second they want it. It was hard to not take they're teasing personally. After that first week though things got better. I am still amazed sometimes at how presumptuous some people can be. If they don't get a new beer within 5 seconds of finishing their first one they start harrassing you. Not everyone is like that of course, mostly just the older locals who are kind of stuck in their ways. But I get the impression that its sort of a lack of respect towards females issue.
On that note...my impression of Australian guys hasn't been all that great. Of course I've mostly only met miners, truck drivers, and the like but it seems like their views on women are not...respectful. Now I am a barmaid and so I see the drunken, depressed, and stupid part of the population and I'm sure there are plenty of good Australian guys out there but as of now I've only met a select few.
I think when it comes time to leave Meekatharra I will be ready. I miss being able to sit around with a group of friends, get drunk on cheap wine, and have somewhat intelligent discussions. I really miss having that close group of friends that I had in Arizona (yes Meetup! thats you) and in college. Hopefully after I leave here and kind of settle in somewhere for few months I'll be able to find some people that I really enjoy. Until then life in Meekatharra is still good, the money is even better, and people are opening my eyes to the world...and that is what I came here fore isn't it?
Until next time!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Another Day Another Dollar...sort of
Well, its now been 2 weeks in Meekatharra and I really am starting to like it here. The work isn't hard and people are really lovely.
We had a crazy rainstorm last Wednesday, the first good rain they've had for like 3 years. It was pretty intense so I took a few photos to prove that it does indeed rain in Meekatharra.
On Saturday Carrie, one of the locals, took Amy and I down to a place called Five Mile to go swimming. Basically its this massive open cut mine that was abandoned and is now filled with water. It was absolutley amazing, blue water, warm air...I could have stayed all day.
Five Mile
I still glow in the dark!
Thats really all thats been going on here...making money and then spending it on internet and alcohol. Oh well, you only live once right?
Until next time!
We had a crazy rainstorm last Wednesday, the first good rain they've had for like 3 years. It was pretty intense so I took a few photos to prove that it does indeed rain in Meekatharra.
On Saturday Carrie, one of the locals, took Amy and I down to a place called Five Mile to go swimming. Basically its this massive open cut mine that was abandoned and is now filled with water. It was absolutley amazing, blue water, warm air...I could have stayed all day.
Five Mile
I still glow in the dark!
Thats really all thats been going on here...making money and then spending it on internet and alcohol. Oh well, you only live once right?
Until next time!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
I've been to Meekatharra, Meekatharra, Meekatharra...
Welcome to Meekatharra.
After a rather miserable 13 hour bus ride from Perth I am officially in Meekatharra. Look it up...its pretty much the middle of no place Western Australia.
To backtrack, I did spend one day and two nights in Perth which was actually very nice. I decided not to be a bum and spend the whole day in bed after a ten hour trip, so I got out and went on one of those double decker bus tours. I can't say I saw a whole lot of Perth but what I did see I really liked, or maybe it was just the fact that the weather was so similar to Phoenix. No bloody humidity!
And now back to Meekatharra. I am working as a barmaid/hotel room cleaner at the Commercial Hotel. Apparently its the nicest of the three hotels in the town, mostly because its not frequented by aboriginals. Theres a very racist culture here against the aboriginal community but so far I can't see that the aboriginals are doing much to stop it. Its pretty similar to the Native American problem that we have in the states...too much alcohol and sugar. Its really quite sad but it seems that all the government does is throw money at them and send out to the far reaches of Australia so they don't have to bother with them.
Oh well...I worked my first night in the bar last night and it was definitely an eye opening experience. I have to learn all the different types of beers, how to pour a proper "middy", and where all the damn buttons are on the ancient cash register. The plastic over the buttons is so worn you can hardly read any of the descriptions so its sort of a hunt and peck and hope game. I think I did pretty well though considering. Got to chat to alot of the locals...they're a pretty rowdy bunch. Alot of miners and construction workers who are only in the area for a little while and some guys that just live off of the government and spend their money on alcohol. And they sure can drink!
In the mornings I get up and then Amy (the lovely Irish girl I work with) and I get to cleaning the rooms. Its not too bad, just chaning the bed linen if the people are checking out and cleaning the bathrooms and kitchens. Takes about 2 hours and then we're done until either 2 or 6. One of us starts at 2pm and works till 8:30, and the other starts at 6pm and works till close. Apparently close is usually around 10:30 but we're licensed to stay open until midnight and last night we did. It was good for me cause I got more time to learn where everything was and the later people stay the more they drink and the more they drink the more they tip!
Thats really it so far, I'm sure I'll have lots of stories to tell about the characters here in Meekatharra. I promise I'll get some pictures up soon but until then...
Thats the Commerical Hotel on the left hand side next to the grocery store.
Until next time!
After a rather miserable 13 hour bus ride from Perth I am officially in Meekatharra. Look it up...its pretty much the middle of no place Western Australia.
To backtrack, I did spend one day and two nights in Perth which was actually very nice. I decided not to be a bum and spend the whole day in bed after a ten hour trip, so I got out and went on one of those double decker bus tours. I can't say I saw a whole lot of Perth but what I did see I really liked, or maybe it was just the fact that the weather was so similar to Phoenix. No bloody humidity!
And now back to Meekatharra. I am working as a barmaid/hotel room cleaner at the Commercial Hotel. Apparently its the nicest of the three hotels in the town, mostly because its not frequented by aboriginals. Theres a very racist culture here against the aboriginal community but so far I can't see that the aboriginals are doing much to stop it. Its pretty similar to the Native American problem that we have in the states...too much alcohol and sugar. Its really quite sad but it seems that all the government does is throw money at them and send out to the far reaches of Australia so they don't have to bother with them.
Oh well...I worked my first night in the bar last night and it was definitely an eye opening experience. I have to learn all the different types of beers, how to pour a proper "middy", and where all the damn buttons are on the ancient cash register. The plastic over the buttons is so worn you can hardly read any of the descriptions so its sort of a hunt and peck and hope game. I think I did pretty well though considering. Got to chat to alot of the locals...they're a pretty rowdy bunch. Alot of miners and construction workers who are only in the area for a little while and some guys that just live off of the government and spend their money on alcohol. And they sure can drink!
In the mornings I get up and then Amy (the lovely Irish girl I work with) and I get to cleaning the rooms. Its not too bad, just chaning the bed linen if the people are checking out and cleaning the bathrooms and kitchens. Takes about 2 hours and then we're done until either 2 or 6. One of us starts at 2pm and works till 8:30, and the other starts at 6pm and works till close. Apparently close is usually around 10:30 but we're licensed to stay open until midnight and last night we did. It was good for me cause I got more time to learn where everything was and the later people stay the more they drink and the more they drink the more they tip!
Thats really it so far, I'm sure I'll have lots of stories to tell about the characters here in Meekatharra. I promise I'll get some pictures up soon but until then...
Thats the Commerical Hotel on the left hand side next to the grocery store.
Until next time!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Gloucester Show
This Saturday Jane let me skive off work and go with her friends Cheryl and Pete to the Gloucester Show. Gloucester is the nearest town to Jane and Anthony, about 30 minutes away, via very narrow and winding roads. I don't do very will with the hills and curves in cars so I've been dealing with a lot of feeling carsick, but I managed not to vomit so its all good.
Pete and Cheryl
The Gloucester Show is basically an agricultural show. They have all the cakes, jams, paintings, flower arraignments etc etc on display and then they are judged. They also have the kids with their show cows and chickens and goats. The most fun part was the horse shows they did, lots of show jumping and some barrels and polls. Reminded me of summer camp and makes me kind of wish they did Pony Club over by me when I was younger, it looks like a lot of fun. They also had a wood chopping competition where these giant men hack a log in half and obviously the fastest time wins.
Wood Chopping Competition
It was a very interesting atmosphere, busy and full of people but not at all like a city. Everyone was drinking and having a good time. There was a demolition derby which was definitely the highlight of the night what with the burning cars and all. There was also one of the most spectacular fireworks displays I've ever seen. It might have been because we were so close, literally across a football field the short way, but it was still pretty incredible for such a small town thing.
I haven't been up to much else except working at Jane and Anthony's, riding horses, vacuuming up spider webs, and playing with the cat. I'll be leaving here on Saturday and heading to Perth and then Meekatharra for the start of my next adventure.
Until Perth!
Pete and Cheryl
The Gloucester Show is basically an agricultural show. They have all the cakes, jams, paintings, flower arraignments etc etc on display and then they are judged. They also have the kids with their show cows and chickens and goats. The most fun part was the horse shows they did, lots of show jumping and some barrels and polls. Reminded me of summer camp and makes me kind of wish they did Pony Club over by me when I was younger, it looks like a lot of fun. They also had a wood chopping competition where these giant men hack a log in half and obviously the fastest time wins.
Wood Chopping Competition
It was a very interesting atmosphere, busy and full of people but not at all like a city. Everyone was drinking and having a good time. There was a demolition derby which was definitely the highlight of the night what with the burning cars and all. There was also one of the most spectacular fireworks displays I've ever seen. It might have been because we were so close, literally across a football field the short way, but it was still pretty incredible for such a small town thing.
I haven't been up to much else except working at Jane and Anthony's, riding horses, vacuuming up spider webs, and playing with the cat. I'll be leaving here on Saturday and heading to Perth and then Meekatharra for the start of my next adventure.
Until Perth!
Monday, March 15, 2010
Found a Job!
Hello all
Sorry its been so long since I last updated, I've been transferring residences once again and am back at Jane and Anthony's for the next two weeks. The stay at Alistair's was a lot of fun, I certainly learned how to paint.
Now for the job update...as many of you know I was looking for country pub jobs out in Western Australia. I was trolling the internet and came across an add on gumtree.com.au advertising for pub jobs. The company is Professional Placements, found on Facebook at HipJobs, and the woman's name is Danielle Prowse. I wrote to her an expressed an interest and she wrote back saying she had a job opening in Meekatharra on March 30th. Not knowing if anyone else I wrote was going to get back to me I jumped on it. Good thing too since no one else has said anything.
I will be working at the Commerical Hotel in Meekatharra, WA for at least 6 weeks. Room and food is provided and I'll be making around $12 an hour. Not bad when you think that you wont be paying for much of anything while you're there. I will be working with an English girl which should be good, at least I'll have someone to talk to.
Getting everything set up to go to Perth and then Meekatharra was a bit of a nightmare. The flight ended up costing me about $240 from Sydney to Perth, with the train from Wingham to Sydney being another $40. Then I had to book a hostel for two nights for $50 a night and then the bus to Meekatharra is running about $120. So in the end I'll pretty much be working my first week or so for free to make up for all the costs, but oh well. At least after that first week I'll be earning, plus I think I want to stay in Western Australia so I wont have to pay for a flight back to Sydney until the very end. Actually, my dream would be to earn enough money to take the 3 day sleeper train from Perth to Sydney, but thats about $1100 so we'll see.
Aside from all that nonsense things are going well here. Gave the horses, the car, and the float (horse trailer) a bath today so I'm currently covered in a lovely mixture of mud and horse poo. We're planning on going riding later today, as long as it doesn't pour rain like it has been.
On a sadder note, my Papa (grandpa) died on Sunday morning (Monday night for me) so that's been a bit depressing. I wish I could be there to support my mom and go to the memorial but unfortunately Australia is a bit far away to just jet back for a weekend. Anyways...Grandma I love you and Papa Rest in Peace.
Until next time.
Sorry its been so long since I last updated, I've been transferring residences once again and am back at Jane and Anthony's for the next two weeks. The stay at Alistair's was a lot of fun, I certainly learned how to paint.
Now for the job update...as many of you know I was looking for country pub jobs out in Western Australia. I was trolling the internet and came across an add on gumtree.com.au advertising for pub jobs. The company is Professional Placements, found on Facebook at HipJobs, and the woman's name is Danielle Prowse. I wrote to her an expressed an interest and she wrote back saying she had a job opening in Meekatharra on March 30th. Not knowing if anyone else I wrote was going to get back to me I jumped on it. Good thing too since no one else has said anything.
I will be working at the Commerical Hotel in Meekatharra, WA for at least 6 weeks. Room and food is provided and I'll be making around $12 an hour. Not bad when you think that you wont be paying for much of anything while you're there. I will be working with an English girl which should be good, at least I'll have someone to talk to.
Getting everything set up to go to Perth and then Meekatharra was a bit of a nightmare. The flight ended up costing me about $240 from Sydney to Perth, with the train from Wingham to Sydney being another $40. Then I had to book a hostel for two nights for $50 a night and then the bus to Meekatharra is running about $120. So in the end I'll pretty much be working my first week or so for free to make up for all the costs, but oh well. At least after that first week I'll be earning, plus I think I want to stay in Western Australia so I wont have to pay for a flight back to Sydney until the very end. Actually, my dream would be to earn enough money to take the 3 day sleeper train from Perth to Sydney, but thats about $1100 so we'll see.
Aside from all that nonsense things are going well here. Gave the horses, the car, and the float (horse trailer) a bath today so I'm currently covered in a lovely mixture of mud and horse poo. We're planning on going riding later today, as long as it doesn't pour rain like it has been.
On a sadder note, my Papa (grandpa) died on Sunday morning (Monday night for me) so that's been a bit depressing. I wish I could be there to support my mom and go to the memorial but unfortunately Australia is a bit far away to just jet back for a weekend. Anyways...Grandma I love you and Papa Rest in Peace.
Until next time.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Wallabies and Beer!
Just a few pictures of what I've been up to lately.
Using an axe to get the bark off of an iron bark tree. And yes it's called an iron bark tree for a reason!
If you look closely there is a very adorable wallaby standing in the grass. If you look even closer you'll see that it has a joey in the pouch. It stood there for about 5 minutes just looking at us and swatting at its ears.
Gaby and I taking a break from all that hard work for a nice cold beer!
Alistair and Alan helping.
Using an axe to get the bark off of an iron bark tree. And yes it's called an iron bark tree for a reason!
If you look closely there is a very adorable wallaby standing in the grass. If you look even closer you'll see that it has a joey in the pouch. It stood there for about 5 minutes just looking at us and swatting at its ears.
Gaby and I taking a break from all that hard work for a nice cold beer!
Alistair and Alan helping.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
HelpX Stay Number 2
Well I said I would update when I got here...and I'm here. I'm staying with Alistair and his 6 year old son Alan. They also have another helpexer here but she will be leaving on Monday.
Alistair is a farrier so he's teaching me all kinds of interesting things about horses and shoeing them. I already went out on one job with him and it was fun, I just wish the roads here weren't so curvy. I Haven't really done much here yet as I just got in last night but Alistair seems really nice and his son is adorable. I don't have any photos yet since I haven't taken any and I'm not on my own computer but as soon as I've been here for a bit I'll post some pictures.
We went out to the pub last night with Jane and Ant and met up with Alistair and everyone else there. The food was good, I had chicken since both Alistair and Jane have just had some cows slaughtered and all we've been eating is beef. It was a bit expensive, $18.90 for chicken with garlic and lentils, but since that was the first time I had payed for anything in over a week I figured I could suck it up. There was a guy on a guitar in the pub and all but one of his songs was American, Jane and Alistair were joking that they told him I was coming so he should play American muscic.
Other than that not much is going on here. Just wanted to make a quick post to let everyone know I was alright. Talk at you soon!
Alistair is a farrier so he's teaching me all kinds of interesting things about horses and shoeing them. I already went out on one job with him and it was fun, I just wish the roads here weren't so curvy. I Haven't really done much here yet as I just got in last night but Alistair seems really nice and his son is adorable. I don't have any photos yet since I haven't taken any and I'm not on my own computer but as soon as I've been here for a bit I'll post some pictures.
We went out to the pub last night with Jane and Ant and met up with Alistair and everyone else there. The food was good, I had chicken since both Alistair and Jane have just had some cows slaughtered and all we've been eating is beef. It was a bit expensive, $18.90 for chicken with garlic and lentils, but since that was the first time I had payed for anything in over a week I figured I could suck it up. There was a guy on a guitar in the pub and all but one of his songs was American, Jane and Alistair were joking that they told him I was coming so he should play American muscic.
Other than that not much is going on here. Just wanted to make a quick post to let everyone know I was alright. Talk at you soon!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Welcome to Wingham
Sorry everyone...I know I've been slacking a bit on my updating but I've been busy relocating and settling in. I'm now in Wingham, sort of, it's actually a little village called Bundook but the closest town is Wingham or Gloucester. I haven't actually been to the village because I've been staying with my HelpX hosts on a 240 acre farm and there's plenty to do here to keep me occupied.
- The house -
My hosts are Jane and Ant and they are lovely. Ant is a plumber/all around handy man and Jane does web design from home. Jane is the horse enthusiast and she's already taken me out riding once. It felt so nice to get back on a horse after not having ridden in so long and the scenery is so gorgeous here that I could have stayed out all day.
- Jane -
As for what I'm doing: Well first off for those of you who don't know HelpX is a website, www.helpx.net, which connects people that are willing to work and need a place to stay with people that need help around the house or farm and have a spare room. So Jane and Ant let me stay at their place and eat their food and all I have to do is stay busy around the farm doing what needs to get done. So far that has been picking fruit and veggies out of the garden, feeding the horses and dogs, chipping thistles, and generally keeping the house clean. Nothing so far has been too difficult and Jane is home all day and willing to show me whatever I need and help me out.
- Ponies: Freddy, Tommy, Clyde -
Yesterday I cleaned out the fridge and came across some overripe bananas so I thought...banana bread. I've never made banana bread but I looked up a recipe and surprise surprise it turned out quite tasty. It was nice to do something for Jane and Ant to show them how much I appreciate them putting me up and now I've got delicious banana bread for breakfast.
I will be staying here until Friday and then I'll be going to Jane and Ant's friends place for a week. After that Ant is going out of town for about a week and a half so I'll probably come back here and keep Jane company. That's about as far ahead as I have thought, although I have been looking into a program called WorkStay.com over in Western Australia so we'll see if that comes through.
Promise I'll update after I switch places on Friday if not sooner. Hope everyone is doing well back home and I miss you all.
- The house -
My hosts are Jane and Ant and they are lovely. Ant is a plumber/all around handy man and Jane does web design from home. Jane is the horse enthusiast and she's already taken me out riding once. It felt so nice to get back on a horse after not having ridden in so long and the scenery is so gorgeous here that I could have stayed out all day.
- Jane -
As for what I'm doing: Well first off for those of you who don't know HelpX is a website, www.helpx.net, which connects people that are willing to work and need a place to stay with people that need help around the house or farm and have a spare room. So Jane and Ant let me stay at their place and eat their food and all I have to do is stay busy around the farm doing what needs to get done. So far that has been picking fruit and veggies out of the garden, feeding the horses and dogs, chipping thistles, and generally keeping the house clean. Nothing so far has been too difficult and Jane is home all day and willing to show me whatever I need and help me out.
- Ponies: Freddy, Tommy, Clyde -
Yesterday I cleaned out the fridge and came across some overripe bananas so I thought...banana bread. I've never made banana bread but I looked up a recipe and surprise surprise it turned out quite tasty. It was nice to do something for Jane and Ant to show them how much I appreciate them putting me up and now I've got delicious banana bread for breakfast.
I will be staying here until Friday and then I'll be going to Jane and Ant's friends place for a week. After that Ant is going out of town for about a week and a half so I'll probably come back here and keep Jane company. That's about as far ahead as I have thought, although I have been looking into a program called WorkStay.com over in Western Australia so we'll see if that comes through.
Promise I'll update after I switch places on Friday if not sooner. Hope everyone is doing well back home and I miss you all.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Touristy Stuff
I've now been in Sydney for 4 days and yesterday I finally went and did some of the touristy stuff. My friend James, who I met in England, has a friend named Emma that is currently living in Sydney so we got together via facebook and went for a walk over the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It was quite a walk, mostly because it was so ridiculously humid, but also very pretty and had amazing views of the Sydney Opera House.
I spent the entire first half of yesterday sitting in front of the computer trying to get my mobile internet to work. It's actually a pretty cool concept when it works. Basically I can use my phone as a modem and I just purchase data on a prepaid basis. The only problem was the software to do it came on a CD and I don't have a CD drive on my computer. I went down to Telstra, the phone company I'm using, and they very kindly transferred the data on the CD to a thumb drive and then I could load it on my computer. It took a while but the good news is it works. Telstra is the only network provider with service in over 95% of Australia so even though its a bit more expensive I chose to go with them since I plan on spending a fair amount of time out of the big cities.
Tonight is the Mardi Gras Gay and Lesbian Parade which should be crazy. I met a German girl named Irina at the house party Dean through and she's invited me to go out with her so I wont be alone. The house party was a lot of fun. Dean cooked kangaroo, which is surprisingly delicious, and we made sangria. The most entertaining part of the day had to be the preparation of the cheese souffle, which turned out to be more cheese omelets in their own separate cups. Regardless they were quite delicious.
Monday I leave for Wingham, a town not even the Aussies have heard of. Hopefully Telstra's famed coverage extends there and I will be able to get on the internet and update on my farm adventures.
Until Wingham!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)